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When Wells Fargo invested in Mondex International a few months ago, management had more in mind than customer convenience. It was the cost advantages of the smart-card chip technology that won the day over the magnetic stripe card.
Essentially, the Mondex card is an extra-smart smart card. An 8-bit microprocessor embedded into the typical plastic card form factor provides the bank with a tiny transaction processor capable of huge cost efficiencies. Because Mondex is a point-to-point system that is, the microprocessor in the card interfaces securely with another microprocessor in the point-of-sale device, with no costly authorization system in between - transactions cost as...