NW_20001219_en_Rabobank Endorses VASCO’s Digipass 800 for Securing “e-purse” Smart Card Holders

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Illinois, and BRUSSELS, Belgium – December 19, 2000 –
US-based VASCO (NASDAQ & EASDAQ: VDSI; www.vasco.com), a global provider of security solutions that enable e-business and e-commerce, today announced that Rabobank – a leading European bank with 300 billion euro in assets and
47000 employees worldwide – has ordered three hundred thousand VASCO Digipass 800 hand-held strong authentication and digital signature devices. Rabobank will roll out this initial order to enable a segment of its six million “e-purse” smart card holders to conduct secure Internet and PC banking from anywhere at any time, without being dependent on a specific
computer, software, or smart card terminal. As a fully portable, intelligent and secure smart card reader, the Digipass 800 combines with the bank customer’s smart card to form a unique and secure electronic identity that can be used from any browser-equipped computer, for secure e-banking.

The single contract for three hundred thousand Digipass 800 represents the largest initial order of Digipass authentication and digital signature
devices in VASCO’s history. Because the Digipass 800 greatly extends the capabilities of a smart card with strong security and true portability, the Company is also engaging in commercial partnerships with leading smart card developers and issuers, including financial services companies that are making smart cards an increasingly important segment of their business
initiatives. VASCO has established the first of these partnerships with Proton World, an organization made up of American Express, Banksys, ERG, Interpay, and VISA International. Proton World licensees have issued a market-leading 62 million smart cards, and VASCO and Proton World are jointly marketing a Proton-compatible version of the Digipass 800 to the
organization’s worldwide base of e-purse smart cards.

“The Digipass 800 will allow any of our six million customers using personalized Rabobank e-purse smart cards to use their cards to conduct
secure remote banking,” explained Mr. Bert Willems of Rabobank. “It thus enables us to introduce and promote additional banking services to any of our smart card holders who receive a Digipass 800, so we will be marketing
the Digipass 800 to our entire smart card install base. And because the Digipass 800 uses the information stored on the Rabobank smart card to
personalize the device, we can standardize our entire infrastructure around smart cards as the primary means of establishing a unique electronic
identity with our customers -- saving us time, effort, and money and making life even easier for our customers.”

As a hand-held and platform-independent device, the Digipass 800 eliminates the need for a smart card reader and software for any smart card holder. It thus represents a breakthrough product with multiple real-world applications
to accelerate smart card growth and usage across the many key growth markets where smart cards are becoming the standard. And because it is a member of the Digipass family of products, the Digipass 800 can be installed with any existing Digipass customer with no changes to their existing systems.

“We welcome Rabobank as the first bank to recognize the tremendous business benefits that the Digipass 800 holds,” said Jan Valcke, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for VASCO. “We expect other banks around the world, both from our customer base of more than 150 banks as well as new customers, to select the Digipass 800 as an easy and cost-effective way to
leverage their install bases of smart cards to promote additional banking services to their existing and future customers.”

About VASCO
VASCO secures the enterprise from the mainframe to the Internet with infrastructure solutions that enable secure e-business and e-commerce,
protect sensitive information, and safeguard the identity of users. The company's family of Digipass® and SnareWorks® products offers end-to-end security through strong authentication and digital signature, true Single Sign-On, access control and advanced entitlements, web portal security, and PKI enablement, while sharply reducing the time and effort required to deploy and manage security. VASCO's customers include hundreds of financial institutions, blue-chip corporations, and government agencies in more than
50 countries, among them ABN AMRO Bank, Shell, 3M, Ericsson, Rabobank, SEB, First Union, Liberty Mutual, Cable and Wireless, Nokia, DaimlerChrysler, Volvo, US Department of Defense, European Commission, US Coast Guard, University of Groningen, and Duke University. VASCO's partners include Brokat, Check Point Software Technologies, Computer Associates, Intel,
Netlife, Novell, Proton World, and Ubizen. More information is available at www.vasco.com.

About Rabobank
Founded in 1898, Rabobank is a full-service financial institution with 440 banks in the Netherlands and more than 160 offices throughout the world. Rabobank is one of the few Triple-A rated banks in the world, and it has assets of more than 300 billion euro, annual income of seven billion euro, and 47000 full-time employees worldwide. More information is available at
www.rabobank.com and www.rabobank.nl.


Forward Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” and similar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks and uncertainties and
are based on current expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking
statements.

Reference is made to the Company's public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for further information regarding the Company and its operations.

For more information contact:

Americas:
Media: Kerry Roche
Bridgeman Communications
+1 617 742 7270
[email protected]

Investor Relations: Todd Fromer
KCSA Public Relations Worldwide
+1 212 682 6300
[email protected]

VASCO: Mike Lange
+1 630 932 8844
[email protected]

Europe/Asia:
Media (Benelux): Bob Pieters
Anthonissen & Associates
+32 3 286 7777
[email protected]

Media (Europe/Asia): Sven Kersten
HBI
+49 89 99 38 87 33
[email protected]

Investor Relations: Annemieke Blondeel
LBConsult
+44 208 308 7080,
[email protected]

VASCO: Ariane Bosmans
+32 2 456 9810
[email protected]