Mondex has approved Verifone Inc’s VeriSmart smart card technology and Personal ATM for use in Mondex e-cash implementations. The approval gives VeriSmart customers another option for the electronic wallet component of their smart card application, and means existing Mondex members may not have to jump through as many hurdles to get smart card applications approved. Mondex recognizes the bulk of the work we have done in Java, says Larry Graves, senior manager of product marketing, so member banks who choose a VeriSmart/Mondex system won’t have to go through the full accreditation process. Verifone has three customers – Citibank, Sweden’s Sparbanken and Chia Shin in Asia – already using VeriSmart. Executives say more customers are preparing to announce their projects. Right now two of the three banks are running ePurse which is the baby step. That’s Citibank and [Sweden’s] Sparbanken using VisaCash and Proton respectively, Graves says. Chia Shin has a stock trading program planned. Consumers are issued a smart card, which they can insert into a payport device, like an ATM. That will set up a secure connection between the consumer and the VeriSmart server. The browser will work as the user interface and they can select stock purchases using smart card to authorize payments. It may seem unlikely that shareholders would want to adjust their portfolios from an ATM-like device. Even so, Verifone’s point is that if that’s what customers want to do, they can now use Mondex to facilitate the trade.
