Veridos and Matsoukis celebrate 50 years of government business

Berlin, April 17, 2023 – Half a century ago, Veridos and Matsoukis began their partnership: An order from Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), which later started Veridos together with the Bundesdruckerei, evolved into a leading global manufacturer of identity documents – Veridos Matsoukis.

It was in 1973, when the G+D Group – which founded the subsidiary Veridos together with the Bundesdruckerei in 2015 for the international provision of identity solutions – placed its first order with the Athens security printer Matsoukis: the production of machine-readable passports in Arabic language ­­– which is read from right to left.  This order marked the beginning of decades of cooperation.

Matsoukis acted as G+D's supplier for passports until 2007, when G+D decided to bring its trusted partner on board and acquired a stake in the company. In 2016, it finally transferred these shares to Veridos, the just founded joint venture. The company Veridos Matsoukis was born.

Initially as a partner, then as part of G+D and Veridos, Matsoukis developed into a leading global manufacturer of identity documents. Over the years, it implemented a production line for automated passport creation, installed a dedicated machine for security feature printing, and took over G+D's inlay and eCover production facilities. Today, Veridos Matsoukis produces highly automated, both machine-readable and electronic passports that meet the highest standards of security and quality.

In joint projects with Veridos, Veridos Matsoukis now supplies documents to more than 40 countries on four continents. In Europe, these include Denmark, Latvia, Cyprus, Kosovo and Northern Macedonia, and in Africa, countries such as Uganda and Botswana. In Central America and the Caribbean, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are among the countries supplied, while in Asia, Bangladesh is one of the biggest customers. Each year, Veridos Matsoukis produces around eight million state-of-the-art electronic passports.

The company's research and development department is constantly working on innovations to increase the forgery-resistance of sovereign documents, optimizing their convenience and enhancing their sustainability. Current projects are dedicated to more sustainable security documents that profit from both greener use of material and production processes. These enhancements of the document lifecycle reduce the CO2 footprint and meet the growing desire of states for eco-friendly documents.

"Veridos Matsoukis continues to play a crucial role in the success story of G+D and Veridos, and it is impossible to imagine our portfolio without our Greek team of security printing experts," explains Marc-Julian Siewert, CEO at Veridos. "The company is our home factory for passports whenever our customers do not have a State printing office and therefore cannot realize the production themselves. We very much value our partnership with Veridos Matsoukis – because they are not only a first-class producer of security documents, but also a leading driver of trends and innovations."

"Our collaboration with G+D and integration into the company has been a real benefit – for both companies," comments Dimitrios Matsoukis, Managing Director at Veridos Matsoukis. "By combining our experience and know-how with German technology, we have been able to gain the trust of many countries around the world and create a significant business and innovation center."