The Canadian banks
Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Scotiabank and TD Canada
Trust, in co-operation with the company Certapay,
are to offer a new online person-to-person payment
service.
The new "Email
Money Transfer" service advises recipients
by e-mail that the funds have arrived, while
the funds are transferred through existing secure
interbank clearing systems. The five million
or so Canadian customers that bank online with
the five banks concerned will be able in a few
weeks to transfer funds by the Email Money Transfer
service to the fifteen million Canadians that
have an e-mail address and a bank account, irrespective
of the bank where their account is held. The
user simply logs on and enters the recipient's
name and e-mail address, together with the necessary
payment information: amount, account to be debited,
answers to certain security questions and, as
an option, a personal message. Certapay then
sends an electronic alert to the beneficiary's
usual e-mail letter box. The beneficiary then
receives an electronic message containing an
hypertext link so that the funds can be directed
to the beneficiary's choice of bank. The payer's
account is debited when the "Email Money
Transfer" is sent and the beneficiary's
account is credited almost simultaneously.
The Desjardins group,
the biggest Quebec bank, has announced that
it intends to join the network, and other Canadian
banks are currently negotiating to join the
system.
