Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has been awarded with Vasco’s Market Vision Award 2008 by the belgian software security company specializing in authentication, Vasco. Intesa Sanpaolo considers security as a crucial factor in the relationship with its customers. The bank decided to improve its online financial services through Digipass GO 6, a strong security solution to access internet, phone and mobile banking services. Digipass GO 6 is a portable one-button authenticator which is extremely user-friendly lowering the threshold for user acceptance. The bank offers the device free of charge to its customers and supplies them with information about best practices for on line security.

Intesa Sanpaolo began the distribution of Digipass GO 6 in 2007, with the aim of covering – by the end of 2008 – more than 3,000,000 of its on line customers. The bank is also distributing a specific device for the blind and visually impaired, Digipass 300 Comfort Voice, which converts One-Time passwords into speech.

“We awarded Intesa Sanpaolo because of the bank’s visionary approach of secure online banking,” said Jan Valcke, VASCO’s President and COO. “Intesa Sanpaolo offers online and mobile banking services through the Internet and by phone, and this is a perfect example of our Full Option All Terrain strategy. Moreover, accessibility is an important success factor with any online banking application. By offering a speech enabled Digipass to its customers, Intesa Sanpaolo makes their banking application also accessible for the blind and visually impaired.”

For Asia, Japanese Mizuho Bank has been awarded with Vasco’s Market Vision Award 2008 for Asia by Vasco Data Security, the software security company specializing in authentication. Mizuho Bank is one of Japan’s largest banks, with an important market share in the retail, corporate and local government segments. Mizuho Bank offers Digipass GO6 to its customers to secure its “Mizuho Direct” retail Internet banking application.

VASCO’s Market Vision Award consists of a bronze work of art by a renowned Belgian artist, Inge Dewilde. In order to honour the bank’s focus on innovation and its visionary approach of security in an e-banking environment, VASCO will organize an award ceremony at the banking summit in Brussels (Belgium) on June 10.

“We awarded Mizuho Bank because of the bank’s visionary approach of secure online banking,” said Jan Valcke, VASCO’s President and COO. “Mizuho is a leading bank in one of the leading IT-hubs in the world and was the first bank in the region to make Digipass GO 6 available to its entire retail customer base. With this award we honour the efforts of Mizuho Bank to offer their online customers a convenient and accessible way for e-banking.”