The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government chief information officer,Howard Dickson, said on Thursday that 12 local banks have decided to adopt e-Cert as their two-factor authentication in personal e-banking.

He made the remarks at a press conference on Thursday.

In order to give every citizen in the community a chance to use the e-Cert, the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau and the Hongkong Post Certification Authority worked together with the Immigration Department to introduce e-Cert as the first non-immigration application in the multi-application Smart ID card in June 2003.

He said Hong Kong residents can opt to embed a one-year free e-Cert onto their smart ID cards. So far, almost a million Hong Kong residents have opted to embed a e-Cert on their Smart ID card.

Dickson said one of the objectives of the government in building a critical mass of e-Cert holders is to encourage the business sector to develop new applications and services using e-Cert as a platform for secure electronic transactions.

To encourage the million e-Cert holders to use their e-Cert more often, the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau is pleased to support the Hongkong Post Certification Authority and its business partners to roll out the e-Cert Usage Promotion Program. The first phase kicks off with e-banking applications, while the next phase will cover the full range of commercial e-Cert applications, he said.

He said, in 1998, the percentage of local households with a PC at home and those with Internet connection was 35 percent and 12 percent respectively. The penetration rates have since grown rapidly and increased to 71 percent for PC and 65 percent for Internet connection in 2004.