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| Subject: Balkans (Pron vendor Ecard (Keycorp) in this as wellCEPS | |
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Author: Proton vendor personalisationCard supplier SchlumbergerSema |
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Date Posted: 17:12:21 01/06/03 Mon Balkan Banks To Test Online E-Purse A small group of banks, processors and vendors plan to launch a trial of an international electronic purse card on the Internet later this year. The Balcard project, funded in part by the European Commission, will be held in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Cyprus starting in the second quarter. Three financial institutions, Eurobank Cards of Greece, Bulgarian Post Bank and Bank Post of Romania are involved, as well as transaction processors from Bulgaria and Cyprus. The EC is paying for about a third of the 4.6 million euro (US$4.8 million) trial, which will include "tens of thousands," of cards and thousands of readers, says Stefanos Karapetsis, executive director of Athens-based vendor Mellon Group and project coordinator. He says the Balkans region was chosen, at least in part, because of the large number of Internet users there who do not have credit cards, especially in Bulgaria and Romania. "In countries like Bulgaria, there’s only 20,000 international credit cards and there are hundreds of thousands of Internet users," he says. "The Internet users cannot buy because they don’t have a credit card, and they will not have one in the next two to three years--but they have cash." The cards will carry a purse based on the international CEPS (Common Electronic Purse Specifications) standard, as well as multiapplication software from Belgian-based Proton World International. But there are no definite plans for additional applications. Cardholders will be given free readers, either simple low-cost devices or sophisticated readers based on a Finread standard that is also being backed by the EC, says Karapetsis. He says up to 1,000 e-retailers will accept the cards online. Bulgarian national processor, Borica, will process the Balcard transactions. Card supplier SchlumbergerSema is also part of the consortium. Cardholders will only be able to use the cards on the Internet, but will have to reload them at their bank branches, with cash. The consortium may extend use of the e-purse to the physical world and enable reloading online if consumers take to the cards. That is a big "if," given the generally poor commercial results of standalone e-purse cards, especially on the Internet. "We are confident it will be a success," says Karapetsis, but allowing: "Life is sometimes different from our expectations." ( 2003-01-03 ) [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Balkans 3 financial insto's, Eurobank Cards Greece, Bulgarian Post Bank& Bank Post Romania | EC payingabout third 4.6 million euro (US$4.8 million)trial | 17:16:19 01/06/03 Mon |
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