Annual Report 2009
- CEO comments
- Events during the year
- This is Precise Biometrics
- History
- Technology and solutions
- Geographical markets
- Market segments
- Customers
- Voices from the industry
- Employees
- Sustainability
- The share and shareholders
- Risks
- Five-year review
- Key ratios
- Administration report
- Financial Reports
- Assurance
- Audit report
- Corporate governance report
- Board of Directors
- Management
- Auditors
- FInancial glossary
- Shareholder information
- Contact
Geographical markets
Strong position in Middle East & Africa
Operations and market
The markets in the Middle East and Africa are managed from the head office in Lund, and this involves extensive travel throughout these regions. Precise Biometrics cooperates with strong partners who have a great influence on local markets.
Operations in the region focuses mainly on marketing the advantages of Precise Match-on-Card. Precise Biometrics also has a powerful position in the segment for national ID cards in the Middle East, in that the company have won two national ID cards with Match-on-Card in the region – Bahrain and Qatar.
Trends
The Middle East & Africa are set to become among the most expansive markets for biometric products in the years ahead. This has been confirmed both by market surveys and the fact that inquiries have steadily increased from this geographic region in the last few years.
The Middle East has seen a lot of activity in relation to the procurement of national ID cards. Several countries in this region are expected to reach decisions on biometric ID cards within the next few years, notwithstanding that the procurement processes are often very protracted. Precise Biometrics’ persevering efforts to market Match-on-Card have now resulted in several countries specifying Match-on-Card as an absolute requirement during negotiations for ID cards.
The banking sector is on the march in Africa, encouraged by the fact that an increasing number of the players in the region are choosing to switch to more secure smart cards with chips instead of magnetic stripe cards. Using biometrics means that more and more people, for example those with reading and writing difficulties, can be a given access to bank accounts and financial services.
The past year
In the second quarter a government agency in the Middle East placed an additional order, primarily for hardware, for a total of SEK 2.1 million. The order in fact comes from a customer who has been involved with Precise Biometrics since 2004, and who has previously placed several follow-up orders for the purpose of expanding their ID card program with Match-on-Card to enable an increasing number of employees to logon to its computers using fingerprints.
In the third quarter Precise Biometrics initiated cooperation with the Nigerian company Interswitsch, a solutions supplier for the banking sector in West Africa and the predominant player in this country. Interswitch and Precise Biometrics have initiated a joint pilot project for a value of SEK 2 million in 2009. Interswitch is also, along with Precise Biometrics, a partner of Gemalto, and the supplier of the Nigerian ID card. Read an interview with Akeem Laval at Interswitch
End-customers
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Comments
“The most exciting thing in 2009 was our entry into the African banking market. In cooperation with such a keen and market-dominating partner as Interswitch it will no doubt be easier for us to integrate Match-on-Card on West African bank cards.”
Mads Rönnebro, Regional Sales Director, Middle East & Africa
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