PRAGUE, Czech Republic-Italian bank Societ a per i Servizi Bancari is in negotiations to bring its proprietary e-commerce payment services and m-commerce products to Hungarian mobile telephone operators, banks and public administrative bodies, according to SSB spokesman Guglielmo Maggiori.
Currently, mobile users in Hungary can place buy and sell orders for shares on the Budapest Stock Exchange with their mobile telephones. Other e-commerce applications include bank-account balance information and account debit notification.
He did say, however, the company will use its ELLIPS system, a security protocol for digital signature and cryptography that can support any application service and virtually guarantee data confidentiality and transaction-execution certainty. The Hungarian government is currently drafting an electronic signature bill, which is expected to be discussed in parliament this year and approved during 2001, a U.S. embassy commercial officer in Budapest, Hungary, said.
The Italian bank introduced m-commerce services, such as wireless prepayment for mobile telephone use, in Italy during 1999. The bank has plans to bring similar service to additional Central and Southeast European countries, according to Maggiori.
