SmartChoice Technologies (P) Ltd., established in 2001, is a company registered in Nepal and promoted by well-established entrepreneurs.

The company has deployed a first-of-its-kind initiative in Nepal creating an integrated shared services network (SCT-Network™) for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point-Of-Sale (POS) Terminals, managed through a national switch. The SCT-Network™ is a fully integrated network supporting multiple device types and card acquiring standards.

This network has been made available, on a subscription basis (pay-per-use), to banks across the country. Besides the network, this national switch will also operate and manage domestic & international gateways and settlement systems. For inter-bank settlement, the company has appointed a settlement bank, which is responsible for the daily settlement of all ATM transactions on the network.

The company has also launched a local debit card program (branded as SCT-Network™) to enable banks to issue cards to customers at a fraction of the costs typically associated with international card schemes. The local debit card program offers a first-time opportunity for banks to issue and manage a local debit card program, with wide acceptability (due to the ATM & POS Network in Nepal and India and regional countries at a subsequent date).

In addition, the company also provides a secure facility for Card and PIN production & management, customized for each bank. This facility is equipped with world standard Hardware Based Encryption (RACAL-HSM) supporting the latest (e.g. 3DES) encryption standards.

The project also includes integration of ATMs and POS banks may have already invested in, and enable them to recover their investments on a significantly accelerated basis. The technology used in this project is tried and tested in many sites overseas and consequently mitigates the risk of technology failure that is typically associated with new technologies.