Financial institutions set to clear electronic signatures

Polish financial institutions joined forces to enable internet users to use electronic signatures in e-commerce and e-banking after the enabling law is approved later this year. Seventeen entities, including the National Bank of Poland (NBP), the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and some of the largest Polish banks have created Centrast, a company created to handle the clearing of electronic signatures, a security device used to facilitate internet transactions. The shareholders have elected a supervisory board with the head of the IT department at the NBP Lech Szukszta as its president. Four million Poles, or 13% of the nation, use the internet, but more than 90% of them have never used e-commerce or e-banking, according to an August survey by private polling agency Taylor Nelson Sofres. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 38, Reuters)