Bermuda digital certificate provider QuoVadis said yesterday it has opened a second international operation in New Zealand.

The development comes after the company branched into Europe early in the year with its first international affiliate office opening in Switzerland.

Chief executive Roman Brunner said: ?We now have the critical mass in the Asia-Pacific to justify setting up a dedicated operation in New Zealand.? Mitch Webster has been named managing director of QuoVadis, NZ.

QuoVadis was formed in Bermuda in 1999, with initial backing from a unit of Zurich Financial Services Group, to provide information security services to Bermuda?s financial services sector.

Until this year it served an expanding client roster of international clients entirely from its Bermuda operations.

?QuoVadis has invested heavily in building sophisticated infrastructure and earning international accreditations that allow us to compete in the global marketplace for security services,? Mr. Brunner said.

In New Zealand, QuoVadis said it had signed ASB Bank Limited, a 150-year old New Zealand bank that is part of the Commonwealth Banking Group of Australia, as a client.

QuoVadis operates the Trustlink digital certificate authority, which is accredited to international standards and is widely enabled in popular software from providers including Microsoft, Apple, BlackBerry, and the Mozilla Foundation.

Digital certificates are used as a reliable way of online identification as well as protecting privacy with encryption.

Digital certificates may also be used to create electronic signatures which have the same legal value as the hand-written equivalent under laws in both Bermuda and New Zealand.