News

Kenyan bank introducing e-purse, using CR2 software

November 2, 2004

DUBLIN - CR2, a provider of channel and Internet banking, ATM and card payment software, will provide its SmartBank product to Co-Operative Bank of Kenya in Nairobi, which will allow the bank to offer an electronic purse solution to its clients.

According to a news release, Co-op Bank is CR2's first SmartBank customer in Kenya. The bank has been a CR2 customer since 1995 using CR2's ATM software to manage its ATM network. The implementation of the new system will commence shortly, with the aim of going live by early 2005.

SmartBank is one of the first products that will allow migration to Visa's new OSI standard for e-purse solutions and is expected to drive a wave of investment in e-purse products with the promise of interoperability across bank's ATM and point-of-sale networks.

SmartBank consists of a chip on a bank card which allows the customer to pre-load value onto the card at ATMs, branches or at merchant POS devices. This enables customers to purchase goods for "cash" by simply inserting the card into the POS terminal. For higher value transactions, PIN validation may be requested.

The bank can issue cards to both non-account and account holders. When required, customers can obtain balance or statement information from their purse at an ATM or POS terminal.