Bernard Lietaer - The Future of Money - Full Book

mind, it may well be currency,' said Alfred J. Kelly Jr., vice-president of frequent-traveller marketing at American Express Travel Related Services. There is no question that you'll see more partnerships between organisations as they try to provide additional value to customers. We're trying to create segment-specific programs that not only provide value to our customers but also instil loyalty to us and our partners.'

For example, Kelly noted, if American Express customers want to have 'convertibility' between Membership Miles credits and ConnectPlus that’s something Amex's 'central bank' might be prepared to arrange. All of a sudden, Amex credits begin to rival dollars as a means of payment to purchase both travel and communication.

Private currencies are on the rise not just because companies are pushing them, but because they are what the customers want. If the ruble can be convertible, why not the American Airlines frequentmiles program?

Indeed, as sophisticated information technology continues to seep through the economy, the ability to grow and manage private currencies increases. It becomes both cheap and easy to track individual purchases and credits. 'Just as people try to manage their credit cards, they will soon be managing their 'credits' to handle a variety of shadow currencies.'

What will a central bank do about such private corporate scrip, or those that will appear on the Net - such as the already available NetMarket currency of Cendant?

Should we not recognise that the Information Age has already created a much more fundamental question about the way national currencies will play their role in the future? The danger is that central banks may be tempted to clam down on what they can reach (i.e. the small-scale, politically unprotected complementary currencies) rather