The China Financial Certification Authority (CFCA), a joint venture of 13 commercial banks under the direct leadership of the People's Bank of China, is to use technology from Texas-based Entrust to secure online payment transactions over the Web.
The CFCA plans to issue more than 100,000 digital certificates or IDs over the next six months to corporate banking customers and Chinese stock traders who perform online transactions valued at over US$1 billion.
The certification authority is the largest secure e-commerce infrastructure effort ever undertaken in China, and is expected to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce in China.
The CFCA carried out an intial pilot programme through its 13 member banks which involved about 15,000 digital IDs from Entrust to help secure those financial institutions' online banking services, such as Internet banking, business-to-business transactions, online electronic bill payment and online brokerates services.
Liu Da Long, general manager, China Financial CA Centre, says: "Based on the success of our initial pilot, we are now ready to expand production to support a broad range of e-commerce payment functions in the capital region around Beijing and at many other locations in China."
Entrust's enhanced Internet security software ensures end-user identification based on digital IDs, entitlements, verification, privacy and security management capabilities.
Edward Kountz, senior analyst, mobile financial strategies, TowerGroup, comments: "As Chinese Internet and mobile Internet penetration continues to rise, leading domestic and global financial institutions will continue to look for ways to reach new and existing customers via self-directed electronic access. The introduction of security tools that can support this adoption is a critical step in this process."