CIBC has teamed up with telecomms firm Telus and PKI company VeriSign to set up a new joint venture company aimed at establishing a national e-commerce trust network in Canada.
Telus and CIBC currently deliver VeriSign digital ID services for securing corporate and individual correspondence over the Internet. Under terms of the alliance, the two firms will combine their PKI services to deliver a Canadian national trust infrastructure for secure online and wireless commerce. VeriSign will provide both technology and capital to the new entity, which will act as the Californian company's affiliate in Canada.
"This transaction advances by over a year Telus' plans for providing this crucial service to customers," says Mark Schnarr, Telus executive-vice president and president, Telus Ventures. "Telus' investment in this new company is in line with our strategy of funding start-up businesses and emerging technology ventures that exploit the convergence of data, voice, IP and wireless."
The new venture will provide Web site security to enable secure e-commerce; issue and manage digital credentials for signing transactions; and deliver online merchant payment services for the settlement of transactions between buyers and sellers, say the companies.