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Ferus Rex is a novel I wrote between 1993 and 1997, while living in New York. I wrote most of it while working as a banker in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. I had lots of time, as it worked out. My job was Credit Analyst, which meant that I reviewed prospective commercial loans for the bank. I would study the particulars of the deal, as well as the industry of the prospective borrower. Then I’d do a write-up and present my opinion to the Board. This was a Japanese bank, I should mention. If you know anything about the history of Japanese banks doing business in the US during the 90’s, it may make sense to you that there came a point when I simply had nothing to do. The bank stopped making new loans (as a prelude to shutting its doors, but who knew that, then!), and I had very, very little to do. I was (we all were) amazed they simply didn’t let us all go. But, it’s kind of a Japanese thing to keep people employed during such downturns. I will always be grateful for that, not least because it gave me the chance to finish writing Ferus Rex…

Building Trust in Electronic Commerce

by Jack Mardack

Published in Credit World, July, 1997

Introduction

According to analyst predictions, the volume of purchases made electronically over the Internet will expand from $131 million in 1995 to as much as $600 billion by the year 2000, accounting for approximately 8% of all retail purchases worldwide. As companies of all sizes and in all industries gear up to do business on the Internet, technology leaders worldwide are working together to build the requisite electronic commerce infrastructure — this infrastructure spans everything from the networking technologies that will tie businesses together, to the software applications that will permit them to engage each other in commerce. While making electronic commerce a reality has posed an assortment of technological challenges, the issue of transaction security has received the most public attention. Both businesses and consumers have held it up as their most serious concern. The fear of hackers and fraud and financial exposure has taken a measurable toll. But the security challenge has also been the focus of the most innovative and creative inter-industry collaboration. Leaders in the technology, financial and credit card industries have spent the last several years creating the critical security component of the electronic commerce equation.