OUD-BEIJERLAND, The Netherlands, April 18, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Multicard, a leading supplier of credential solutions, identity management and system integration services and a business unit of Identive Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:INVE) (Frankfurt:INV), today announced the expanded availability of its mobile phone based cashless payment solution, Cashless Betalen™, into additional micropayment environments in The Netherlands through partnership with leading catering and food service providers. Following the initial successful launch of the solution to sports clubs, Multicard is now signing up commercial caterers who are implementing Cashless Betalen to enable phone-based cashless payments in company canteens and school cafeterias across the country.
Joop Stutterheim, Marketing Manager at Eurest, the workplace and business brand of the global food service company Compass Group PLC, said, "The Cashless Betalen solution provides several benefits for us, for our customers and in turn their customers. The solution reduces the resources needed to handle cash, which is expensive and requires additional security protocols. Payment lines move more quickly and efficiently. And our guests are able to top-up their wallets with a mobile app or even better, using auto reload. Eurest is always searching for possible process improvements. The implementation of Cashless Betalen makes our company ready for the next generation of payments."
In addition to increased efficiency, Cashless Betalen also provides records of each transaction for future reference – a benefit that is very popular in the education market. Pieter Kooistra, Managing Director of Multicard Netherlands, explains: "The International School of The Hague offers healthy food to their primary and secondary school students, but parents wanted information about their children's actual choices. Together with the school's caterer Eurest and their chosen point of sale partner, Multicard created a digital receipt that includes all meals and other food purchases, which allows parents to review their children's school diets."
Cashless Betalen is the account management engine application used with the digital wallet offered by Rabobank, one of the leading banks in the Netherlands. The application allows consumers to pay for their meals or other items in less than a second, with just a tap of the phone to a payment terminal. By eliminating cash payments, transactions are faster and more efficient, lines at the register shorten and more customers can be served. By downloading the app from Google Play or the Apple App Store, Cashless Betalen users can check account balances, transfer funds and monitor account activity using their smartphones; account information is also available via the Internet. More than 100 company canteens, high schools and international schools in The Netherlands have now implemented Cashless Betalen.
About Multicard:
Multicard, a business unit of Identive Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:INVE) (Frankfurt:INV), is a worldwide supplier of card solutions for secure identification programs, with in-house capabilities for credential issuance, personalization and fulfillment services for the consumer, government, education, healthcare and corporate markets. Multicard offers ID systems management and engineering services as well as full implementation and program management. Multicard also is a provider of enrollment, emergency management and accreditation solutions using data capture equipment for ePassport and other government ID and corporate ID applications. For additional information, visit www.multicard.com.
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Identive Group, Inc. is a leading provider of products, services and solutions for the security, identification and RFID industries. For more information, please visit www.identive-group.com.
The Identive Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8072
Note: Cashless Betalen is a trademark of Multicard. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.