Unibank is to introduce the secure Solo e-payment service and online marketplace to Danish merchants and consumers.
The Danish bank, part of the giant Nordic Baltic Holdings banking conglomerate, says it will begin marketing the secure payment technology and Web-based marketplace to Danish Internet merchants and corporate customers with a view to a commercial roll out in the first quarter 2001.
In addition to online access to Unibank customers, Solo merchants will also gain visibility within the group's extended online customer base in Sweden and Finland, at present totalling more than 1.8 million consumers. Once the merger with Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse in Norway has been approved, it will also give access to the Norwegian market and thus to 1.9 million online consumers.
The Solo solution has already proved viable in Sweden and Finland, says Peter Lybecker, member of the executive board of Unibank. Danish companies and organisations such as Federation of Danish Motorists, Interflora, Louisiana, Frellsens Chokolade, Værebro Tømmerhandel, Midtdata and DVDOO have contracted to deliver Solo payment services, he says, and a number of new agreements are in the pipeline.
The technology is implemented within a secure online community, dubbed Solo market. Unibank says the service will be marketed aggressively towards its retail customer base in the Spring 2001, when the national Solo Market is expected to have 35-50 merchants. Unibank expects 300 merchants by the end of 2001.