A method of initializing a secure element in a wireless terminal, comprising: receiving an uninitialized secure element comprising memory, wherein the memory of the secure element includes pre-installed root keys, a transfer key and a unique serial number; receiving from an issuer secure element tailoring information associated with the issuer, wherein said secure element tailoring information comprises an issuer seed encrypted with an encrypting transfer key corresponding to a transfer key stored in the memory of the secure element; installing the secure element into a wireless terminal; and subsequent to said installing step, configuring the installed secure element to support secure communication with the issuer through the wireless terminal, wherein said configuring of the secure element comprises invoking an initialization routine stored in the secure element which receives as input the encrypted issuer seed, the initialization routine performing the steps of: decrypting the issuer seed using the transfer key stored in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the pre-installed root keys stored in the memory of the secure element with the issuer seed to generate master keys; temporarily storing the master keys in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the master keys with the unique serial number stored in the memory of the secure element to generate chip keys; and storing the chip keys in the memory of the secure element. receiving an uninitialized secure element comprising memory, wherein the memory of the secure element includes pre-installed root keys, a transfer key and a unique serial number; receiving from an issuer secure element tailoring information associated with the issuer, wherein said secure element tailoring information comprises an issuer seed encrypted with an encrypting transfer key corresponding to a transfer key stored in the memory of the secure element; installing the secure element into a wireless terminal; and subsequent to said installing step, configuring the installed secure element to support secure communication with the issuer through the wireless terminal, wherein said configuring of the secure element comprises invoking an initialization routine stored in the secure element which receives as input the encrypted issuer seed, the initialization routine performing the steps of: decrypting the issuer seed using the transfer key stored in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the pre-installed root keys stored in the memory of the secure element with the issuer seed to generate master keys; temporarily storing the master keys in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the master keys with the unique serial number stored in the memory of the secure element to generate chip keys; and storing the chip keys in the memory of the secure element. decrypting the issuer seed using the transfer key stored in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the pre-installed root keys stored in the memory of the secure element with the issuer seed to generate master keys; temporarily storing the master keys in the memory of the secure element; diversifying the master keys with the unique serial number stored in the memory of the secure element to generate chip keys; and storing the chip keys in the memory of the secure element.