Unisys will provide the backbone for the new payment service POLi, (Pay OnLine) an online secured debit system for merchants and an alternative for people who do not use credit cards to purchase goods or services online.

Unisys vice president of global outsourcing and infrastructure services, Mike Ettling, said POLi is not like PayPal or other payment systems and provides an additional level of control and security by not requiring a debit or credit card number over a website.

"POLi is not a third account in the middle between a customer and a vendor on a vendor website," Ettling said.

"When it comes to payment, instead of using a Visa, Diners [Card] or MasterCard people can now use POLi. A consumer starts off at a merchant site, selects POLi, opens up an Internet banking session and the transaction fields are populated once the customer is logged on then the customer instructs their bank to pay the merchant through a 'pay anyone' transaction, hits the submit button and then the consumers' bank deducts money from their account and puts the instruction in under normal EFT rules for a merchant.

"It is a much more secure e-commerce payment solution and has been constructed as a service merchants will pay for and we will clip the tickets of payments at a price point cheaper than credit cards."