Bermuda has just taken a leap forward in building infrastructure for electronic commerce with the launch of an offshore facility for payment of bills in five separate currencies.

Bank of Bermuda announced yesterday it had set up the settlement capability for Internet merchants and banks who use the bank's online services. It is the first time this has been offered by an offshore company.

The new system is available to settle transactions either with a supplier, buyer or customer in either Canadian dollars, euro dollars, Hong Kong dollars, UK pounds and US dollars.

And the bank plans to add Japanese yen to the list within the next few months.

"Electronic commerce opens a whole new way of marketing to consumers and businesses, but multi-currency options go one step further to provide flexibility and choice of payment,'' said David Lema, vice president of electronic banking at the Bank of Bermuda.

"Consumers are much more comfortable purchasing goods that are priced in their own currencies, and this will give online retailers a more competitive edge. We're very excited to be launching this new product.'' The bank claims that multi-currency settlement can substantially reduce the costs associated with foreign exchange and currency fluctuations. This is because merchants choose to receive payment in any of the five currencies that most fits their needs.

Apart from the yen, the bank will keep an eye on what other currencies could be added to the list available.

And for companies that are required by law or prefer to deal with a local organisation, Bank of Bermuda has established strategic alliances with other electronic-commerce providers in several countries including the United States, Canada and Hong Kong which allows the option of dealing with a local business.

Bank of Bermuda also operates as an independent certificate authority offering digital certificates to clients who require them.

These certificates provide not only secure user authentication online, but also the additional options of encryption and digital signatures which use the latest Public-Key Infrastructure security.