THE 1997 CADILLAC DEVILLE...
AN AUTOMOTIVE SPA ON WHEELS

checks. The United States is the
most advanced credit-card mar-
' ket in the world, a little over 30
percent of transactions are done
by credit cards. In many countries
of the world the figure is close to
zero."
Do you expect electronic
money to replace cash as a fu-
ture means of payment?
"I am not sure. As a means of
commerce, electronic cash will be
growing. There will be a lot more
purchases and transactions done
on the Internet. But my guess is
that the larger use of that will be
commercial rather than person-
al.
"Other forms of E-money, like
electronic purses, involve very
complex chip cards. They are also
going to grow, but at various
speeds. A number of electronic
purses have been introduced in
—Th the world and so far none of them
were economic. That may not al-
ways be the case in the future but
so far it is.
"I think smart cards have the
most interesting applications. We
are currently designing tests on
sophisticated smart cards which
will be used as an airline ticket,
as a check-in device to get a
boarding pass, to accumulate ex-
-- penses on a trip, to register in a
hotel at the airport without check-
ing in, and as a key to the door of
a hotel."
When do you expect to see
cards of this kind on the m sr-
ket?
"I have no idea when we will
start using cards of this kind. I
don't even know whether it will
work and whether people will ac-
tually want it.
"Most of the products we de-
velop don't work, but some of
them do. It's a little bit like soc-
cer. Every time you kick the ball
towards the goal you try to score,
but most of the time you don't.
However, if you don't kick the
ball, you will never get a goal."
What are your future plans
in Israel?
"We plan to have a significant
share in the upscale market. The
product has been well received by
the people of Israel. The bank's
people have learned the product
and managed to sell and service
it. As for the future, they are to
increase the number of card own-
ers and develop products for the
business sector as well."
How do you see your Israel
operation in five years time?
"I think it will reach beyond
consumer cards, and certainly
seek corporate services of various
kinds. As things develop, we will
find other opportunities between
American Express and the vari-
ous banks with which we work to
do things within the nations that
those banks operate in, and across
borders for all of them.
o
"I can't visualize what those
are, but I also can't imagine that
they won't occur." ❑

(c) Jerusalem Post 1996

I

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