Monday, February 27, 2006

PBT Names Global VP of Biometrics

Gary Bender to Strengthen the Company's Robust Biometric Architecture
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 27, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Pay By Touch, the global leader of biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions, today announced that Gary Bender has been named vice president of biometrics at Pay By Touch. In this capacity, Bender will oversee Pay By Touch's biometric technology applications.

"Gary's expertise in biometric technology is a driving force in continuing Pay By Touch's leadership position in biometric applications," said John Rogers, founder, chairman, and CEO of Pay By Touch. "His extensive background in biometric systems helps Pay By Touch stay ahead of the curve to provide the fastest, most convenient, most secure way to pay."

Bender brings to Pay By Touch more than 35 years of experience in technical and biometric management. A consultant in biometrics for more than 10 years prior to joining Pay By Touch, Bender was chief architect of the FBI's newest fingerprint identification system -- the largest system of its kind in the world.

He also played an integral development role in every large fingerprint system deployed worldwide, including national systems developed in the UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Bender also spent 12 years each with TRW and Hughes, where he was a Doctoral Fellow.

"I've always kept an eye on Pay By Touch for its leading position in the consumer biometric authentication industry, and I am excited to work with a company that is making biometrics such a significant part of our lives and work," Bender said.

Bender earned a PhD from the University of Southern California.

Analysis: Besides hiring the best person possible for the position (as they have a history of doing) Pay by Touch operates a major card processing division ($18 Billion Annually) and with the recent launch of Pay by Touch Online, it seems logical that PBT has an eye on competing in the payments to government space.

It also
seems to suggest that Pay by Touch has an eye on re-inventing the methodology of providing secure electronic payment options to government and other entities. The current industry leader is Official Payments. Here's more information on them...

Official Payments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tier Technologies, Inc. Official Payments' proven, trusted Internet and telephone systems enable citizens to pay everything from tax bills to parking citations, using their credit or debit cards.
OPC process a variety of payments, including estimated, extension, balance-due and past-due personal income taxes; sales and use taxes; business license fees; real estate, personal property and school district taxes; unemployment and disability taxes; college tuition and fees; fines for speeding and other traffic rule violations; fines for parking rule violations; and water, electricity and gas bills. Initially, citizens made their payments via the OPC Interactive Voice Response (IVR) toll-free telephone payment system.

In 1999 OPC added an Internet capability, enabling citizens to make payments and gain customer service information over our Web site. As a partner of both consumers and government, OPC is committed to making all types of payments to the government go fast, smart and safe. Citizens can safely charge their government fees and taxes to a credit card over the Internet (www.officialpayments.com) or by phone (1-800-2PAY-TAXsm).

Many citizens find paying with a credit card is more convenient, provides cash flow flexibility, and maximizes credit card rewards. A convenience fee is charged to the citizen utilizing the service to process payments. This fee is paid directly to OPC. Our government partners do not receive any portion of this fee.

With Gary Benders background, and connections worldwide, I envision a biometric online payment system which can be used to pay any and all government bills globally.

In addition, the biometric online purchase of airline tickets, combined with biometric check-in to verify the person who bought the ticket is the person who is flying would go a long way to increase security and enhance the whole process from purchase to boarding. Because of the financial woes of airlines, combined with the excessive fees charged by Visa and Mastercard to charge tickets, airlines could save millions annually and enhance security by adding a new touch to their current payment options.

For additional information on Pay by Touch, or to download a high-resolution photo of Gary Bender, please visit the Pay By Touch online press kit:

www.paybytouch.com/news/presskit.html.