MONDEX USES INTERNET TO SPREAD GLOBAL ELECTRONIC CASH MESSAGE

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

News Release


4 April 1995




MONDEX USES INTERNET TO SPREAD GLOBAL ELECTRONIC CASH MESSAGE


London 4th April...From today information about Mondex, the electronic cash
smartcard will be available on the Internet through pages on the World Wide
Web. Mondex World Wide Web pages are available on:
http://www.mondex.com/mondex/home.htm/


Mondex is being introduced as a global alternative to physical cash for use in
shops and as a future payment mechanism in a wide variety of areas such as the
Internet and multimedia services.  It is being launched in the UK in 1995 and
franchises for its use in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand have already been announced.


In a key-note address at the ICM Conference in Chicago, 24th March, Tim Jones,
Mondex CEO, said "Mondex is addressing a global marketplace and the Net offers
the instant global access that we need."


Mr Jones added that he expected Mondex to become a key factor in the
development of cash payment capabilities for electronic commerce on the
Internet.


Mr Jones said "We believe Mondex has a major role to play in the development
of the Internet as a marketplace.  In the physical world cash is the way
people make the great majority of their payment transactions - especially for
smaller value items - and Mondex will provide an electronic equivalent of
physical cash which can be spent in the Supermarket or on the Information
Superhighway."


Mr Jones said that Mondex had been carrying out technical trials sending value
between Mondex cards across the Internet for the last four months and that a
Mondex service specifically tailored to meet the commercial needs of the
Internet was now being evaluated. He claimed that the multi-currency feature
of Mondex would mean that retailers on the Internet would find it easier to
accept the currency which was most convenient to the customer.


Note to Editors


Mondex is being launched in the UK by a joint venture of NatWest and Midland
Bank working with BT who will launch the service in Summer 1995 in Swindon, a
large town of 170,000 people in the South West of England where over 40,000
people and 1,000 retailers of all sizes will be involved. Bank of Scotland
announced (31st March 1995) that in due course it would also be participating
in Mondex.


In October 1994 Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited announced
franchise rights in the Far East including Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia,
Macau, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Negotiations with major financial
institutions around the world are also progressing to enable the global
introduction of Mondex electronic cash.


Mondex has been designed as a global product with a set of
language-independent symbols enabling users to complete transactions with
confidence anywhere around the world where they see the Mondex sign.


In April 1994 product development specifications for Mondex were released
which will enable manufacturers to begin the development of Mondex-compatible
products such as point-of-sale terminal equipment for retailers and bank cash
machines as well as opening up competition for the production of other Mondex
devices such as the Mondex electronic wallet and the Mondex personal balance
reader. Since this release over 130 electronics manufacturers from around the
world have expressed an interest in developing Mondex products.


About the Mondex World Wide Web Pages


The Mondex pages were bought to the Web with the help of three companies based
in Guildford, Surrey;  Hyperion who provided consultancy, specifications,
information design and  project management;   Artery Design who provided
Graphic Design and implementation; Jane Bryant Publishing Services who
provided HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) coding layout and proofreading.


Enquiries to


David Morton
Mondex


Tel: +44 (0) 171 920 5061
Fax: +44 (0) 171 920 5505
E-mail:  news () int mondex com


Richard Harris, Hyperion:  +44 (0) 483 301793 (richard () hyperion co uk)
Rosalind Paxman, Artery Design:  +44 (0) 0483 203147
(artery () adesign demon co uk)
Jane Bryant, Publishing Services:  +44 (0) 01428 607984


Mondex World Wide Web pages are available on:
http://www.mondex.com/mondex/home.htm/