YPB wins contract for passport security tech

YPB has won a contract from a "first world western economy" to supply an anti-counterfeiting technology for use in passports.

The contract - worth an estimated $600,000 in 2016 -will see YPB's proprietary VariSec technology applied to an estimated 15m passports. The Australian-Chinese group said it expects to deliver the proprietary material used to mark the passports by the end of the year.

VariSec was acquired by YPB when it bought Thailand-headquartered Intellectual Product Protection (IPP) Group earlier this year in a deal valued at up to $500,000. With the new deal, IPP's technology will be deployed in more than 125m of the estimated 500m biometric passports issued around the world

"This is an excellent new opportunity for YPB to gain increased exposure to government agencies for our suite of anti-counterfeiting solutions," commented YPB's chief executive John Houston.

News of the new contract comes shortly after YPB secured a contract from a second Chinese bank to supply its invisible tracer and scanner technology for use on bank documents. The unidentified financial house has 1,300 branches in China and is a Fortune Global 500 company.

The company has also just announced a three-year deal valued at more than $15m - with a Chinese industrial association - to supply a suite of anti-counterfeit technologies that will be used by its members.