Bank of Ireland has signed up to a new banking consortium aimed at providing customers with secure international Internet payment technology. The Global Trust Authority will comprise more than 800 banks under one public key infrastructure (PKI). This means it will offer members an identification certificate allowing them to transact electronically with members in other countries.

The GTA will operate through national certification authorities in each country, which have still to be selected according to Mr David Hunter, Bank of Ireland e-business and payments programme manager. In effect it will act as an international bridge between national certification schemes.

Mr Hunter says a number of encryption products are currently being considered for the GTA certification service. A non-profit organisation, the GTA offers a mechanism to provide reliable online identification and authentication of parties in a transaction. It will review and audit the certification policies in each country, and create minimum rules for identification certificate protocol.

The GTA differs from the recently announced international Identrus banking consortium, because it is a not-for-profit organisation. Identrus is also aimed at the bank-to-bank transaction market, whereas GTA is focusing on the national certification authority market.