Gemalto NV of Amsterdam has increased its investment in Serverside Group of London, a provider of payment card personalization software to issuers.
Paul Beverly, the president of Gemalto's North America unit, said Tuesday that the smart card maker now owns a 50.1% stake in Serverside and has an option to acquire the rest in the next three to five years.
The companies did not give a price for the transaction.
Gemalto has also struck a worldwide distribution agreement to market Serverside's software.
Gemalto particularly likes Serverside's hosted service because it enables bank clients to use a single central server to update and make changes in their customer offerings, Beverly said.
Users of Serverside's AllAboutMe card-personalization platform, include ANZ Banking Group Ltd., RBS Group and First National Bank of Omaha.
