The Caribbean subsidiary of eConnect has completed the first country-to-country e-cashpad transaction, initiated from the company's booth at the 2001 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
EConnect Caribbean had earlier signed a five year contract with Banco Nacional de Credito, and Enelpunto.net, a Web portal, to launch and process all of its credit, debit and smart card Internet e-commerce and financial transactions in Latin America, beginning with the Dominican Republic. The bank, which is to use eConnect's Bank Eyes Only software to secure payment transactions with customers online, witnessed the ceremonial e-cashpad-initiated purchase from guilloperez.com a Dominican Republic Web merchant.
Moises Lora, vice-president of operations, Banco Nacional de Credito says: "We believe that Bank Eyes Only is the ideal secure online payment system in Latin America, where banks do not commonly use the address verification system by which US banks confirm the identity of consumers using credit cards to make online purchases."
In a Bank Eyes Only transaction, the consumer swipes a smart card, ATM card with PIN, or credit card through eConnect's new e-cashpad - a mouse-sized 'plug-and-pay' PC peripheral now being distributed promotionally and retailed. The e-cashpad routes the consumer's financial information directly to the bank or similar financial settlement institution, which in turn pays the merchant. This sensitive information is neither seen nor stored by the merchant.
Thomas Hughes, founder, chairman and chief executive, eConnect says: "Our ability to process secure international online transactions, not just those made in the US with US-based credit cards, is the heart and soul of Bank Eyes Only."
Internation transactions during the ongoing CES demonstration were processed through eConnect's Host Processing Centre in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, one of several being launched by the Company as part of the global rollout of Bank Eyes Only. EConnect claims to be ready to process payments in the US, the Caribbean, and Europe through host data centres in Milwaukee, Santo Domingo, and Dublin. The company says it plans to expand the system internationally, through the further establishment of host processing centers in Shanghai, Taiwan and Australia.