In The Boardroom™ With...

Mr. Xavier Giandominici
VP, General Manager FIME

www.fime.com

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Xavier.  Before discussing FIME solutions and Cartes America in greater detail please tell us about your background.

Xavier Giandominici: I joined FIME in 2006 after spending eight years with Gemplus (now Gemalto) where I held different positions including Business Development in Latin America supporting the first EMV migration pilots in Mexico and Central America back in 2000. I have also been responsible of the development of Gemplus positioning in the ID market in Southern Europe supporting the development of ePassports and national eID cards.

This experience has helped me to drive FIME’s continued development in the certification market, as well as the progression for the company’s consultancy services for the payment, mobile payment and NFC markets. I’m currently heading FIME America to support U.S. migration efforts.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We understand FIME is a major player at Cartes America. What do you believe will be the most important trends and highlights discussed at this years’ upcoming event?
Xavier Giandominici:   Everyone has their eyes on the upcoming October fraud liability shift, and that’s one of the most important themes at Cartes America this year.

How to get there is a very hot topic, and that’s something we’re trying to help. We recently put out a white paper to help the merchant community understand the changes and challenges associated with introducing EMV chip technology to the U.S. It provides practical education and best practices to get started on the right path to chip deployment.

 And for issuers, we just released a go-to-market consulting kit for financial institutions to fast-track and simplify EMV chip card issuance. I’m looking forward to hear what others are saying and doing to positively impact the migration to chip cards.

There’s going to be a lot of interest in NFC and HCE due to significant advancements over the past year, such as ApplePay and modifications to Google Wallet, mobile and cloud-based payments.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: One will read on FIME.com that, “FIME advances end-to-end transaction solutions and mobile services, enabling market security and interoperability. As an independent worldwide leader in consulting and testing services, FIME ensures the compliance of mobile devices and chip-based applications to industry standards. Its international team works with manufacturers, banks and authorities within the EMV payments, mobile near field communication (NFC), telecom, transport and e-identity sectors.”  Please give us an overview of FIME capabilities.

 Xavier Giandominici: FIME is widely recognized as an expert and a trusted provider of consulting services, certification and tools. Our services enable card issuers, merchants and acquirers/processors to bring seamless card and mobile transactions services to market effectively and confidently using secure chip or cloud-based solutions.

We work with the payment, telecom, transit and identity sectors as an implementation services partner for customers using contact and contactless EMV, near field communication (NFC), trusted service manager (TSM), trusted execution environment (TEE) and host card emulation (HCE) technologies. FIME supports customers from project initiation to completion by advising on technical requirements, consulting on industry regulations certification authority implementation and streamlining testing and certification activity.

Right now, we can offer a worldwide proximity to be closer to our customers, with 12 offices more than 3,000 clients and speaking 13 languages.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: It seems to us, Xavier, that the threat environment has never been more challenging…with constant threats on the one hand and tight budgets + legacy systems on the other hand. What is your perspective on the unique value proposition that FIME delivers in this environment?

Xavier Giandominici:  The payments industry is migrating to EMV chip technology to better protect information from these threats. FIME is helping by providing solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of issuers and merchants. Our extensive experience working with banks, technology providers and other authorities has helped us to develop best practices and frameworks to ensure success. Everything we do at FIME is done with the intention that it will make the transition easier and more attainable, no matter how big or small a merchant or issuer is.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What advice do you have for merchants regarding EMV? What about for issuers?

Xavier Giandominici: In a sense, my advice for both issuers and merchants is the same: don’t wait if you haven’t started your plans to migrate already. It’s important for both stakeholders to understand the liability shift and the timelines to implement chip technology.

For merchants, our most recent white paper addresses all of these concerns and offers recommendations and best practices to get on track in their migration plans. You can see the white paper at https://www.fime.com/whitepaper/EMVmigration.  

For issuers, our go-to-market issuer kit helps financial institutions to fast-track and simplify EMV chip card issuance. More information on that is available here: https://www.fime.com/payment-systems.html.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today, Xavier.  Are there any other subjects you would like to discuss?

 Xavier Giandominici: I would like to invite Cartes USA attendees to the following sessions where they will be able to engage with FIME experts: