Aconite Pin Manager

e-PIN Management over Digital Channels

Aconite PIN Manager (APM) links back-office systems to customer facing channels to allow PIN capture for self-selection or change, and PIN notification or reminders via mobile app, web banking and IVR. Distribution is also supported by SMS. APM also provides secure PIN generation, storage and PIN verification. With paper PIN Mailers being expensive, slow and a security risk, e-PIN is now the preferred means of supporting PIN lifecycle events, and APM enables consolidation of all PIN processes into a single, secure platform.

APM provides APIs that are invoked from the mobile app, web banking or IVR server and which implement an Aconite-developed end-to-end security protocol between the device or browser and APM. This protocol ensures that PIN data is always encrypted in transmission, can never be exposed in any intermediate server and is never associated with account or personal data. Developers can implement their own UX for PIN capture and display screens and IVR dialogs with the API call invoking all the APM security protocols.

Scandinavia-based processor Nets uses APM to consolidate PIN handling processes across multiple card management platforms issuing over 18 million EMV® cards, and to provide modern connectivity between PIN services and front-end components.

About Aconite Technology

Aconite is the market leader in software solutions that enable issuers of magnetic stripe cards quickly and efficiently to transition to issuing EMV smart cards.

Aconite’s product philosophy is to uplift existing infrastructure to enhanced capability, in contrast to the approach of most large solution suppliers where full system upgrades are required, with their end-to-end testing and business process redesign implications, as well as the need to retrofit customizations, often at great expense. Aconite’s products are deployed as plug-in or in-line components that require minimal change to existing systems. All Aconite products are Java applications that run in a Java Application Server such as IBM WebSphere.

Aconite operates globally from headquarters in the UK, with customers in the USA, the Caribbean, South Africa, Middle East and Europe. Customers include:

• Fiserv, the largest card processor in the US
• Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union
• Nets, Northern Europe’s largest card processor
• Discovery Bank, South Africa’s innovative digital-only challenger bank.

Other Aconite Products

ETM – the EMV® Transaction Manager works in tandem with an existing card authorization system to provide the specialized functions needed to process EMV transactions. ETM performs authentication of the card and transaction data to prevent card cloning and data tampering, heuristic analysis of the data compiled during card and terminal interactions to flag anomalies and EMV script generation to change card state (e.g. block card) or to update data (e.g. PIN change, counter reset). ETM supports multiple card brands and application types concurrently. All configuration is user-controlled, and on-boarding of new card products or card bases is simply a matter of defining new card groups and loading the required master keys.

ETM is highly performant and highly available. Multi-node deployments can operate at more than 1,000 transactions per second and have zero downtime. ETM is used by Fiserv in the US to process EMV transactions generated by their portfolio of over 50 million cards across multiple authorization platforms.

PAM – Payment Application Manager is a Smart Card Lifecycle Management system that creates the application and security data necessary for issuing smart cards, and can control the renewal and re-issue cycle. PAM is deployed in-line between a legacy card management system and the card production bureau, where PAM enriches magnetic stripe card orders with all the required smart application and security data. PAM supports more than EMV payments and is in use for transit, e-ID and healthcare, either stand-alone or as multiple applications on a single card. PAM is user-configurable and adding new applications is usually a matter of copying, pasting and amending an existing profile. Code changes are most often not required.

PAM is highly resilient, using IBM MQ to maintain transaction integrity, and can process more than 50,000 EMV cards with the most demanding crypto requirements per hour.

Navy Federal Credit Union use PAM to issue to their base of over 5 million debit cards through both centralised batch issuance and on-demand instant issuance across their worldwide branch network.