An alliance of global banks is stepping up a trusted third party scheme which will enable affiliated users to securely identify correspondents in e-commerce applications. Identrus LLC, based in New York City, hopes to sign up between 50 and 60 financial institutions to act as certification authorities within six months, according to John Bullard, director of participant relations.
Identrus is interested in removing the cultural and technological impediments to electronic commerce rather than running the scheme for revenue. The company expects that client financial institutions will make money by attaching applications such as credit referencing, money transfer and status checking to the certification service. Identrus will levy a small charge on every transaction made. We’re not looking to make a profit until 2001, says Bullard.
The founding members of Identrus, which dates from October 1998, are ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Bankers Trust, Barclays Bank, Chase Manhattan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Hypo Vereinsbank. Recent members include Sanwa Bank of Japan and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as well as several unnamed institutions.
