E-signature law energizes Web banking

"The number of electronic banking customers to rise by the tens of thousands in a year."
By : Leo Broomfield

   The electronic signature bill signed into law by President Aleksander Kwaœniewski last week will boost the amount of banking business conducted online, analysts said.

   “For electronic banking this is a revolution,” said Andrzej Klesyk, board member at Bankgesellschaft Berlin,” a co-owner of domestic IT firm Inteligo. “I expect the number of electronic banking customers to rise by the tens of thousands in a year, and up to 200,000 in two years.” Analysts estimate that about 10,000 Poles bank online today.

   The new law puts e-signatures on par legally with their handwritten equivalents. Consequently, all institutions will be able to protect their computer data and operate more securely via the Internet. The legislation brings Poland in line with the 15 European Union (EU) member states, which passed the law in July, and the United States, which approved its e-signature bill last year.

   Until the law takes effect next July, the Economy Ministry will grant licenses to selected institutions for the distribution of computer-fitted electronic cards that authorize access to registered individuals and companies.

   Analysts also said institutions and customers seeking to use e-signatures will have to invest in infrastructure, particularly hardware permitting access via computer. They said the law should make more people aware of the possibilities of using the Internet for regular banking, insurance, trading and shopping activities, which are primarily done face to face today.

   “To adapt to the new legal regulations, new infrastructure is necessary,” said Sławomir Lachowski, president of mBank, the Internet-based retail subsidiary of BRE Bank. “(But) by the time the law goes into effect, many institutions will be in a position to offer their clients services using e-signatures.”