BANK of Scotland has thrown in its lot with Hongkong Bank, Midland Bank and National Westminster Bank in a new silicon-based cash alternative called Mondex.
Mondex, due to start a pilot programme in the British town of Swindon in July, is a payment system based on electronic storage of money using silicon-chip-based smart card technology.
Customers will be issued with an 'electronic purse', a plastic card embedded with a micro-chip which can be charged up and used as cash.
Card holders will be equipped with a Mondex telephone for transferring cash value from their bank accounts to the card and a key-ring balance reader.
Colin McGill, general manager, management services division, of the Bank of Scotland, said the bank believed Mondex had the potential to become a major payment medium.
No personal identity number, authorisation or signature is required, according to the designers of the payment system.