PILOT projects for Mondex, the payment smartcard, are expected to start here late next year, according to the two banks involved in the joint venture, National Irish Bank and Ulster Bank.
Mondex allows holders to fill up the card with money from their current or deposit accounts and then use it to make a wide range of purchases, ranging from milk and newspapers at the local shop, the doctors visit, the price of a taxi or even the rent you owe the local authority.
The "electronic purse" as it is also known comes complete with four or five security measures to stop someone else using your account and the technology is relatively inexpensive for retailers or service companies to buy into.
A spokesman for National Irish Bank told Family Money it expects Government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and the Post Office to show interest in Mondex since welfare and pension payments can be downloaded directly to a client's card from a central collection point like the local An Post branch.
Mondex International was established last summer, and is 51 per cent owned by MasterCard International and 19 other financial institutions across four continents.
The biggest ongoing pilot projects are in Britain (over 30,000 people mainly in Swindon and on two university campuses), in Hong Kong (40,000 cardholders), in Canada (5,000 cardholders) and in San Francisco and New Zealand.
