All articles by EPI editorial
EPI editorial
UK success in war on fraud
A concerted effort to lower payments fraudin the UK scored a big success in 2009 withtotal fraud falling to £541.9 million ($824million), £162.4 million (23.1 percent) lessthan in 2008, reports the UK Card Association.
Indian trial points to contactless future
Just completed in India, the worlds biggest pilot involving contactless payments-enabled mobile phones has been declared a resounding success by independent adjudicators Citi Tap, the worlds biggest-yet contactless payments pilot using near field communications (NFC) enabled mobile phones, has been declared a resounding success by consultancy Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC).
A busy year for MoneyGram
MoneyGrams ambitious expansion drive has taken another step forward with the acquisition of Blue Dolphin Financial Services, a retail remittance agency with 18 branches in Belgium and the Netherlands Blue Dolphin, which has been a MoneyGram agent since 2005, adds to retail branches operated by MoneyGram in France and Germany. Blue Dolphin has exceeded our expectations as an agent and were eager to grow both locations and transactions across this important remittance region,” said John Hempsey, MoneyGrams executive vice-president of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Cheque wins first round in survival fight
Announcing that the last cheque in the UK would be cleared on 31 October 2018, Paul Smee, CEO of bank-dominated body the Payments Council (PC), conceded the challenge is to find a suitable alternative to a payments instrument holding a “unique place in British culture”.
Mobile banking gains traction
Consumers in the US and UK are recognising the convenience of mobile banking services, enthuses US-headquartered mobile transaction service specialist mBlox. Supporting this conclusion, results of a survey undertaken for mBlox in March found that 25% of mobile phone users in the US and 37% in the UK have adopted basic mobile banking services. Quizzed on the greatest benefits of mobile banking, 52% of respondents in the US and 46% in the UK said they are the ability to access banking services anywhere, at any time, convenience and time-saving.
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Major boost for VeriFone in Russia
Notching up a significant win in Russia, VeriFone has secured a contract from the largest bank in Russia, Sberbank, to supply 130,000 payment solutions to its merchants Emphasising the significance of the contract, VeriFone general manager for continental Europe Adam Biedrzycki said: “We triumphed over major competitors to solidify our relationship with the largest, most dynamic bank of Russia and Eastern Europe.”
Barclays broadens contactless appeal
Consolidating its leadership in contactless payments, Barclays Banks business customers are receiving new or re-issued cards incorporating Visa contactless technology This move makes the UK bank the first in Europe to issue contactless debit cards to business customers.
Visa Europe acts to clarify encryption standards
Responding to a significant increase in interest in end-to-end encryption Visa Europe has released the payments industrys first guidance for data encryption solutions by providing the minimum security practices needed to help support Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance.
US industry in regulatory flux
No sooner did the industry breathe a huge sigh of collective relief after House Financial Service Committee chairman Barney Frank acknowledged that interchange legislation is off the committees agenda for 2010, than it received a bit of a surprise from a venerable member of the Senate.
Going from strength to strength
By 2012 almost 250 million peoplewill make at least one cross-bordermoney remittance payment on theirmobile phone, predicts consultancyEdgar, Dunn & Co. There is little doubt thatpowering a significant portion of those paymentswill be mobile transactions technologydeveloped and deployed by Fundamo, a SouthAfrican mobile technology vendor.