Region’s first online B2B remittance portal goes live

Dubai, UAE, 4^th June 2003

Al Ansari Exchange, one of the Middle East’s largest and most reputed exchange houses has chosen the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based security solution, SecureAccess, of Comtrust, the e-solutions business division of Etisalat, to meet the stringent security needs of its new online remittance service-Cash Express.

Launched in May, Al Ansari Exchange’s latest offering is the region’s first fully integrated web based application for B2B remittance transactions. “In the past, communication between exchange houses and their agents was conducted via e-mails, faxes and telexes. These means are both costly and insecure,” said Mr. Mohammad Al Ansari, Managing Director of Al Ansari Exchange.

“Our goal was to develop a secure Internet-based communication system allowing rapid processing of remittance requests,” continued Mr Al Ansari. “Our solution is Cash Express. It provides a single, secure, speedy and cost-effective communication channel between the partnering agents and correspondents. It is an online product which provides seamless, end-to-end processing of transactions between registered agents,” said Mr. Al Ansari.

Al Ansari Exchange worked hand-in-hand with Comtrust to implement and deploy the virtual remittance tool. “We faced two distinct challenges with Cash Express. Firstly, we had unique hosting and connectivity issues, and secondly an effective security solution was an imperative,” said Mr Al Ansari.

In order for the Cash Express solution to run smoothly, three different sites had to be interconnected - Al Ansari Exchange’s Abu Dhabi office, where remittance transactions are authorized; a server site, where the bulk of the Cash Express application is run; and the intermediate server, hosted by Comtrust, connecting Cash Express to the Internet.

“The intermediate server acts as the interaction point between Al Ansari and the rest of the virtual world. The critical nature of the application led us to Comtrust, which has provided us with a secure, flexible and robust hosting solution. In addition they have connected three separate sites using dedicated lines providing excellent bandwidth and connectivity giving us the ability to rapidly process large number of transactions simultaneously,” said Mr Al Ansari.

The security solution specified by Al Ansari Exchange required each individual to be able to be virtually identified and authenticated before being able to use the application. “As we deal with the financial details of customers, we needed iron clad security. It was imperative that Cash Express be only accessed and used by pre-approved and pre-registered agents and correspondents of Al Ansari Exchange. Comtrust’s SecureAccess solution allowed us to accomplish this,” said Mr Al Ansari.

Based on the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology, SecureAccess uses digital certificates to authenticate individuals and organizations. For instance, before one of Al Ansari Exchange’s registered agents can place a remittance request, each party must go through an authentication process before a secure connection is made and access granted. The agent will first seek access to Cash Express. The SecureAccess component of Cash Express’ server will send its digital sever certificate to that agent while challenging them to present their credentials in the form of a Comtrust Business User Certificate.

This digital certificate presented by the agent will be authenticated by the Cash Express server against a list supplied by Comtrust, which has been appointed by the cabinet of ministers as the UAE’s only digital certification authority. This is to check the validity of the certificate, ensuring it has not been revoked. The user will also authenticate the server certificate with Comtrust. Once both parties have been authenticated a secure access is established and the user can begin to use the Cash Express application. The entire process is completed in seconds. If for any reason authentication is not given the transaction will be terminated.

“Confidence is the key to successful e-business. Customers must feel confident in the security of their data. Today, issues such as authentication, confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation of online communication have become key application security challenges,” said Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, General Manager, Comtrust. “We designed our SecureAccess solution for organisations, such as Al Ansari Exchange, that need to authenticate user identities and authorize transactions using completely secure lines of communication over the Internet. SecureAccess uses a 128-bit encryption which means each number used in the encoding of information has a possible 2¹²⁸ different combinations.

With Cash Express now live, Al Ansari Exchange will roll-out the new remittance tool, across its network of over 100 agents worldwide, over the next nine months. “Phase one will see Cash Express deployed in the Middle East, followed by Asia three months later and the rest of the world six months down the line. We expect a minimum of 500 transactions per day by the end of phase one and 2000 transactions by the completion of the roll-out,” said Mr Al Ansari. The introduction of Cash Express will greatly benefit the end customer in terms of speedy delivery of credit into their bank accounts, the status of which can also be directly viewed online by the customer. Our partnership, with Comtrust, ensures we can more than meet our obligation to customers to provide fast and secure service.”