Kingston Gets Smart With EXACT Card
Ray Van Eng (07/08/96)
| It seems that Canada has become the latest hotbed for smart card technologies.
Right on the heels of the Vancouver and Guelph smart card announcements,
Kingston, ON is also saying that they are dipping their toes into the pool
of electronic money. There, the card of choice is known as EXACT, a Belgium
developed system.
The two banking partners, Bank of Montreal and The Toronto-Dominion Bank said that the EXACT card will be a reloadable stored value card variety. Almost 800 merchant terminals can be expected to be installed in the city. About 20,000 consumers will participate in the year long trial that will start later this fall. Tandem Computers, a leading global supplier of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) will have their system ready to allow EXACT card holders to download money from their bank accounts. Bell Canada will explore the best way to use its own telecommunication infrastructure to compliment the use of the smart cards. Screen-based telephones and special phone booths are being considered as possible options. Research have shown that 22% of all Canadian consumer spending are under $20 which amount to about $40-$60 billion a year. This is exactly the segment of the retail market that smart cards are targeting at. Credit card and debit card usage in Canada is also very popular with an estimated 43 million plastic cards in circulation today. Debit card transactions in particular have grown by 43% since 1995 in Canada. ``The Exact card takes the hassle out of searching for exact change and complements the debit and credit cards people already use for other purchases,'' said Steve Phillips, TD Bank manager for Access Cards and Smart Card Development, ``The trial of our Exact card in the Kingston area will tell us if Canadians agree.'' |
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