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United Kingdom-based Barclays PLC has distributed more than 1 million card readers to customers who use the devices to authenticate online-banking transactions, a bank spokesperson tells CardLine Global. The bank began distributing the PINsentry readers from France-based Gemalto in August 2007. Customers pay nothing for the first reader and £6 (US$11.90 or 7.60 euros) for additional ones, the spokesperson says. Customers insert their chip cards into the readers and enter their PINs. The readers, which are portable, generate one-time passwords and enable users to "sign" transactions. The bank would not reveal customer-acceptance rates for the readers, but the spokesperson says it was "higher than expected."
