All articles by Stafford Thomas
Stafford Thomas
Alibaba.com homes in on Turkish SMEs
Its sights set on expanding its position in Turkey, Chinese online business-to-business commerce giant Alibaba.com has forged an alliance with Turkish software developer and reseller LOGO Group focused on assisting small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) boost exports.According to Alibaba, LOGO is Turkeys market leader in enterprise resource planning software solutions and has one million active users, most of which are local SMEs
Targeting the online teenager
The internet is a major factor in product selection yet despite this Socialwise, a US e-commerce company, estimates that $40 billion is spent offline by teenagers on products researched online.The reason is simply the absence of a method to pay for online purchases A survey conducted by Harris Interactive in 2007 revealed that 40 percent of US teenagers cited not having a credit card as the reason they do not shop online, a situation Socialwise is tackling with the launch of its online payments service BillMyParents
$1trn problem about to get bigger
Having the large number of layoffs of IT professionals all around the world, especially in the USA, we expect a rising number of people willing to give it a try and to get stolen credit card numbers, online banking accounts and corporate data they can use to generate income, he added.This growing threat comes at a time when online crime has already reached alarming proportions
A new dawn for e-money in Europe
Moves to stimulate growth in the European Unions (EU) electronic money (e-money) sector have taken a key step forward with the European Parliaments adoption of amendments to the E-Money Directive (EMD) of 2000 proposed by the European Commission (EC) in late-2008.The EMD adopted in 2001 was in response to the emergence of new pre-paid electronic payment products and was intended to promote the e-money sector as a source of increased competition in the EUs payment industry
Heartland seeking to raise data security bar
Ending three months in the wilderness, Heartland Payments Systems has returned to MasterCards and Visas validated service provider lists following successful completion of its annual Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) assessment on 30 April
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UK payments fraud police unit makes its mark
Criminals in the UK targeting the payments industry are not having it all their own way thanks to the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist police unit dedicated to combating organised gangs responsible for much of the countrys card and cheque fraud.The DCPCU, which celebrated its seventh year in operation on 29 April, can lay claim to considerable success which since its inception includes: Achieving more than £315 million ($470 million) in savings from reduced fraud activity; Recovering 45,000 counterfeit cards; Recovering just under 290,000 compromised card numbers; and Securing 240 convictions on fraud related matters.The units track record over the past seven years speaks for itself, said DCPCU commanding officer Detective Chief Inspector John Folan of the City of London Police
M-Com eyes developing markets
Spearheaded by its BankAnywhere solution mobile banking and payments technology developer M-Com has established itself as a leading contender in developed markets M-Com has now turned its attention to expansion into developing markets with the launch of its service in Egypt in partnership with Fawry, an Egyptian electronic bill payment and presentment specialist Terming the Egyptian service its inaugural investment into developing banking markets M-Com anticipates expansion into other Middle Eastern markets in 2010.The launch of M-Coms service in Egypt followed nine months of development work in conjunction with Fawry during which BankAnywhere was adapted to meet local needs
Shipping attracts big-name players
The global maritime industry generates freight revenues of about $380 billion annually, estimates the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, yet relies heavily on outmoded invoice presentation and payments processes This is now changing, with major payments processors turning their attention to this potentially substantial market.Setting the scene, Deutsche Bank and the worlds largest supplier of electronic commerce solutions to the shipping industry, INTTRA, joined forces in April to offer container shipping companies the ability to automate invoicing and payments processes (see EPI 262)
Londoner triumphant in ‘cashless for a year’ challenge
More than a year on and the 25-year-old web content editor has been vindicated and is determined to press on for another year.During his one-year experiment, Allan carried no bank notes, coins or even stamps, instead relying only on his Visa payWave contactless card to pay for purchases
SEPA slow starters under pressure
But, little over a month after the EPC meeting, yet another obstacle has appeared in what has been a tortuous journey since the first steps towards implementation of SEPA were taken in 2002.The latest obstacle came in the form of an announcement by the French National SEPA Committee that Frances banking industry would not implement SEPA direct debits (SDD) until November 2010.However, while the announcement by the French has provided ammunition for SEPA doomsayers, Michael Mueller, MD of wholesale solutions, global transaction banking at Deutsche Bank, believes it will cause no significant delay.The French decision will do little more than buy time for some banks, Mueller told EPI