Visa International has rallied a team of companies to set specifications for a Smart Card cash carrier to take on National Westminster Bank Plc’s proposed Mondex card: it calls the thing the Electronic Purse and expects it to be ready for trials at the end of next year; participants include NationsBank, Charlotte, North Carolina and Wachovia Corp, Winston-Salem, in the same state, Electronic Payment Services Inc of Wilmington, Delaware, Banksys of Brussels; Financial Information Systems Center, of Taipei, Taiwan; Groupement des Cartes Bancaires of Paris; Sociedad Espanola de Medios de Pago, of Madrid; and Sociedade Interbancaria de Servicos, based in Lisbon, Portugal.
