New Zealand's ASB Bank is to charge customers NZ$1 per month for the security of a hardware-based authentication token for transacting online.
The Netcode Token can attach to a keyring and generates random 6-digit number strings for customers to input when identifying themselves online.
The Netcode service has been available to ASB customers via SMS mobile phone messages since December last year. The bank says the hardware-based tokens overcome any obstacles presented by mobile phone network reach and reception.
ASB says it will charge customers $1 a month for the RSA Security devices. SMS text messaging, by comparison, costs users 20 cents for each transaction.
ASB Bank's move comes as rival HSBC begins issuing hardware tokens free of charge to all its 17,000 New Zealand customers.