Royal Bank Secures Electronic Payments

Royal Bank of
Canada established the first Canadian
implementation of a SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) end-to-end payment
solution over the Internet.

SET is a unique payment protocol designed to allow cardholders, merchants and
banks to authenticate each other’s identity over open networks like the
Internet, while providing the security and privacy of the transaction.

Royal Bank’s offering is based on SET-based software from VeriFone. Royal
Bank Visa merchants and small businesses conducting business online now have
the capability to offer consumers a highly secure payment option for
Internet commerce, the firm said.

“Our ability to be first to market with the capability to offer an
end-to-end SET-based payment solution in Canada will provide our merchants
with a competitive edge and is another major step towards reassuring
consumers that the use of credit cards over the Internet will become more
secure,” said Adrian Horsfield, Senior Manager, Electronic Commerce,
Merchant Services and Point of Sale for Royal Bank.

Royal Bank is one of North America’s
largest financial institutions, 52,680 employees serving 10 million clients
through more than 1,500 branches and offices in 36
countries.

VeriFone, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Hewlett-Packard Company, has shipped more than six million electronic
payment systems used in over 100 countries.