South Africa is expecting three major smart card rollouts this year - chip-based bank cards, the new national identification system and the issuing of more prepaid and SIM cards by the telecommunications network operators. Other projects are also in the pipeline.

The bank cards - referred to as "EMV-compliant" because they conform to a standard agreed upon by Europay (subsequently bought by mastercard), MasterCard and Visa - have received much press recently, but the other projects will affect many more people. While at least 12 million EMV cards are expected to be issued in South Africa in the next five years, the Home Affairs National Identification System (Hanis) will see smart cards replace about 30 million identity books. The telecommunications network operators are expected to issue another 20 million cards this year.