User:Micagoa/sandbox

CashSentinel is a combination of an escrow service and mobile payment service launched in March 2014 by Sylvain Bertolus. The aim of CashSentinel is to help people to buy or sell used-vehicles safely, even if they are dealing with an unknown person, far away from home and outside of business hours.

CashSentinel is an authorized financial intermediary in Switzerland and is a member of the Self-Regulation Organization (SRO) Polyreg. The registration of CashSentinel can be verified on FINMA's list of authorized financial intermediaries as defined by Article 2, Para 3 of the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

History
CashSentinel was born out of frustration!

Soon after moving to Geneva, Sylvain Bertolus and his wife were looking for a used car. They looked online and found their dream car in Ticino. They decided to go try it, and realized that in order to drive it back home on the same trip, they really only had one option: withdraw the full value of the car, nearly 20'000 CHF in cash, and carry it to Ticino for a whole weekend.

Surprised by the lack of a better option, Sylvain looked at how it was done in surrounding countries. The results were appalling - there was no 21-st century way to do such transactions. The problem only got worse in cross-border situations (buying from a different country). Reflecting on this with his closest family, colleagues and friends, he thought that something had to be done. And CashSentinel was born.

How it works
CashSentinel provides its service in three steps described below.

Registration
Users must register if they want to use the service. They must have: The seller must also specify his IBAN and BIC bank account in order to receive funds after transaction.
 * 1) a valid Swiss mobile number
 * 2) a valid identity document
 * 3) a valid postal address in Switzerland

Pre-payment
The buyer put his funds in escrow with CashSentinel. Transactions fees are on the buyer charge so he must not forgot to add them to the funds he put in deposit.

Confirmation
Buyer and seller complete the transaction with their mobile phone according them for the final price of the vehicle.

Security
CashSentinel is a Swiss made product that is built and run following the same security standards as those of Swiss banks. Regular external security audits guarantee the quality and safety of the service.

CashSentinel has also established a partnership with Sysmosoft SA, a company specialized in providing highly secured solutions for mobile devices. Thanks to Sysmosoft's Sense, CashSentinel services use encrypted communication channels for safe and reliable transfer of sensitive data between involved parties.

Awards

 * May 6th, 2014 - CashSentinel received the award at Alpine Venture Forum 2014 and a ticket to the European final in Düsseldorf on December 10th.
 * December 18th, 2013 - CashSentinel has been recognised as a promising startup by IMD International.
 * December 2nd, 2013 - CashSentinel won 130'000 CHF in funding, the maximum financing provided by Venture Kick.

Press room

 * May 8th, 2014 - Sylvain Bertolus showcases a live transaction with CashSentinel, and answers questions from VentureKick on the early days of the company.
 * April 3rd, 2014 - Zermatten SA and Ramat Sàrl choose CashSentinel's innovative payment service.
 * January 14th, 2014 - Innovaud, the innovation catalyst for Vaud Canton, presents CashSentinel and its new business model through an interview.
 * December 13th, 2013 - Le Monde Economique, a Swiss-based magazine, interviews Sylvain Bertolus on CashSentinel.
 * September 24th, 2013 - L’Agefi, the reference financial daily newspaper for French-speaking Switzerland, presents CashSentinel through an interview and article.
 * September 20th, 2013 - CashSentinel SA and Sysmosoft SA are pleased to announce the signature of a commercial partnership to secure the iPhone version of CashSentinel’s innovative payment service using Sysmosoft’s award-winning security framework Sense.