NW_20001109_en_The Internet Analyst - October 12, 2000_ "Executives Zero In"

The Internet has given financial institutions and others something new to worry about. Security must be the highest priority for companies -especially banks - which allow their customers to access information and move money. With its authentication and digital signature products, VASCO DATA SECURITY protects sensitive information of over 150 banks as well as other types of companies while it protects the identity of the user, which might be a supplier, an employee or a customer....VASCO's market value is up more than 200% for the past 12 months, even though it's substantially down from its high in mid-February of this year.

[THE INTERNET ANALYST - GEORGE S. MACK] How many customers do you have?

[MARIO R. HOUTHOOFT] We have about 500-plus customers, among which we count about 150 first-class banks around the world.

[GSM] You've been heavily involved with European banks, but I'm wondering if you're going to begin penetrating American banks to a greater degree this coming year.

[MRH] Yes indeed. We have traditionally been involved with European banks over the past years, because Europeans were more into working remotely from the outset - even without the Internet. That ignited a need for authentication and digital signatures from day one. We are penetrating the
U.S. market, and we are adding more and more banks to our list of customers. We are up to 10 U.S. banks already after, I'd say, less than a year's work.

[GSM] What are the growth drivers for your business? Is it just purely the growth of the Internet or is it something else.

[MRH] Of course the Internet definitely gave us a boost. It took us almost a decade to reach the first million end users, and now we're speeding up - we now have over 4 million users. The other important driver is that applications are being brought to the Internet at great speed. That's
definitely a driver.