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Net 1 Applied Technology Holdings Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) Registration number 1997/007207/06 Share Code: APL ISIN Code: ZAE000024113 ANOTHER FIRST FOR APLITEC Net1 Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd; a fully owned subsidiary of Net1 Applied Technology Holdings Limited (APLITEC) is pleased to announce the successful launch on Friday 9th November of the national switching and smart card payment system on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, a week ahead of the six (6) month implementation schedule. Malawi becomes the fifth African nation to embrace Net1's smart card technology (the UEPS - Universal Electronic Payment System) and the FIRST nation to utilise the technology in a national switching environment with the identification option being the biometric finger print methodology. The switching system provides a fully integrated Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) and Electronic Funds Transfer at the Point of Sale (EFTPOS) management system. The system is designed to deliver a 24 hour, 365 days a year service at a cost per transaction that is significantly less than other systems on offer. The card holders will now benefit in sharing the national infrastructure, perform normal banking functions as well as enjoy the additional smart card products which are available to Malswitch. The UEPS security design has been acclaimed to be the most innovative in this field as it embodies the strengths of many cryptographic designs under one algorithm. (See Applied Cryptography-second edition by Bruce Schneier). The net result is that the UEPS can deliver critical elements such as automatic recovery, transaction cancellation, refunds and cash back at the point of sale with minimal risk to the issuing organisations. In addition, the UEPS provides for dual electronic audit trails that ensure accurate auditing and loss tolerance whilst preventing transaction duplication. To date, five (5) financial institutions have joined the Malswitch System, together with BP Malawi, a bulk fuel supplier who intends to use the system to facilitate its e-purse fuel purchases. Integration to these various banking applications is underway using the new Net1 morphing technology. The target market for Malswitch is the banked, under banked and un-banked market segments of Malawi. The key benefit to Malawi is that the UEPS allows financial services to be delivered to the greater population as well as assisting in the combating of fraud. Furthermore, the Malawian Government are contemplating the usage of smart card technology to facilitate a national ID system. It would make sense for the Government to utilise the Malswitch infrastructure as millions of finger prints would have been captured by the end of 2002. Brenda Stewart, the Africa Project Director for Aplitec is confident that Malswitch should have close to 1 million cards issued to both the banked and un-banked markets by December 2002. The successful launch of this project has resulted in many enquiries from other emerging economies in Africa, the middle east and other countries throughout the world. Serge Belamant, Chief Executive Officer of Aplitec says: "Ten years ago we focused on inventing technology that would serve the needs of the many. Today we focus on delivering systems based on this technology that are not only rich in functionality but also generate new sustainable income streams for the operators; this is the area where most of our competitors fail " Revenue for the contract over the past 6 months has been around R24 million and will continue to increase in the new year as the customer take up rate increases resulting in further orders for smart cards, ATMs, POS etc. Contact : Brenda Stewart Director Net1 Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd General Manager - Aplitec Tel w-011 3432000 Cell 0829007503 www.aplitec.co.za Sponsor Merrill Lynch South Africa 21 November 2001
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