Holly Springs, NC (www.AllPayNews.com [1]) -- Paragon Application Systems, the leading global provider of electronic payment (ePayment) simulation, configuration and testing software and services today announced that The Shared Electronic Banking Services Company (Knet), the national banking switch in Kuwait, has licensed EMV support for Paragon’s QA and regression testing tool, FASTest. Knet is using FASTest with EMV to simulate and test EMV chip card transactions. To combat financial transaction fraud, many countries world-wide are adopting the EMV (Europay, MasterCard Visa) standard for Integrated Chip Cards. EMV chip cards store financial data on a secured chip versus on the magnetic stripe. Chip cards are hard to duplicate and contain specific secure information that can’t be read from the card.

Knet has used Paragon’s FASTest for automated QA and regression testing since 2005. To confirm the accuracy of their EMV transactions, Knet recently licensed EMV support for FASTest. FASTest with EMV support enables Knet to validate that they are mapping the correct EMV tags, and that the cryptograms and EMV fields that are being sent are legitimate. Knet is able to create an unlimited number of virtual EMV cards, or soft cards, for testing with FASTest. Soft cards give Knet the ability to test scenarios that would block a physical EMV card.

“Member banks count on Knet to provide reliable, error free financial transaction processing,” says Ms. Haifa Al-Ali, Manager of Application Development for Knet. “Paragon has provided reliable, easy-to-use testing solutions that have enabled us to improve quality and reduce our development time.”

“We are delighted that Knet is able to rely on Paragon solutions to confirm the reliability of their transaction processing,” says Doug Daggett, Regional Sales Manager for Paragon Application Systems. “We appreciate our long-term partnership with Knet and look forward to assisting additional switches and financial institutions in the Middle East with their EMV challenges.”

About Paragon Application Systems
Paragon Application Systems is a leading global provider of ePayment simulation, configuration and testing software tools to the financial industry. More than 400 financial institutions in over 80 countries use Paragon tools to improve quality and reduce time-to-market. Paragon’s broad customer base includes major interchanges, processors, leading software providers, banks and credit unions. Visit Paragon Application Systems at www.paragonedge.com [2].

About The Shared Electronic Banking Services Company (Knet)
The Shared Electronic Banking Services Company (Knet) connects all of the banks in the State of Kuwait through an advanced network and offers ATM, POS, E-commerce, E-Government and M-Commerce services. Knet uses leading edge electronic banking and ePayment technology to provide their member banks with accurate, efficient and cost-effective financial transactions. Visit Knet at www.knet.com.kw [3]