ATM giants in ownership battle

"InterSwitch went ahead to design the Verve Card, which is an EMV-compatible card". are you telling me that this nigerian company went ahead to design Verve card without making use of existing technology?......okay..o

I am not taking sides. But is M/Chip 4 technology, as claimed by MasterCard, patented? If not, Interswitch should carry on with its business jare.

Interswitch is an unfortunate monopoly. They continue to use their market advantage to strong arm the banks and merchants into ALWAYS dancing to their tune. They thought they would continue that monopoly with the issuance of their verve cards, a product that has obviously failed. The CBN directive to banks to switch to Chip and Pin cards has done more good for the business of Valucard (Visa's official partner in Nigeria) than it has to Interswitch. Most banks who have started issuing chip and pin cards today are doing it on the Visa platform. If the allegations made in this article by MasterCard prove to be true, it will deal a severe blow to Interswitch's already battered image.

The beginning of the end for Interswitch? It was always coming.

Intellectual property dispute. 500 billion a year near-monopoly. Market still in its nascent stage. High stakes poker. A fat cow ready-made to be milked by a few sharp lawyers who will go and waste precious time in our snail-speed judicial system. Let's hope common sense prevails and an amicable settlement is reached.

Interswitch has been throwing it's weight around like king kong in heat. I hope this cuts them down to size and ends the monopolistic orientation of this organisation

InterSwitch is a victim of the rampaging greed and over reach of its founders, especially the current CEO. Their initial monopoly made them so power drunk that they refused to engage with other stakeholders to fashion a road map for the industry thereby alienating everyone else. This disenchantment created the right conditions for Visa/ValuCard to step in and a few banks led by Access Bank embraced them completely. The position today is that the EMV enabled VPay has become the card of choice for most issuers. Many banks are withdrawing Interswitch cards, both mag-stripe and chip and replacing them with VPay cards. This includes some of the biggest issuers: UBA, Intercontinental, Skye, GTB, Diamond, Access, etc. I think that for InterSwitch as a company, they had their chance and blew it. The whole e-payment industry is united in wishing their demise. Personally, I don't see how they can survive it. They have Mitchell Elegbe to thank for it!

This is just a ploy by Mastercard to muscle itself into the local Nigerian Market like it had tried to do and failed in other markets.

Why this bias against Interswitch? Cant we for once appreciate an initiative that is proudly and truely Nigerian? I think there is a good explanation for this that would come out in due time. Meanwhile, Banks like Intercontinental and Skye are on Verve and the product is so far a huge success. I personally have a Verve card and enjoy the associated services. Lets try to be unbiased in our comments. Interswitch has embarked on a good initiative that should be supported. By the way, if Mr. Ikimi has any issues with Mr. Elegbe, this can be settled outside this forum.

Do i not sense some bias from most of the comments i've read??? I am sorry but a lot of the comments i have read here seem to be coming from people who have been paid to de-market Interswitch or don't have anything to do. Yes, its true that Interswitch seem to be the monopolists but its a clear case of first movers. I will like to imagine the state of e-commerce today without Interswitch as i find it rather disturbing that some Nigerians can't take time out to appreciate something that actually WORKS. Big ups to Interswitch and keep up the good work with the hope that we Nigerians can do something and not wait for the "white man" to solve our problems. May God CONTINUE to reward you with your hardwork so my business may prosper. Regards A. Ekpo

The usual penchant for declaring guilt before hearing a case continues even amongst people who are suppossed to know better. We have a monopoly in PHCN too. They dont work, so folks have alternative power sources. Does interswitch work across ALL platforms and payment channels? I believe even the worst critic would say a grudging yes. Competition is good. May the best 'man' win!

...little wonder development continues to elude us in this country; it's baffling to see that Nigerian products are downtrodden by Nigerians themselves. Originality continues to be ignored and golden ideas thrown to the wind. "unfortunate monopoly","rampaging greed and overreach of it's founders", "throwing it's weight around",....all these flimsy phrases sound like sour grapes to me. Originality, integrity, and ground breaking ideas are not cheap to come by so if anyone has any bright ideas and feels like giving it away for free then be my guest; but that sounds highly unlikely judging from the shallowness of your factless comments. Verve is proudly Nigerian and is here to stay, let us support something Nigerian and put our country on the map of success.

I know Mitchell from his days with TELNET. All I can say is that he has a knack for those high poker politics. The company will survive but it just wont be the same way it was

Wow Ikimi, you seem to know a lot on the issue, pray tell, how does a bank retrieve an already issued card, (as in already in the customer’s hands) and replace it with another card? By the way I have a Verve card issued by Intercontinental which I got when my “InterSwitch “magstripe card expired last month. No one has asked me to return it and take a VPay card. It might be wise for us to stick to the issue at hand which is did Interswitch use MasterCard’s M Chip 4 illegally or not. By the way when did InterSwitch become a monopoly? I remember my father had a ValueCard long long time ago the card was hardly accepted anywhere and never seemed to work. In fact when I first got a debit card I thought it was the same coy only improved, so the competition has always been there alive and well, e-tranzact, chams, VPay etc. Perhaps the question is, Is InterSwitch really doomed to fail or are we simply being overly Nigerian and expecting only the worst from our own?

We should not throw away the baby and the bath-water. If MasterCard had benefitted from the transaction, would MasterCard have gone to the press? It is not a case of Interswitch Vs masterCard. I think MasterCard wanted a master-slave relationship. Since it did not get that, it is obviously out to discredit Interswitch. So, do not look at it as Interswitch versus MasterCard. It is obviously a case of Nigeria Vs.MasterCard. I think the basis for this impasse is because MasterCard gets greedy. Do not get it wrong, please. Interswitch is not a monopoly. How can you say that with 24 member banks? I am sure Interswitch would come out of this stronger.

The comment made by Mr Teregeme obviously doesn’t have any correlation with the original news posted. If Interswitch had dishonored your request to do business with them, you shouldn't take it personal and post baseless messages or comments on the web. Kindly get your facts right before you make baseless comments. Weldone, Interswitch and all other Nigerian epayment platforms...

Please let support local initiative like Interswitch. MasterCard would not come here and develop our market. We have to do it ourselves, which I think Interswitch is doing. Thank you.

Wow Ikimi, you seem to know a lot on the issue, pray tell, how does a bank retrieve an already issued card, (as in already in the customer’s hands) and replace it with another card? By the way I have a Verve card issued by Intercontinental which I got when my “InterSwitch “magstripe card expired last month. No one has asked me to return it and take a VPay card. It might be wise for us to stick to the issue at hand which is did Interswitch use MasterCard’s M Chip 4 illegally or not. By the way when did InterSwitch become a monopoly? I remember my father had a ValueCard long long time ago the card was hardly accepted anywhere and never seemed to work. In fact when I first got a debit card I thought it was the same coy only improved, so the competition has always been there alive and well, e-tranzact, chams, VPay etc. Perhaps the question is, Is InterSwitch really doomed to fail or are we simply being overly Nigerian and expecting only the worst from our own?

Talking about monopoly and rip-off has anyone noticed the rip-off by Hi TV? Its simply UNFAIR!!!

This is just a ploy to ruin the good name of Interswitch. I am sure at the end of all this, Interswitch will come out on top. It's a pity that our fellow Nigerians do not want to support an indigenous company that is clearly helping improve their lives. They keep saying monopoly, monopoly. We haven't heard that other companies that have tried to compete were unethically crushed by Interswitch, Interswitch is at the top because of the undeniable value it brings. This case with Mastercard is laughable. Why would a so called 'monopoly' risk it's reputation and future by doing something like that.

It is rather saddening that this sort of unresearched allegation could be made against the Interswitch brand.It is pertinent to note that this is a company that has blazed the trail in the E-payment industry and has set high standards for itself and its customers. This could only have been achieved through integrity and corporate intelligence.It is therefore safe to say that such a company would not participate in any acts that might be illegal,immoral and improper as they have proved that they can get the job done with the calibre of Management they have. I believe in the VERVE dream because it was truly designed by Nigeria for the world and hence the shock that borught about this fiasco.

Interswitch has no case to answer. Unless Mastercard had patented d technology to itself alone. Yes, Interswitch is a monopoly, but people if u think u have what it takes to compete with Interswitch then go ahead. Do crucify my beloved INTERSWITCH.

Where is your Loyalty, Do you remember the days of tally numbers in banks? Do you remember the days of travelling in ifesinachi, carrying 1m cash, being stopped and robbed on ore road? Other players were in the market before interswitch but iterswitch changed the face of e-payment. Proudly Nigerian, Made for Nigeria, 100% Nigerian. Mastercrd obviously covets a 140m+ market. That explains the dust they're raising over a atandard that they, europay and visa developed to be free!! so why the noise?

Between the Nigerian invented platform and the nonsensical claim that Interswitch's statement being at variance with "Mr." Ingrid's non-statement, it's hard to assess this article's credibility. W'allahi - Next has too many bush reporters.

InterSwitch is Made-in-Naija for Naija and others. Monopoly or no-monopoly, InterSwitch is projecting naija positively. Focus on the functionality of your payment cards. Verve works!

I am a customer currently satisfied using my Skye bank Verve card. I dont think it is astute of gentle men like T Ikimi to post information based on emotions and not facts and figures.

I am the future of Nigeria...at least i was told that while growing i will up. How do i perpetuate my kind as a Nigerian? If I am not being witch-hunted, doom-wished and castigated at home then i am being despised, dehumanized and shamed abroad. If you have been to at least 12 countries, then you know where the shoe pinches. Where am i safe from derogatory words? I read with mixed feelings the postings of some of my so called 'fellow country people’. When will issues be treated in their true lights? When will objectivity take precedence over emotions? When will we stop sacrificing excellence on alter of mediocrity? When do we examine our shortcomings relative to others with the intention to make right our deeds? When will this atmosphere of acrimony stop? When will we begin truly Nigerian? When will we join hands to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign? I can go on and on with these questions, no one has given me a definite answer. Judging by some of the comments i read on the post, If this is the future then we must expect another future. Let us expose the nationality and business objective of these companies: Interswitch, VISA and MasterCard. I am a proud Nigerian (i can not help it) and educated in Nigeria for that matter. I know how hard it must be for Interswitch right now, the whole world seems to be against you, do not falter you must persist to succeed. The only Nigerian epayment company i acknowledge is Interswitch and the others like ValuCard(VISA processor) and CTL (MasterCard processor) are just modern instrument of neo-colonialism from the western world. VISA and MasterCard (both American companies) are just like MTN, they are here to exploit our people: rob Paul to give to Peter. These people (ValuCard and CTL) should be ashamed; they only remind me of the black man conspiracy in the slavery of our fore fathers. VISA and MasterCard make fortune from the labor of our undiscerning country people only to repatriate the fund to their off shore base while our brothers and sisters are being sacked in their thousands for their employer to adjust to the global financial melt down. Tell me one corporate social responsibility of VISA and MasterCard in Nigeria? Bribing the banks with about a hundred million naira for portfolio conversion (confirm this from the banks as if they care to give you the truth anyway). Imagine a company promoting the very evil (corruption) which forms the bane of our development. How many Nigerians queue for US and UK visa every day? If you think VISA and MasterCard loves you then ask how may Nigerians work for the parent company? ValuCard and CTL, we are not white but black Africans and we wont pretend to be white, so junk VISA and Mastercard then partner with Interswitch to take VERVE to the world. Interswitch continue the good fight, proudly Nigerians love you and are strongly behind you.

One advice i have for all irrespective of what you post is critisize all you want but make sure you get a Verve card because Life just got better, more secure, online payment, ATM & POS Airtime recharge, Loyalty ...... the best is yet to come from Interswitch! Since i got my Verve guard i have been able to sleep without thinking someone would get money off my account. Please don't deny yourself and put some "Verve" in your step!

Patience. Patience my people...

It looks like interswitch has mandated her staff to come and post comments on NEXT. Talk about damage control ploy... Mitchelle Elegbe, we can see through you LOL

Interswitch is a victim of both its greed and its success. It was floated by Mrs Denloye, whose company at the time provided most of the banks interconectivity and championed by Mitchell Elegbe who worked for her. Dotun Suliamon, the then Managing Director of Accenture, sold the idea to the banks and each of them used SME funds to float the company, giving the banks 80%, Accenture 10% and Mrs Denloye's group 10%. The fact that it was SME money meant that it cost the bansk almost nothing as they had to spend the SME money somehow anyway. This way they got share in a company that if it worked would be a runaway success. Secondly they had mamanged to outsource their e-payment problems to someone else, allowig them to concentrate of their core business of banking. It was cheap at twice the cost! Interswich was born, and it asked each bank to pay a switch to route transactions. The switches were to interface with each bank's banking software and as such were located in the banks premisis. The banks complied. After all you can't have an ATM network without switches. Denloye and company then cornered the market for ATMs thereby getting two bites of the pie. The banks didn't really mind. Banks don't sell ATM's and somebody has to sell them anyway, why not one of the companies in the Denloye group. The problems came when the banks indivdually wanted to use their "property" i.e. the switches to create their own innovative products on the ATM network. They were "informed" the in typical "Eru" fashion that all their switches belonged to Interswitch, or rather touch the switche and we'll cut you off the network. This rather bewildered the banks. Here they were relying on a technology company that had gone "rogue" on them. There after they planned, individually i.e there was no conspiracy, to get out from under Interswitch's heavy handed regime. Zenith was the first to break the mold. They interfaced to their switch and routed all their local traffic away from the network. You see what was happening before was that if you were a Zenith customer using a Zenith ATM the transaction was first routed through Interswitch. Zenith made it so that all their own traffic did not need to go through a third party, i.e. Intersswitch, to get to them. Which of course made perfet sense to them. Why pay Interswich for routing transactions that never leave my local network. Other banks followed. The genie was out of the bottle, and we all know how difficult it is to put smoke back into a bottle. The first nail in Interswitch's coffin had been hammered in. Then came ValuCard/VISA. They wanted to use the existing Interswitch network, but couldn't come to agreement with InterwSwitch thereby slowing down the banks ability to deploy VISA cards. Interswitch again said, if VISA wanted to play in the market, the banks had to buy another switch and keep it seperate from theirs (oops I mean the banks!). By this time the banks had gotten wiser and said "it no go happen like that, na me get switch. I go do wetin I wan do. Haba!" Interswitch got hammered with nail number two. In the general scheme of things all these were small problems. The bigger problem came when Interswitch started to issue CashCards. Overnight Interswitch became a competitor and not a vendor/partner to the banks. A competitor that had lower costs they they had since Interswich didn't have to pay itself to route transactions over the network. Well enough was enough. The banks looked for any oppourtunity to get out of the "bondage" that they had put themselves into. Their relief can by way of fraud. Magnetic strip cards are inherently insecure and can be easily cloned. Soon the bansk were facing massive frauds that they had to pay for. The oppourtunuity to go to a more secure card i.e. Chip and Pin (or basically a more modern version of the old Valucard technology) allowed them the excuse to "let my people go!!" Some have gone to Mastercard others VISA. Yes, some still issue Verve cards but now there is a choice. Interswitch has only itsself to blame. As a business it is never good business to be competeing with your customers for their customers. Their business model should have been that of an infrstructure provider not a application provider or retail outlet. They should have provided the network and encouraged the bank to create innovative applications that ran on it, and lived in the background just making sure that everything worked all of the time. Afterall has anybody heard of the network provider that runs the epayment network in USA, UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, Germany.... These companies exist to serve their clients, the banks, not to compete with them. VISA and Mastercard do not issue cards, Citibank and HSBC banks do! It's a well trusted business model that works all over the world. Interswitch, in their infinite wisdom, thought that they could create a better business model. Well the jury is still out on that one but I wouldn't bet on the verdict going Interswitch's way!

This is about money people, big money.Even if Interswitch is a monopoly,and this is debatable since there are other e-payment platforms, should be replace the monopoloy of a local company with that of a foreign company, Mastercard. I say NO NO No.....unless this technology is patented and Interswitch did use if without permission, Mastercard should shush and go away. Chip and Pin technology is plentiful, if the one Interswitch is currently using is causing agro, they should, forgive the pun, switch..sounds simplistic but sometimes the most effective solutions are.

who the heck is this "Teregeme Ikimi"? Loyal Nigerians might just lynch you if you continue with your baseless imaginations from an obviously biased, unpatriotic mind.

@Ade Atobatele, Thanks for that brilliant piece. 'Very enlightening -- A history lesson!

NEXT should start publishing ip addresses o, this sudden rash of pro Interswitch comments is suspect sha. My own is that it is obvious that Mastercard wants to get in on the action, they have seen that e-transactions work in Nigeria BUT Interswitch sef, if you guys infringed on their copyright abi na proprietary rights, you have to face the music.

Mr. Ade Atobatele obviously works for an interswitch competitor. Nice review, jaundiced although and obviously full with beef. He has enough understanding of the system and he is waiting for a doom that will never come.

Mr Teregeme, I will advise you also to change your name to maybe something more English. I do not think InterSwitch is stupid enough to do this and I am sure time will prove me right. The history of cards will tell you what MasterCard and Visa have in mind for us Nigerians. The fact a company had the initiative to make life easier for us, please do not burn them to the ground. Do you think the banks would have embraced InterSwitch if they did not see a value add better than MasterCard or Visa. Y is everyone on InterSwitch's face. They hardly boast to your faces, they only get down to get work done and all they get is curses. Did you by chance see the Sunday Punch about the ATM Fraudsters who confessed? InterSwitch is clearly trying to put an end to this fraud with inventing the VERVE card. When MasterCard , Visa and the whole Nigeria saw the fraud wave, did any of these take an initiative? NO. The Lord Jesus said, If you have never sinned before, take up the stone and throw it. Yes, InterSwitch might have stepped on people's toes, annoyed people and all, but please you have to agree with them, life has indeed been simple, and if you ask them, I am sure they are not scared of competition, unlike some other monopoly(s) i know in Nigeria that are hacking down their other competition ferociously. This will prove the black man can also be innovative. We are no fools....The only thing I can add is MasterCard has seen InterSwitch is making life easier in a cheap way for Nigerians with their product..hence the fight. Thanks

Ade Atobatele, thank you for your lesson in E-Payment 101. I, for one, am the wiser for it. When may we expect the next lecture? But, seriously, the Next article doesn't even scratch the surface. I am actually better informed by the readers' comments. If intellectual property rights have been infringed, the lawyers know what to do.

I believe we have competent lawyers that can handle any infraction from the relationship. Let them get their wigs and gowns ready because the matter fit by pass CBN!!!

There's no need for this emotions on display. All these companies are doing business irrespective of whether made in Nigeria or not. Let everyone be aware of these points: 1. Verve card (and I mean the card and brand only) is proudly Nigerian. 2. The Verve card runs on a technology (EMV) that is NOT proudly Nigerian i.e. owned by a consortium of MasterCard, Europay & Visa (though JCB - Japan is also now part of these 3). 3. Verve card cannot work without a complementary tested & trusted technology. 4. InterSwitch should stop being emotional and get back to work of completing Verve card and the technology it will ride on. And if they decide to ride on other people's labour (EMV), they must endeavour to do it right and not steal it. Please note: VERVER IS NOT TRULY NIGERIAN YET UNTIL THE TECHNOLOGY IT RUNS ON IS TRULY NIGERIAN. InterSwitch, please finish your hardwork so that we can praise you. A lot of commentators don't know the amount of work and years of research put into developing EMV technolgy. You also know what? Who manupulated CBN into the issuing a migration directive? Am sure other commentators will answer my question.

I do not have enough time to wast regarding to the comment from some of our fellow Nigerians but all i can say is this interswitch, being as a Nigerian company and being as a proud Nigerian i'm one million times behind you and you will over come those who pretending that they like us but de- down in them they are there to slave us and ship away our money with our corrup leaders and leave us in darkness. look the oil companies for over 50yrs we discovered that b/l gold tell me the development they have broght to us order than pain and suffering?

@TiJesunimi:Of course Next is all about getting the genie out f the bottle. Just watch this drama play out. Patience, people!

Can we at least try to be objective and not get carried away. The issue at hand is the M4 chip not ownership structure of Interswitch!!! I sense a lot of politics and people trying to blow this issue out of proportion.

There's a lot of sense and nonsense on this page...I particularly like Ade Atobale's post... Only ... I wonder... that the banks owned 80% of a company and they were "Unable" to steer it in whatever direction they deemed fit... Also... I'd have assumed that loyalty to investors would be by bringing regular returns at intervals after a season of business...and growing each investors investment by leaps and bounds season through season... Clearly the banks want more than they're getting..., they've gotten... But we know all about these banks... And the challenge Interswitch must face, trying to stay neutral to 24 partner and non partner banks... that are at each others throats constantly... I imagine there's so much to protect... everybody can see the results of taking initiative...and they want a piece of it...Internally...Now Externally... Alas, we'll see... I guess...

This goes a long way to show that Interswitch is a Star whose radiance cannot be dimmed.This is just one of the trials that Interswitch will face but surely will prevail.Their products and mind blowing success have moved Nigeria ahead in no small way. Personally I think Interswitch has brought in so much transparency in payment processing and this makes a lot of Nigerians unhappy.As for contenders overseas they just did not think that anything good can come out of Nigeria. As much as a lot of people wish them demise only God's counsel shall stand!

whatever they do, let the innocent consumers & customers not suffer for it. if all the hassles is for the customer to derive the best service delivery then so be it.

If Nigerian's can get a master card merchant account it would help us sell more to the whole world and take bites off the multibillion Dollar internet market Not all patriotism is for the greater good for us

@Wilkanah: Nice and smart post. May be its just me, I thot I have seen a couple of times in the papers where Interswitch publicly announced their patnership with Mastercard. I will not want to assume they will that dumb to go ahead and use a technology that they have not been allowed to use. I am not sure its that easy to pick up a book and start implementing the technology just like that, moreso they claim its proprietary which means Mastercard must have given some consent to this happening. I think there is more to what we see. Time will tell. If it turns out this is a false alarm, would 234Next be humble enough to tell it.

Hey people, everyone is getting this all wrong. The M/chip 4 is a patented software to Mastercard, one needs to get approval before you can use it. I believe Interswitch is already in talks with Mastercard but have not finalised just yet. Interswitch are just trying to beat the deadline and jumped into the market with verve cards and since they got the software from Mastercard(M/Chip 4 is the application that allows one to encode the chip bit of the card), they are supposed to finalise on that, instead they jumped into the market with the cards. Now Mastercard is quite smart, knowing they hadnt finalized, they never stopped the issuing of the cards, now they have to pay a fine to Mastercard for all cards that have already been issued..this isnt a problem @ all for Interswitch, they would have to pay the fee for using the technology and also a fine, more money for Mastercard..i call this brilliance on the part of Mastercard. Lesson to learn from this: Please sign the dotted lines and dont assume nothing until u both agree.

Whatever is the fuss all about..please everyone should mind thier business o!i withdrew from the atm today using my verve card and i had no issues,i have been using it for the past 2 weeks and i hope to keep using it for a long time to come,Nigerians una no like better thing abi,una prefer to dey long queue or...hmmm... My dear tafias and amebo's please Nigeria is presently struggling with a lot of issues and crisis...lets focusing on tackling these instead of trying to bring down a company that has made life easy for Nigerians o...Interswitch nothing do you...

Just a thought...is there anyone (especially those who claim that Interswitch has made a mess of things) who dosent own and an Interswitch card? If you feel they have then return all your Interswitch cards to the bank and pick a Visa...Etranzact or whatever card,stop all the howling and hating and move on with your life...i believe there are better things to do than spend time trying to discredit a company that has worked so hard to make life easy for Nigerians...lets not let greed and envy drive us to bring down the honest and hard labour of our fellow citizens...

well i particularly commend their efforts in the anti fraud campaign, i wish more e-payment institutions will join them in this fight,afterall whether Interswitch,mastercard,Vpay,etransact...it's all about our money oo!!our money must be secure..i sincerely hope they tidy whatever the jist is(whether false or otherwise)about the mastercard M-chip so that all the hardwork will not go in vain. i stand for pro-Naija ingenuity,hardwork and results and any company that shows these attributes should be given all our support.Naija for life!!!!

hmm...there is no such thing as an Interswitch card people...Good God. The banks own the cards...so it is either a GTB Bank card..they are simply powered by Interswitch. Interswitch doesnt own the cards, the banks do. Interswitch will simply have to pay a fine for using the M-chip software before they both finalized..geez...

Hmm...Mrs. Adeniyi-Aderoju described Mastercard’s allegation as “not true”???!!! Isn't this information found here http://www.mastercard.com/us/trademarks.html "true" enough? M/Chip is clearly a registered trademark of MasterCard!

"Akeem Lawal, the Chief Technology and Operations Officer of InterSwitch, described MasterCard’s concerns as “begging the question” - The above comment attributed to Akeem Lawal is quite strange, coming from the Chief Technology & Operations Officer. Dear Readers, while I will not condemn or critice Interswitch for their action or inaction, I think I owe the reading public a duty to clarify a few things about this matter. The acronym "EMV" as has been severally referred to, stands for Europay, MasterCard & Visa. From what I know, EMV is a global technology standard for the e-payment industry primarily developed by MasterCard and Visa. Sources say the guy who pioneered the EMV Chip technology later went on to found Europay. Over time Europay was bought over by MasterCard. Following the need for interoperability both MasterCard and Visa came together to develop the EMV standard. The custodian of the standard is a company called EMV Co. Obviously, the objective of setting up EMV Co is, amongst other reasonsm to make it possible for any other Card scheme that subscribes to global interoperability to develop their technology in line with the standards. So far, both MasterCard and Visa have developed several EMV products along these standards. JCB of Japan is also said to be warming up to the EMV standard. The rule of the game suggests that even though there is a common standard, each card scheme can develop solutions that are unique to it but which must also ensure that it can co-habit at acceptance devices of co-subscribers to the common standards. This is obviously to save cost for institutions that want to issue products of the various subscribers to the standards. It was in this vein that MasterCard developed and patented the M/Chip 4, just the same way Visa has developed and patented their VSDC chip cards. I do not know what led Inerswitch to adopting the MasterCard M/4 chip as the chip module for their Verve card. However, given the notice served by MasterCard regarding the use of its chip technology, unless resolved amicably the options left to Interswitch are as follows: (1) As a card scheme, they need to first subscribe to the EMV standard by joing the EMV club. Whether the club will admit them or how soon this can happen is another matter. (2) After joing the EMV Club, they need to then develop their own EMV Chip. In doing this, they have to ensure that it becomes compatible with all the ATMs and Points of Sale devices that the banks and other stakeholders have deployed to the market place. This means that they have to develop payment applications that can accommodate their new technology at these existing acceptance devices. As a keen observer of the e-payment business, this process will take about 3 years at the minimum to achieve. An alternative route for Interswitch is to go and implement their Verve card using non-EMV chip cards. However, the challenge with this option is that the non-EMV cards or propriety chip (which ValuCard ran away from in 2002) would not work at any of the ATMs or Points of Sale devices in Nigeria unless and until Interswitch is able to tweak the EMV applications driving those acceptance devices to accept both the standard EMV and the product of its non-EMV engineering. At this point, I do not envy Mitchell at all. THIS IS A CRISIS OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTION.

We could be all be right from a perspective but that doesnt make the situation right! If the Vice President Coporate Communications says they are in talk and chooses not to share the details, does that not say something to you! I think, as Nigerians we should not be quick to take down our own! Never bite that finger! Let's speak like MEN! Its always not as it seems!

@Ade Atobatele, So much thanks for the info. Its quite enlightening. @All, the issue is whether Interswitch infringed on Master Card's intellectual property. And if it is true, then, they should face the consequences. Personally, I don't think Interswitch has the expertise to design and develop such technology in-house. Let us stop getting emotional and be frank with the issues at hand. Finally, I don't work for Master Card or any switching company for that matter.

what you're all talking about. If I had the power I'd oust all cards. And just have people buy temporary cards for internet purchases. This is a product of the very rich man to carry 10,000 in his pocket to go out to dinner. He had sold his soul to a bank and government ...why should we. Cash and carry is king.

I noticed the sneaky credit card companies were tying up the business in any country one might flee to once they owned all teh "water;" the nodes...so there is nowhere to flee to with cash.

Ironically, the comments have been more elucidating than the news story.

@Ade-Atobatele & Heritage:Thanks for your comments; but please what is the role of NIBSS in all this. I learnt they have a central switch. What is the purpose of their own switch? Kindly help with the info.

Great. This is what democracy is all about. Free speech. Facts however are sacred. Until we know all the facts and the judges decide, we all have the right to our views. Go on Naija

why una de shout interswitch, mastercard, visa all of them are entrepreneurs in the business to rip you of your money how much does interswitch pay as tax? how much do they pay their workers (out of 500bn...Jesu oluwa mi!)...what are their social responsibilities? have they performed them? the government can allow a field where all companies compete , it then regulates them...then rip them off...both foreign and local...that is the duty of the government. Sadly its not doing this. we need foreign companied in the country...we should lure them in and collect their money. that's how its done all over the world

My so called mastercard is not accepted for payments online and at specific because it is Nigerian issued. All of a sudden this same mastercard sees a huge market; they see a local company making things happen and want to 'ruin' their work. God forbid bad thing!! It is safe to bet that a company that stopped us all from endless queues, revolutionalized the epayment industry in Nigeria, publicized their association with mastercard would not be daft to break simple patent rules that is the foundation of the technology. what do I see? I see the greedy mastercard just like their colonial forebears trying to eat where they have not sown. I see shallow NEXT reporting where user comments have been more enlightening I see passionate nigerians supporting their own and trying to cut a god deal for themselves as end users I see competition who are not stupid and are taking advantage of situation to promote their brand which is expected behaviour. lets fight fairly and I hope it turns out to the benefit of me and you the endusers and not the pockets of some megolomaniacs. I appeal to all Nigerians to support good initiatives, live by the rue of law and promote truly Nigerian initiatives which I strongly believe Interswitch is!

@Olenupa...Word ..Word!!!