Monday December 23, 1996

Smart card prices will drop below 200 yen or $2.00 per card with the introduction Friday of the CZ-3018 card from Toshiba. The new card is the latest addition to Toshiba's CZ-3000 series, has an 8-bit CPU and 128 bytes of memory. It also supports enhanced data security and meets both the ISO/IEC7816 and EMV standards. The lower costs are primarily achieved by downsizing the memory capacity. Most cards currently available have large memory capacities and cost between $4.50 and $9.00 per card. The new Toshiba card was designed for less memory-intensive applications such as prepaid cards for tickets, storing credit in dividend cards and communications. Samples will be available in April followed by full production in June.

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NOVEMBER PORTFOLIO BENCHMARKS Charge-offs and delinquency turned upward again after some contraction in the third quarter according to the December issue of Bankcard Barometer released Friday. Bankruptcy continues to soar, surpassing 41% of charge-offs for the first time and net yields have now dropped to their lowest level of 13.39%. Pricing continues to edge up driven by punitive interest rates and higher fees. NATIONAL 61-CITY VISA "READ ME A STORY" BUS TOUR ENDS Sponsored by Visa, "Read Me a Story" has read one million stories to children and raised $1 million based on Visacard sales from November 1 through December 23 for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), America's oldest and largest children's literacy organization. CHASE MERCHANT SERVICES FORMED WHATABURGER POS LAST MINUTE SHOPPING SURGE CHECKFREE ANNOUNCES ACH SERVICE BUREAU GREYINTERACTIVE SELECTS ICAT'S SOLUTION FOR INTERACTIVE WEB CATALOGS LINK TECHNOLOGIES ACQUIRED GM CARD HEAD JOINS MARKETING FIRM BOARD ACE EXPANDS PHOENIX PRESENCE NATIONAL CITY AND MARC'S NATIONSBANK/BOATMAN'S MERGER APPROVED CREDIT UNION FIGHT 1997 BANKING PREDICTONS IBM-BANCTEC CHECK PROCESSING EQUIFAX SELLS MEDICAL CREDENTIALS VERIFICATIONS SERVICES FIRST USA SELLS $200 MILLION OF CAPITAL SERCURITIES GLOBAL CHIPCARD ALLIANCE MEETING HOLIDAY NOTICE: CARDFLASH WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED DEC. 24-26 Click Here To Return To RAM Research Group Homepage

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