Ray Van Eng (05/05/97)
Southern Ontario, in which the city of Toronto, Canada dominates has become a favorite hang-out where the world's leading e-cash issuers like to congregate and run their smart card pilots. Guelph, ON and its Mondex card trial is now entering the third month of testing. The people of Kingston, ON have been using the Exact card since December last year. And now, Visa Cash is gearing up to launch a test in Barrie, ON, a city about 80 miles north of Toronto. Visa Cash cards have been used in Canada before, in Vancouver, Montreal and even Toronto itself. However, those previous cards have fixed denominations for one time use only and can not be re-filled. The new Visa Cash cards for the upcoming Barrie trial are the reloadable type just like the U.K. based Mondex system and the Belgium derived Exact card. The one year trial will begin this fall with more than 10,000 consumers and 300 merchants particpating. Scotiabank and TD Bank will install special devices beside their ABMs for Visa Cash card-holders to download money from their bank accounts to the cards. One major reason why Barrie, ON is choosen as a test site is because the city has a relatively young population with 48% of its citizens in the 15 to 44 age group, an ideal demographic for trying out new technologies. Derek Fry, President of Visa Canada indicated that they are encouraged by previous Visa Cash card trials from around the world. "Survey results show that, eight out of 10 respondents would choose a reloadable VISA Cash card over bills and coins because of its convenience and ease of use.'' Fry said. Visa claims to be the world's leader in stored value smart
cards. To date, in excess of 3.7 million Visa Cash transactions have been
made. By the end of the year, 24 Visa Cash programs will have been launched
with 75 Visa Member Institutions in 15 countries. Visa also claims that
their Visa Cash card is the longest running electronic cash card pilot
program in Canada. |
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