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In New York for the Clinton Global Initiative, WISeKey Announces Progress Report on Mobile-Banking, Remittances, and Digital Identification for Poverty Alleviation

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 07:00 CDT

NEW YORK and GENEVA, September 23 /PRNewswire/ -- WISeKey SA, a Swiss maker of digital ID management solutions, announced new initiatives aimed at winning the fight against global poverty. They include promoting the adaption of international standards in digital identity systems for electronic transactions among new computer and mobile phone users in emerging markets and developing software for secure micropayments by mobile phone users.

In the past year, the company donated $1.5 million in cash and in-kind support to programs on migrant mobility issues in Geneva and Malaga, Spain. Since 2005, WISeKey and its partner foundation, the International Organization For Security and Electronic Transactions, have donated over $20 million in cash and in kind contributions to raise the global awareness of the importance of digital identity encryption technologies and standards.

The new projects will revolve around microfinance and the nascent mobile phone industry in developing countries. Partners organizations already include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the GSMA Development Fund, Equity Bank, MPower Ventures, which enables money transfers through prepaid debit cards, and Tostan, a mobile banking services provider in rural West Africa. Wizzit Bank from South Africa and Western Union are also on board. The project will focus on 13 countries and over 20 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The company expects the number of partners to grow.

"These public service projects involve creating digital software platforms in new environments while making sure the regulators, corporations, grant donors, and the general public stay supportive and collaborative," said Carlos Moreira, WISeKey's CEO. "Those ambitions are almost always challenging. But these projects can improve millions of lives. They speak to the heart of what WISeKey does best."

WISeKey also said its commitment to previously announced sustainable development projects remains steadfast, though those projects are still in early stages. They include the Digital Mediterranean Space, a project to provide digital ID and mobile phone remittance services to 25 million cell phone users in 12 countries in the Mediterranean. Moreira also reported that a partnership with the Association for International Mobility (AIM) and the Hassan II Foundation to set up a platform to provide digital ID registration and management services to Moroccan immigrants will be extend to new countries, including China, in 2010.

SOURCE WISeKey SA

Source: PR Newswire

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