Digital Me: Internet Speed
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Credit Card Issuers, Banks To Unify
Internet Settlement Method This Year
TOKYO (Nikkei)--MasterCard International, Visa International,
Fuji Bank (8317), Chase Manhattan Bank and other financial
institutions as well as International Business Machines Corp.,
Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and other makers of
information-communications equipment plan to standardize
electronic settlement methods via the Internet by the end of
1999, it was learned Sunday.
If such a standardization is realized, customers will be able to
have bills for goods purchased at more than 100,000 virtual
shops on the Internet charged directly to their bank accounts
or to their credit cards. MasterCard is expected to make an
official announcement on the scheme in New York soon.
Other possible participants for the plan include American
Express group, ABN Amro Bank and some 50 other major
banks worldwide, as well as Fujitsu Ltd. (6702), NEC Corp.
(6701) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (9432).
The companies will standardize both their communications
and encoding methods.
In Japan, Fuji Bank plans to commercialize the new settlement
method, in cooperation with IBM. It plans to double the number
of virtual shops offering electronic settlements to about 100 in
April, with an eye to increasing the network further.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Monday morning edition) |
