|
Articles - Cashless Society
I. MOVING TOWARD CONVENIENCE
The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) estimated
that in the last fiscal year, ending June
30, 2000, over 85 per cent of consumer banking
transactions were done electronically. CBA
statistics show that since 1994 internet
banking use has gone up 10 per cent annually
and is rising.
E-commerce options are continuing to grow
for the consumer and smart card technologies
offer the user and the financial institution
many applications and the required security.
Studies conducted by the Interac Association
have shown that Canadians are avid users
of Interac Direct Payment (IDP). In 1999,
there were 54.3 IDP transactions per Canadian,
compared to 44.2 in the Netherlands, 41.3
in France and 27.5 in the United States.
The convenience of IDP is a strong draw for
Canadians, who used it over 1.96 billion
times from over 310,000 merchant locations
in 2000, according to a consumer survey conducted
by the Interac Association.
IDP statistics suggest that a cashless society
is not as farfetched as it sounds. A recent
study shows that 42 per cent of Canadians
use IDP as a method of payment, compared
to 35 per cent of Canadians who use cash
for payment transactions.
II. SMART CARD APPLICATIONS FOR E-COMMERCE
Electronic purses, wallets, e-cash and pre-paid
debit cards are examples of stored value
cards. The user transfers cash from a bank
account and the amount is stored on the card
for future purchases.
Pilot programs have shown that the most promising
application results were from stored cash
value in closed environments like school
campuses, malls and airports. Application
results were also promising when smart cards
were used for parking meters, vending machines
and coin-operated laundries. This will expand
to general usage when a national smart card
infrastructure is put into place, allowing
Canadians access to the convenience of smart
card applications on a national basis.
Financial: stored value, e-money, home PC banking,
telephone banking, e-commerce signature and
verification methods.
Telecom: pre-paid phone cards, SIM cards in cellular
phones and storage for personal phone directories.
Education: campus identification, stored value, vending
machines, physical and data access, library
and meal plans.
Transportation: stored value for public transit, tolls,
parking payments, fare allocation and rolling
stock allocation.
Travel: payment applications, ticketless airline
travel and frequent flyer loyalty programs.
Retail: gift certificates, bill payments and loyalty
programs.
Gaming and Entertainment: lottery tickets, television top boxes, PAY
TV de-scrambling and payment applications.
ACT Canada is an international non-profit
association for the advancement of card technologies.
We work on behalf of our members to promote
the awareness, understanding and use of all
advanced card technologies; including optical,
smart, capacitive and emerging technologies.
If you would like to learn more about ACT
Canada membership please visit the membership section of our web site or contact our office at
(905) 426-6360.
Please forward any comments, suggestions,
or questions to info(AT)actcda.com
|
 |
