More Freedom for ATM Operators
At the beginning of 2020, the German Banking Industry Committee (GBIC, in German: Deutsche Kreditwirschaft), published the ATM agreement with contactless transactions. The contactless process builds on the EMV specification for the Mastercard kernel and adds numerous functionalities to it. For example, a second tap can be used to transfer data to the card after online authorization in order to reset the PIN counter on the card. There is also greater freedom for ATM operators in selecting one of several applications on a card and the terminal kernel used to run it.
In 2020, SBS developed a Girocard kernel as an extension for KIXCLC, which is currently used in several pilot projects at various customers in Germany.
In the meantime, SBS was able to achieve the following official GBIC approvals and certifications of the Girocard kernel:
for the self-service cash recycler Keba Evo, which is equipped with a Feig NFC reader, on 04.11.2022
for the NCR-Selfserv device series for the Kiosk III reader, which are equipped with a NUMCRW or NUMCRW/2 card reader, on 19.01.2023
This makes SBS the first company in Germany to successfully achieve official approval by the German Banking Industry Committee for an ATM with contactless payment function for Girocard.
Many thanks and congratulations to all who contributed to the positive success of this project.
Background
Back in 2018, in cooperation with our partner KEBA, we completed the first Mastercard and VISA certifications for the SBS KIXContactless Chipmodule (KIXCLC) for performing contactless transactions based on NFC technology. At that time, contactless payment options were still uncommon, even in retail. Due to the uncomplicated use and swift process, contactless payment options have quickly established themselves in society.
This new payment behavior was also ultimately reinforced by support for mobile devices and corresponding apps (such as Wallet apps, Apple Pay or Google Pay), which made NFC transactions possible even without traditional cards.
While NFC on ATMs is already well established in Austria and has also been well accepted by customers, contactless support on ATMs has only been an option in pilot projects in Germany.
The reason for this is that the Girocard system is frequently used within Germany. As a regional payment system, it is independent of international systems such as those of VISA and Mastercard.
The specifications for transactions using the Girocard system are set by the GBIC. For POS systems, as known for card payments in retail, regulations have already been in place since 2015.
The GBIC regulates the area of ATMs in Germany via the standard of the ATM Agreement, which had to be expanded for contactless transactions. For this purpose, the Fraunhofer Institute conducted an ergonomics study on behalf of GBIC and examined the interaction of the choice of functions, amount entry, PIN entry and different contactless card reader types. In addition to the front facing card readers we are already familiar with from retail stores, readers on which the card is placed were also examined.
Ultimately, however, it was left to the ATM manufacturers to decide whether the card should be placed on or held in front of the reader. In early 2020, GBIC published the ATM agreement with contactless transactions. Subsequently, SBS was able to achieve an official GBIC approval and certification of the Girocard kernel.
KIXCLC
KIXCLC is a multivendor software component for performing contactless transactions in accordance with the EMV® standard. KIXCLC can be used with NFC readers in so-called transparent mode (eg Feig CPR74) or in individual mode. In individual mode, part of the EMV® logic is executed in the NFC reader itself.
For detailed information on using KIXCLC in the configuration of your choice, please contact info@sbs.co.at!