National Bank Brings Internet CyberCash To Canada 06/05/96

[Joseph M. Reagle Jr.]

>Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 17:18:39 -0400
>From: reagle at rpcp.mit.edu (Joseph M. Reagle Jr.)
>To: reagle at rpcp.mit.edu
>Subject: National Bank Brings Internet CyberCash To Canada 06/05/96
>
>
>                                         
>MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1996 JUN 5 (NB) -- The National Bank of  
>Canada, one of Canada's smaller chartered banks, has signed an 
>agreement with CyberCash Inc. (NASDAQ:CYCH) to bring the Reston, 
>Virginia-based company's Internet payment service to Canada. 
>
>CyberCash touts its payment service -- also called CyberCash -- as a  
>secure method of making payments over the Internet using a credit 
>card. 
>
>To use the system, a consumer first downloads software called the  
>CyberCash wallet from CyberCash's site on the World Wide Web 
>(http://www.cybercash.com ) or from a participating merchant's 
>site, said Melissa Walia, a spokeswoman for CyberCash. The free 
>software, installed on the user's PC, allows the customer to make 
>purchases via the Internet and have them charged to a credit card. 
>
>CyberCash supports major credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard,  
>American Express, and Discover, company officials said. Walia told 
>Newsbytes that Canadians who wish to use the service will not have 
>to be customers of the National Bank. The bank will work with 
>participating Canadian merchants to provide the CyberCash service. 
>
>The CyberCash Cash Register is the merchant piece of the  
>CyberCash system. It works on a merchant's server and receives 
>information necessary to process a credit card transaction. The 
>system is designed to work with an existing financial institution 
>infrastructure, officials said. 
>
>CyberCash said it is committed to supporting the Secure Electronic  
>Transaction (SET) standard for Internet credit-card transactions, 
>announced recently by Visa and MasterCard. The company claimed it 
>plans to be one of the first SET-compliant Internet payment services 
>available. 
>
>Neither Walia nor Bridget Limoges, a spokeswoman for the National  
>Bank, would say how many Canadian merchants have signed up to 
>use CyberCash at this point. However, Limoges told Newsbytes that 
>interest in the technology has been strong. 
>
>The CyberCash credit-card payment service, launched in the United  
>States in April, 1995, is expected to be available to Canadians 
>this summer, Limoges said. CyberCash also said it is working on 
>electronic check and coin services, expected to be released in 
>the second half of this year. 
>
>(Grant Buckler/19960605/Press Contact: Melissa Walia, Niehaus  
>Ryan Group for CyberCash, tel 415-615-7911, fax 415-615-7901, 
>Internet e-mail melissa at nrgpr.com; Bridget Limoges, National Bank 
>of Canada, 514-394-6494; Public Contact: CyberCash, Internet 
>e-mail info at cybercash.com) 
>                
>
>
_______________________
Regards,            Real generosity toward the future lies in giving 
                    all to the present. - Albert Camus
Joseph  Reagle      http://farnsworth.mit.edu/~reagle/home.html
reagle at mit.edu      E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65  BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E