########################################
#Written by David Tam, 1999.           #       
#davidkftam@netscape.net Copyright 1999#  
########################################

From tamda@ecf.toronto.edu Mon Jul 12 18:27:31 1999
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 13:48:23 -0500 (EST)
From: David Kar Fai Tam 
To: APS 424S 
Subject: #11-02/09/99-"Banking group preparing Internet billing system" 


The Globe and Mail, Thursday, February 4, 1999. B3.

	Canadian chartered banks and other financial institutions 
are working on a nation-wide seamless bill payment system for the 
internet. Dubbed "Interac II", the banks hope to standardize a 
safe and secure method of presenting bills to customers and 
receiving payments all through the Internet.  A pilot project is 
scheduled with some of the country's largest billers for June of 
this year.  They hope to have a full nation wide program some 
time in the year 2000.

	If this standardization becomes successful, it will 
encourage more electronic commerce on the internet and help e-
business to reach its promised goals.  If the banks can co-
ordinate themselves appropriately and leave behind all politics, 
they will hopefully be able to repeat the success that has been 
seen with the Interac system of inter-operable debit card 
payments and bank machine networks.

	Such a system on the internet can lead to a nationally 
accepted method of payment over the internet. As we have seen in 
Canada, the success of the Interac system is unmatched in the 
United States. This potential for the so called "Interac II" 
system can place Canadian companies far ahead in the e-business 
games compared to competitors in the United States. Canada may 
acheive a very strong domestic e-business industry and become a 
model for the rest of the world to follow.

	However, many promises have been made in the past concerning 
the internet and e-commerce. The banks and credit card companies 
have been promising a standardized, secure solution to internet 
payment for a very long time.  Since nothing significant has 
appeared, there is a lot of skepticism. Perhaps it is only a 
pyschological barrier and only time will be the solution. When 
the generation that was born after the internet explosion finally 
become majority consumers, they may have a different mind set 
which will enable them to overcome our current barriers.

    Source: geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/9640/4thYear/Business

               ( geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/9640/4thYear)                   ( geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/9640)                   ( geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus)                   ( geocities.com/siliconvalley)