Card Services International (CSI), a supplier of electronic payment smart cards, has conducted the first complete multi-currency payment transaction across international boundaries.

The transaction was initiated at a British Airways counter in Johannesburg international airport where value was loaded to a passenger smart card in South African rand. The equivalent value was later cashed in sterling at London's Heathrow airport. It was one of several transactions carried out by British Airways passengers using a new global payments system, ChipCASH, developed by CSI.

Once a value is stored on the card in one currency, it can then be cashed in any one of 25 currencies elsewhere. The transactions are processed through CSI's processing centre in Dublin, where 35 people are employed.