CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka, Nik Cherrill, said their solution enables establishments to accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards for the payment of goods and services sold over the Internet. Visa and MasterCard international have mandated specific requirements for their members to qualify to acquire Internet transactions.

"We are a Global Bank and our strengths the world over qualify us to be a part of this growing market, Cherrill said. He added that the criteria required for meeting the Bank’s Internet guidelines are strict and demanding. The security standard, which is used to support this operation, is known as Security Socket Layer (SSL) with 128-bit encryption. The Bank has to ensure that the site in question has particularly stable technology and security owing to the nature of the transaction. The yardstick of measurement is the same for a site in any other country.

"Our solution is unique", said Cherrill. "Card details submitted are stored on HSBC’s servers and not on the establishments’ servers, while system functionality includes 128 bit encryption (Visa and MasterCard security standard requirement). ‘Our solution features multi currency capability with six types of currencies (establishments should have foreign currency permits), split shipment transactions, and automatic/manual settlement. Establishments can store all transaction details for 18 months, while the processing speed is capable of handling five transactions simultaneously per second.

Credit card customers using HSBC’s merchants are assured that all credit card details are obtained and stored by HSBC‘s secure servers and not the establishment servers. Establishments too are benefited, as they need not have encryption and fire walls in their servers to protect credit card data.

The global on-line acquiring experience has fundamentally and permanently changed buyer-seller relationships the world over. The ability for small companies to present their products and then receive payment over the Internet has had a profound effect on the economic landscape, allowing companies access to the same audience reached by established organizations and customers the world over.

Speaking about the payment gateway a staff officer at HSBC’s card centre said, "this project has generated interest and the variety of requests flowing in daily is encouraging. ‘We are working with about 15 companies at the moment to get them on line The changing needs of our excisting customers, coupled up with the new challenges have made it important for us to be abreast of worldwide Internet enhancements. We are able to get ourselves update because of HSBC’s Global strength", the officer said. At present the Bank uses its payment gateway in Hong Kong as an interim solution to process e-commerce transactions.