Nokia demonstrates electronic mobile payment services with Visa and MeritaNordbanken

At CeBIT 2000, Nokia, Visa and MeritaNordbanken will showcase how the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and personal area network (PAN) connectivity technologies, such as Infrared and Bluetooth, enable customers to purchase either via on-line transaction over the Internet or at the merchant point-of-sale by simply using their WAP enabled mobile phones.

The remote, on-line payment system seamlessly integrates the mobile Internet connectivity capabilities provided by a WAP enabled phone with a reliable credit card payment over the Internet, using an EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) compliant bank card, WAP Identity Module (WIM) and, SET Secure Electronic TransactionTM technologies.

The local payment system effortlessly combines local connectivity with chip card payment technology, providing a reliable, secure method of purchase by authenticating both the user and the merchant.

"Mobile handsets are transforming into multipurpose tools, enabling users to make calls, connect to the Internet and make purchases, with the added benefit of knowing their payments are authenticated and secure. The co-operation with MeritaNordbanken and Visa on dual-chip technology demonstrates that the involvement of leading payment associations will drive forward customer acceptance of electronic mobile payment services", comments Pertti Lounamaa, Vice President at Nokia Internet Communications.

Security is one of the most important benefits of mobile electronic commerce. Nokia's WAP compliant security solution, featuring strong user authentication and digital signature enables service providers and financial institutions to offer secure, mobile transactions to their customers.

"We are excited to participate in showing how payment cards, WAP technology, and the Internet can be integrated into one solution", said Jon Prideaux, Executive Vice President, Visa EU. "Everyone is talking about mobile commerce; this is as close as it gets to seeing into the future."

According to Bo Harald, Executive Vice President, MeritaNordbanken: "Providing mobile payment services to our customers is one of our top priorities. With electronic mobile payment services, a leading-edge initiative, MeritaNordbanken can deliver trustworthy, cost-effective services, which will be widely adopted."

The EMPS technology will be demonstrated at CeBIT in the Nokia booth (Hall 26, Stand F72) from February 24th-March 1st. The services are scheduled for a pilot launch during the second half of this year.

About EMPS
Electronic Mobile Payment Services (EMPS) is a joint project between Nokia, MeritaNordbanken and Visa looking into areas of mobile payment. It will build on the groundwork established by the Wireless Application Protocol, Bluetooth and the specification by Europay, Mastercard and Visa for smart cards (EMV).

About Nokia
Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. The company is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, Nokia's net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 55 000 people. For more information please visit www.nokia.com.

About Visa
As the World's Best Way to Pay, Visa is the leading payment brand and the largest consumer payment system worldwide with more volume than all other major payment cards combined. Visa plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa has more than 70 smart card programmes in 33 countries and on the Internet, with 23 million Visa chip cards, including over 8 million Visa Cash cards. Visa is pioneering SET Secure Electronic TransactionTM programmes to enable and advance Internet commerce. There are more than 620 million Visa-branded cards, which generate over US$1.2 trillion in annual volume. Visa is accepted at more than 15 million worldwide locations, including at over 531,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM Network. Visa's Internet address is www.visa.com

About MeritaNordbanken Group
MeritaNordbanken Group is the largest banking group in the Nordic region with over 6,5 million private and 400 000 corporate customers. The Group pioneered electronic banking services in the early 1980's. Today over 1,1 million customers have signed up for the Group's Internet service. Total log-ons exceed 3 million times a month. In Finland the number of network customers represents over 50 % of active customers . Over and above standard fund transfers and paying of bills the Group's electronic services facilitate, for example, submitting of orders for purchase and sales of shares, direct purchase and sale fund units and electronic signing of loans. Over 750 merchants apply the Group's solutions of E-commerce payment introduced in 1996. Other new services include E-billing, E-identification and E-signatures. From the beginning the Group's electronic banking services have been designed to be used with different devices and through multiple channels, all utilizing the same set of passwords and covered by a single service contract. Today the service can be accessed with PC (Internet and public net), InetTV, WAP phone, mobile phones (including SMS-based services) and ordinary phones. More about MeritaNordbanken at www.meritanordbanken.com