Bank of America's service has been developed in conjunction with Cyota. The west coast bank is rolling out the facility - introduced across the US yesterday by Visa - in time for the holiday shopping season.

"When combined with a participating merchant site using secure socket layer encryption, Verified by Visa may offer one of the most secure online shopping experiences available today," says Jai Dorsey, vice president, product manager, Bank of America card services/e-commerce marketing.

Customers signing up for the scheme are asked to select security features including a login ID, a personal message and a password. When making a transaction with a participating online merchant, the customer will see a pop-up window showing his or her personal message. "After seeing the message, the customer will enter his or her password to complete the transaction," says Dorsey. "Without the password, the transaction will not continue."

Bond Isaacson, payments executive, Bank of America card services, says the facility will be made available on cheque cards in 2002.