All articles by Louise Naughton
Louise Naughton
UK charities fear cheque phasing plans
The abolition of cheques, feared to be a foregone conclusion, could spell disaster for UK charities, says the Institute of Fundraising.In its response to the Treasury Select Committee on the proposed phasing out of cheques scheduled for 2018, the Institute of Fundraising claims the imminent abolition of the cheque guarantee card in June 2011 is proof the Payments Council see the phasing out of cheques as a foregone conclusion.
AR professionals look to e-invoicing
E-invoicing is the only invoicing method to have shown an increase with 6% more organisations said to have migrated to the payment method in the last year, according to a report by e-invoicing network OB10 and the International Accounts Receivables Professionals (IARP) association. In contrast, the 2011 OB10-IARP Accounts Receivables Survey shows EDI, e-mail, fax and overnight invoice submissions have shown declines when compared to last years results.
Western Union teams up with Banco Bradesco
Payment services provider Western Union has rolled out its money transfer service across almost 5,000 Banco Bradesco branches in Brazil.The new platform allows Brazilian consumers to receive money transfers from abroad, with the ability to send money in the near future.
Esker selected to move KONE to e-invoicing
Document process automation solutions provider Esker has been selected to automate and outsource the sending of customer invoices in France for KONE Corporation elevator and escalator solutions company.Eskers solution is claimed to enable KONE to halve the time spent sending customer invoices and to benefit from a return on its investment solely based on the decrease in postage costs.
Bottomline announces Q3 2011 results
Invoice and document automation solutions provider Bottomline Technologies reported a 23% increase in revenue to $48.8m in its third quarter results, attributed in part to key acquisitions made in the past year.Bottomlines subscriptions and transaction revenue also grew 25% year-on-year to reach $13.5m.
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SMEs lose stomach for cyber fraud fight
Faced with difficult trading conditions, preventing online fraud attacks is a burden that most SMEs can do without and, a new study finds, many are becoming increasingly reliant on banks to fight fraud. Louise Naughton reports.
US Treasury 10-year cheque phasing plan
The US Treasury is gearing up to phase out the cheque and switch to e-payments over the next ten years to cut administration and processing costs. In a blog post, Treasurer of the US Rosie Rios explains that beginning 1 May 2011 anyone newly applying for Social Security, Veterans Affairs or other federal benefits will need to choose an electronic payment method, including direct deposit or a prepaid debit card.
Consumers look favourably on anti-fraud measures
85% of consumers are worried and dissatisfied with the level of protection online businesses are providing to stop fraudsters up 5% on 2009, according to a study by fraud technology provider ThreatMetrix and research firm the Ponemon Institute.The Consumers Reaction to Online Fraud survey shows 42% of respondents have been a victim of online fraud, of which 80% said they did not report the crime at all and 19% said they only reported it to the online business directly.
SMEs look to quicken payment processes
There is a strong desire among small businesses to accelerate and simplify current payable and receivable processes, says a survey by payment services company CashEdge.The 2011 Small Business Payables and Receivables Survey also details a willingness to adopt new e-payment solutions to support faster alternatives to manual payablereceivable processes and with the majority of small businesses reporting strong loyalty to their banks, the area is said to represent a key opportunity for banks to provide these payment services.
MoneyGram moves into the Phillipines
Money transfer company MoneyGram is set to launch a cash-to-account service in the Philippines in its first move into the Asia-Pacific market.The service, due to go live on 31 May 2011, is claimed to enable consumers to transfer money from MoneyGram locations and via MoneyGrams website directly into the bank accounts of recipients in the Phillipines.