Editing Mondex (section)

==History==
The Mondex scheme was invented in 1990 by Tim Jones and Graham Higgins of [[NatWest]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. In March 1992 internal tests of the system, known at the time as 'Byte', started running at one of NatWest's major computer centres, Goodman's Fields in [[London]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/som/isinterface/is_syllabus/mondex/mondex.html |title=Mondex International: Reengineering MoneyII |access-date=18 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112174634/http://wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/som/isinterface/is_syllabus/mondex/mondex.html |archive-date=12 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Development continued in secret until December 1993, when the system was publicly unveiled with an announcement that the [[Midland Bank]] (which had recently been acquired by [[HSBC]]) had joined the scheme as a 50/50 investment partner.

Initial public trials of the payment system were carried out from July 1995 in [[Swindon]], [[Wiltshire]]. The public phase had required the development and manufacture of numerous merchant devices and smart cards, with [[BT Group|BT]], NatWest and the Midland Bank sponsoring and installing retail terminals at the car parks, payphones, buses and at merchants in the town, and issuing Mondex cards to residents. Within the first five weeks of the trial, 1,900 terminals had reportedly been installed at 620 retailers, and 6,000 cardholders had signed up, with a target of 40,000 cardholders and 1,000 vendors being pursued during the course of the one year trial. By September 1995, all buses, car parks and payphones were meant to accept Mondex, and 20 cashpoints and 300 payphones were meant to support funds transfers using the system.<ref name="computershopper199506_mondex">{{ cite magazine | title=That will do nicely, sir... | magazine=[[Computer Shopper (UK magazine)|Computer Shopper]] | date=June 1995 | pages=448 }}</ref>

In July 1996, NatWest and Midland Bank sold the intellectual property rights to develop the Mondex concept, technology, and brand to a new group called Mondex International, with 17 major banks joining the group as shareholders.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB837716598558835500|title=NatWest Signs 16 Partners For Mondex Cash-Card Firm |first=Nicholas |last=Bray |date=July 19, 1996 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=September 23, 2022 }}</ref> From that point on, Mondex International managed the Mondex brand, oversaw its franchisees and signed contracts with new ones around the globe. It also managed the Mondex technology and developed its software.

In November that same year, Mastercard acquired 51% ownership of Mondex International and fully endorsed the Mondex scheme, promptly abandoning its own electronic cash system which had been in development up until then.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.americanbanker.com/news/mastercard-will-buy-51-of-smart-card-firm-mondex|title=MasterCard Will Buy 51% Of Smart Card Firm Mondex |date=November 19, 1996 |work=[[American Banker]] |access-date=September 23, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.americanbanker.com/news/mondex-usa-partners-look-to-ambitious-97-tests|title=Mondex USA Partners Look to Ambitious '97 Tests |date=December 9, 1996 |work=American Banker |access-date=September 23, 2022 }}</ref>
Mastercard then acquired full ownership of the company in June 2001.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/2208/mastercard-to-acquire-full-ownership-stake-in-mondex-international|title=MasterCard to acquire full ownership stake in Mondex International |date=June 4, 2001 |work=American Banker |access-date=September 23, 2022 }}</ref>

In 1996 [[Visa Inc|Visa]] and Mastercard agreed to what was known as the Upper West Side trial. Visa deployed Visa Cash, their own electronic cash scheme, and Mastercard deployed Mondex to see if the people on [[Manhattan Island]] would embrace the concept and the technology as a means of replacing cash.

Mondex launched in a number of markets during the 1990s, expanding from the original trial in Swindon to [[Hong Kong]], [[New York City|New York]] and [[Guelph]], [[Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.efc.ca/pages/media/globe.01nov98.html |title=Mondex pulls plug on Guelph pilot project |newspaper=[[Globe & Mail]] |location=Toronto |date=31 October 1998 |access-date=28 January 2007}}</ref> It was also trialled on several British university campuses from the late 1990s, including the [[University of Edinburgh]], [[University of Exeter]] (between 1997 and 2001), [[University of York]], [[University of Nottingham]], [[Aston University]] and [[Sheffield Hallam University]].

Throughout the late 90s and early 2000s trials continued to be executed throughout the world, with varying degrees of customer adoption and popularity. At the end, even the more successful of these trials failed their purpose, as most of the countries which had Mondex pilots never saw a national implementation of the system - in many locations the scheme stayed in an experimental phase until the local Mondex franchisee shut its doors.