Geneva, Switzerland and Isle of Man, - 14 September 2000 - The World Internet Secure Key - WISeKey, the world’s largest Public Key Infrastructure and Global Common ROOT service, today announced that it will provide support to SKANCO Business Systems Ltd to create WISe-Offshore, a Certification Authority using the WISekey ROOT PKI to secure financial services for offshore jurisdictions. This will allow offshore financial institutions to radically improve their transaction efficiency and comply with “Know Your Client” requirements.
SKANCO is a major outsourcing and technology partner for many major financial institutions operating in offshore jurisdictions. The provision of PKI enablement for their institutional client base, will allow these institutions to use the WISekey network of registration authorities and PKI interoperability with their financial services. WISe-Offshore will provide secure hosting and technical support to the offshore clients of WISeKey, initially in the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Gibraltar and Jersey. Many of the world’s major financial services institutions have a presence in these jurisdictions, with an urgent need for PKI in order to secure their client services. With a global base of customers, the WISeKey network provides an ideal solution for their needs.
WISe-Offshore is being provided access to the range of solution platforms provided by WISeKey and its partners for personalized e-banking services, e-brokerage, e-payment and funds transfer and other modules, along with a complete infrastructure to enable an institution to deploy new, customized solution modules quickly and cost-effectively.
The WISe-Offshore solutions will be offered to financial institutions implementing Web portals and Certification Authorities. To this end, a customer base is already being established. These customers will benefit from advantages including:
- more effective communications with customers
- Global “Know your Client” access.
- enhanced revenue opportunities from cross selling and personalizing financial services
- the opportunity to deepen relationships and loyalty
- PKI Security and Trust
- the capability to build new value-added services and deliver them faster.
- the capacity to handle higher volumes of trading and more complex transactions.
- smoother adaptability to regulatory changes such as shorter settlement cycles.
- improved risk-adjusted return on assets
- With these advantages, offshore jurisdictions will now be able to greatly improve their efficiency.
WISe-Offshore will utilize Baltimore Technologies as their PKI technology provider and to this end, will work with SKANCO to fast track the setting up of a UNICERT Certification Authority to provide services to many of the offshore financial institutions.
" Baltimore Technologies welcomes SKANCO’s decision to utilize the WISeKey infrastructure. Our strategic partnership with WISeKey ensures the provision of a comprehensive solution for secure, authenticated e-banking in a way that satisfies the needs of offshore financial institutions. Being closely involved in the offshore market place, I am very pleased that WISe-Offshore has been created to provide the focus required on the specific needs of these jurisdictions" commented Steve Bradshaw, Global Business Development Director for Baltimore Technologies.
David Butterworth, Managing Director of SKANCO said today, that “SKANCO through its work with many major financial institutions operating in the offshore jurisdictions, recognised the urgent need for PKI to enable their clients to more efficiently and economically transact business. These clients are high value individuals and institutions operating from all parts of the world. Therefore being a part of the WISeKey network is fundamental to being able to service these clients. No other such independent network exists with the level of integrity required.”
” WISeKey is very pleased to be able to support SKANCO in setting up its Certification Authority. The methodology developed by WISeKey for PKI enablement of financial institutions’ on-line services matches perfectly with the offshore requirements. WISe-Offshore will facilitate the delivery of these systems and the locally based technical resources required using SKANCO’s established expertise. “ said Malcolm Hutchinson, Chief Executive of WISekey.
About SKANCO
<<TO BE COMPLETED BY SKANCO>>
www.skanco.co.uk
About WISeKey
WISeKey is a privately owned company based in Geneva, Switzerland that provides Root Certification Authority services to Certification Authorities worldwide. The trustworthiness of WISeKey's services is based on their carefully orchestrated security practices and procedures used exclusively for the issuance of high-security certificates to Certification Authorities and other entities that form part of the operational services of the globally interoperable PKIs below it. As part of WISeKey's security procedures, the Global Root Private Cryptographic Key used to issue certificates is stored in an off-line high-security facility deep in the Swiss Alps.
With such high-security infrastructure in place, WISeKey has signed a partnership agreement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to promote the deployment of PKIs in 188 countries with the intention of expanding the use of secure electronic communications. In doing so, WISeKey is also providing e-commerce solutions based on the mass usage of certification and PKI enabled applications to secure the Internet for e-business. This approach changes the entire dynamics of how the Internet is used and will propel its transactional-based usage into the 21st century. For further information visit www.wisekey.com.
Media Contacts
WISeKey
Markus Leutert
info@wisekey.com