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Date: 18 May 2001
Visa forges strategic collaboration with Hongkong Post
through e-Cert enabled Open Platform multi-application smart cards
Hong
Kong, 18 May 2001 - Visa International, the world's
largest payment system, today forged a strategic
collaboration with Hongkong Post with the signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the
development of a Hongkong Post e-Cert enabled
multi-application smart card using Open Platform.
The
MOU represents an important step for the use
of Open Platform smart cards, which are widely
seen as the future of the payment industry. The
Open Platform is a collection of specifications
and technologies that enable member financial
institutions to securely deploy multi-application
smart cards.
This
is the first time that Hongkong Post has collaborated
with a payment association to explore the potential
of e-Cert enabled Open Platform smart cards to
give end-users greater convenience, personal
security and protection.
Under
the MOU, Visa and Hongkong Post will jointly
study the suitability of the Open Platform to
support Hongkong Post's e-Cert and its Public
Key Infrastructure, and the suitability for an
Open Platform smart card to carry a Hongkong
Post e-Cert as a medium to authenticate the identity
of the holder. The two parties will also explore
possibility of running smart card pilot programmes
with Visa member financial institutions using
Open Platform and Hongkong Post e-Cert.
Speaking
at the MOU signing ceremony today, Mr. James
MURRAY, Executive Vice President, Southeast Asia & Greater China, Visa International, said: "We are delighted to partner with Hongkong Post, which is of strategic importance
for us to further the development of Open Platform
smart cards. Our joint efforts to explore the
potential of multi-application smart cards will
be positive for the industry and consumers, especially
in light of the rapid growth of Internet commerce."
Mr.
P. C. LUK, the Postmaster General, said: " As the first public Certification Authority in Hong Kong, one of the greatest
challenges we are facing is to ensure that all
sectors of the community can benefit from our
Public Key Infrastructure. Today's announcement
with Visa International will help to accelerate
the evolution and development of e-commerce within
the local community."
Pilot
programmes by Visa members
Visa
member financial institutions in Hong Kong have
shown wide support to the Visa-Hongkong Post
joint initiative. A number of members including
Bank of China, Dah Sing Bank, the Hongkong Chinese
Bank and Dao Heng Bank have expressed great interest
in the pilot programmes.
Mr.
MURRAY welcomed Visa member financial institutions'
support for the initiative and believed that "the pilot programme will help enhance the competitiveness of members by offering
a broader array of value-added functions to Visa
smart cards in an easy and cost-effective manner."
e-Cert
Open Platform multi-application smart cards
facilitate ESD
The
Multi-application smart cards, to be embedded
with Hongkong Post e-Cert, will enable the cardholders
to conduct various secure Internet transactions,
which require the use of e-Cert for authentication
and digital signing. One of the examples is the
Government's Electronic Service Delivery (ESD)
scheme. The ESD scheme allows interested parties
to access public information and services 24
hours a day through the Internet and other means
of electronic access.
Mr.
Tony MA, General Manager, ESD Services Limited,
said, "As the project executor of the Hong Kong SAR Government's Electronic Services
Delivery scheme, ESDlife warmly welcomes the
development of the Open Platform smart cards.
In
the future, consumers will be able to authenticate
and sign digital documents and to make payments
via www.esdlife.com by just one single e-Cert enabled smart card. Card holders will enjoy extra
convenience as they can also access ESDlife e-government
and personal services through the 100 ESD Kiosks
installed at Hong Kong's most convenient locations
such as MTR and KCR stations, ParknShop supermarkets,
government offices and shopping malls.
With
the increasing participation of financial institutions,
we expect the number of e-Cert holders will rapidly
increase through a more extensive network of
customer channels. We believe it would further
stimulate e-commerce and e-government transactions
in Hong Kong."
As
the recognised leader in smart cards, Visa pioneered
the launch of the world's first commercially
available multifunction smart card in Hong Kong
in 1999. At present, more than 42 million Visa-branded
smart cards have been issued worldwide. Visa
is of the view that smart cards - chip based
payment cards - are considered key to achieving
its goal of enabling u-commerce - or universal
commerce - the ability to conduct commerce anywhere,
anytime and anyway over any type of device.
Visa
International
Visa
is the world's leading payments brand and the
largest payments system worldwide. Visa-branded
cards generate more than US$1.8 trillion in annual
volume and are accepted at over 21 million locations
around the world. The Visa organization plays
a pivotal role in advancing new payment products
and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member
financial institutions and their cardholders.
Visa is a leader in Internet based payments and
is pioneering the creation of u-commerce, or
universal commerce - the ability to conduct commerce
anytime, anywhere, over any type of device.
With
a dominant market share of more than 51 percent
in the Asia Pacific region -- more than all other
payment brands combined, Visa reported total
volume for the 12 months ending December 31,
2000 reached US$326.5 billion. This figure includes
US$243 billion in card sales volume, plus a further
US$83.5 billion of commercial activity using
Visa cards in China, as reported by Chinese member
banks.
In
the same period, the total number of Visa-, Interlink-
and PLUS- branded cards on issue in the Asia
Pacific region increased 25 percent to 253.5
million cards. Visa¡¦s Internet address is www.visa-asia.com.
Hongkong
Post
To
enable the development of electronic commerce
in Hong Kong, Hongkong Post has created a public
key infrastructure (PKI) and established on 31
January 2000 the first public Certification Authority
(CA) in Hong Kong.
As
empowered by S34 of the Electronic Transaction
Ordinance (ETO), the Postmaster General is a
recognised certification authority in Hong Kong.
Hongkong Post issues digital certificates, namely
Hongkong Post e-Certs, to individuals and businesses
to authenticate the identity of the subscribers
over the Internet. There are four types of e-Cert,
namely Personal, Organisational, Encipherment
and Server Certificates. Hongkong Post CA maintains
a certificate repository and directory to allow
the public to verify the validity of a particular
Hongkong Post e-Cert prior to carrying out transactions.
These services provide a secure and reliable
environment for the conduct of electronic commerce
in Hong Kong.
The
Hongkong Post e-Cert may be used for commercial
operations and secure electronic transactions
in the fields of banking, finance, telecommunications,
entertainment, education, health etc. The e-Cert
also supports the Government ' s Electronic Service
Delivery (ESD) scheme, which is available from
9 December 2000.
For
more information, please contact:
Debbie
Chu / Eunice Chiu
Scotchbrook-BSMG
Worldwide (on behalf of Visa International)
Tel:
2863 9118 / 2863 9131
Mr.
Roy SIU
Controller
of Posts (Public Relations)
Hongkong
Post
Tel
: (852) 2921 2261
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