The organization is also heavily focused on the promotion of the MULTOS technology in to banking, identity and other vertical markets. Upon joining the Consortium as a Partner member, Carta Worldwide will gain an influential seat in the Business Advisory Group and Technology Advisory Group of The MULTOS Consortium.

Carta Worldwide will have the opportunity to provide input into the future development of the MULTOS multi-application smart card standard as well as the opportunity to participate in collaborative marketing initiatives.

Carta Worldwide was founded specifically to provide new types of payment solutions to consumers, businesses, banks and governments globally - in parallel with worldwide EMV card deployments. Carta is an advanced payment solution provider managing all aspects of prepaid branded card issuance.

Carta's next generation platform is a vertically integrated, bank grade, multi-lingual, multi-currency, processing platform that supports seamless and secure integration of a card account through the convenience of the consumer's mobile phone. The platform is certified by MasterCard™, Visa™, AmericanExpress™ and Diners™.

Carta deployed its first MULTOS enabled MasterCard prepaid program in 2008 in the UK (the Carta One program). This program supports advanced payments using the MasterCard® One SMART™ 'Chip and PIN' solution, pre-authorized payments and EMV contactless payments using PayPass™ , MIFARE™, contact and contactless features are seamlessly supported in the Carta One payment solution.

Carta's unique payment solution utilizes the latest 'state of the art' MULTOS dual interface chip and exploits its multi-application capability. The multi-application capability was demonstrated earlier this year using a transit ticketing application on Carta One cards. Carta's advanced payment solutions can also be deployed on NFC (Near Field Communication) phones.

Brian Semkiw, CEO Carta Worldwide stated: "We are pleased to join The MULTOS Consortium in order to better serve our customer's varying needs. As a provider of business solutions to large organizations who have payments initiatives, we look forward to being able to make a unique contribution to the ongoing development of MULTOS."

Richard Cusson, Managing Director of Multos International, a founding MULTOS consortium member, added: "On behalf of the Consortium, we welcome Carta Worldwide Inc. as the latest MULTOS Consortium member; we look forward to opportunities to work together in offering our joint customers EMV pre-paid and other innovative solutions."

Alan Johnson, Technical Director of The MULTOS Consortium said: "When organizations such as Carta, who deliver card-based solutions directly to customers, join the consortium we gain ever more insight into the platform needs of the customer. Through our open and accessible working groups this feeds directly into how the MULTOS platform evolves to meet customer requirements. On behalf of the secretariat of the consortium, we look forward to collaborating with Carta as we maintain MULTOS' position as the most truly open multi-application smart card platform."

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About Carta Worldwide
Carta Worldwide is a unique provider of professional services and technology to companies looking to improve their competitiveness, productivity and profitability by enhancing their payment and transactional methodologies. Carta Worldwide is a Swiss company with key operations located in London, Toronto, Hong Kong and Miami. For more information, please visit www.cartaworldwide.com

About Multos International
Multos International is a founding member of the MULTOS consortium, which has responsibility for developing and managing the MULTOS smartcard operating system specifications. Multos International is a leading implementer of the MULTOS multi-application operating system and associated applications and distributes MULTOS chips and modules to over 35 card manufacturers worldwide. For further information, please visit www.multosinternational.com