Japan’s CardNet, operated by Japan Card Network Co, is to use the Internet to enable retailers to send credit card data to the credit card companies for processing, in place of current ISDN (integrated services digital network) links. CardNet plans to launch the Web-JTRANS service in July with a view to signing up 350 retailers in the first year, after getting card issuer JCB Co on board early on. Firms using the Internet- service, which is promoted as more secure than physical shipments, will save transport costs, particularly as the Japan Consumer Credit Industry Association reports credit card payment volume to be recovering.

In the year to February 2004, Japan’s credit card transactions rose by 9.2 per cent to 1.6 trillion yen, with retail transactions accounting for 1.3 trillion of this total, up 11.3 per cent on the year to February 2003. The 23 credit card firms profiled also reported card transactions to have risen by 10.3 per cent in January 2004 alone, as opposed to growth of less than 5 per cent per month in 2003, until last July. Online card security remains an issue, however, with Tokyo-based Cosmo Oil, for one, investigating a breach in which seven Cosmo cardholders received bills from entities purporting to be debt-collectors.

Cybercafes in Japan are also fighting the use of keystroke-logging software on PCs at their premises after several incidents in which customers’ online banking passwords and PINs were compromised. The association for cybercafes, Japan Complex Cafй Association, certifies cafйs that comply with its security guidelines, but only half of its members are certified. Japan’s Credit Card Association, which is comprised of bank-affiliated credit card companies, is assessing measures for greater security, including a ban on printing credit card numbers on receipts, but has not yet reached a final decision on the issue.

(AsiaBizTech)