Hires Influential Smart Card Industry Leader Julie Krueger

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- JCB, the fourth largest global

payment brand, has set its sites on broadening smart credit card acceptance in
the U.S. To spearhead this initiative, JCB USA has hired Julie Krueger,
former executive director of the Smart Card Alliance and respected industry
expert, as vice president smart cards.

“Using our J/Smart EMV application, JCB has already issued more than three
million smart cards and we plan to convert our entire customer base to smart
cards by 2007,” Mr. Masahiro Omoto of JCB International recently told industry
executives at the annual conference of the Smart Card Alliance. “Because of
credit card skimming fraud in Japan, it was clear we had to move forward with
smart cards and to do it quickly. Now we are focused on working with
merchants and acquirers worldwide to help us fight this fraud issue. Our goal
is to increase security for merchants and cardholders everywhere the JCB card
is accepted.”

JCB’s expansion into the U.S. follows JCB’s successful rollout of J/Smart
EMV cards in Japan, Taiwan and the U.K.

In her new role, Ms. Krueger will be responsible for securing a North
American infrastructure to accept J/Smart-based smart card transactions.
Julie joins Tac Watanabe in developing and maintaining key relationships with
payment terminal manufacturers, front-end processors and acquirers.

“Julie Krueger is a great addition to our team,” said Tom Wright,
executive vice president, JCB USA. “With her extensive contacts among POS
manufacturers, processors and acquirers, Julie will play a critical role in
establishing the necessary partnerships required for JCB smart card acceptance
in North America. She also brings the leadership and experience we need to
manage several pilot projects that are currently in the works.”

JCB’s first priority is establishing infrastructure partners throughout
the Americas. One of the steps already taken is the recently announced JCB
certification of Hypercom’s EMV kernel for ICE card payment terminals for use
worldwide with JCB’s J/Smart credit cards.

In addition JCB announced a worldwide joint marketing arrangement with
Hypercom to promote the acceptance of J/Smart cards and the sale of J/Smart-
enabled payment terminals worldwide. The two companies have many mutual
customers and complementary relationships with acquirers and processors around
the world. Of particular importance to the America’s are customers in Brazil,
Costa Rica and the United States.

“Half of the payment terminals Hypercom distributes in the U.S. can
support the EMV certified kernel with the J/Smart application. We want to
find additional ways to get acquirers and merchants to support EMV and the
corresponding infrastructure within in the U.S. payment industry,” said Ms.
Krueger.

About JCB
JCB is the fourth largest global payment brand and the largest card issuer
and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in 1961 and began
expanding overseas in 1981. Its merchant network includes 9.78 million
merchants and spans 189 countries and territories, and serves 42 million
cardmembers worldwide. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has
formed alliances with more than 320 leading banks and financial institutions
globally to increase merchant coverage. In Japan, JCB has issued more than
three million chip-based credit cards since December 2001. For further
information, please visit http://www.jcbusa.com.

JCB is a registered trademark of JCB International