All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Show me the Monnet
For two years, some of Europes banks have touted the idea of establishing a new pan-European debit card scheme to challenge Visas V Pay and MasterCards Maestro, but despite intermittent activity (and the backing of the European Central Bank) nothing concrete has emerged The proposed scheme, known as Monnet, is one of several ideas that have been touted by European banks and payment players as they explore ways to break the stronghold that Visa and MasterCard have in Europe But so far, the establishment of such schemes has been stalled by confusion over what form they would take: whether they would be developed and implemented completely from scratch, or whether they would leapfrog on the back of existing ATM and debit network infrastructure across Europe
The big three take a battering
The latest set of financial results from the major US card issuers show that despite implementing re-pricing measures, credit losses are continuing to rise at a dramatic rate and eat into profitability No-one was expecting a miraculous turnaround in the fortunes of the major US card issuers, but many will have been secretly crossing their fingers that re-pricing measures and efforts to trim costs and expenses may have had some effect in slowing the rate of growth in credit losses
News Digest
Merchant Solutions, the acquiring joint venture between global payment processor First Data and Standard Chartered Bank, has signed an agreement to initiate merchant acquiring for Japanese payment card network and issuer JCB. The agreement covers eight markets in the Asia-Pacific region and will enable JCB card members to use their cards at thousands of purchase points in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Georgia gains ground in cards
Despite its small population, Georgia has made leaps and bounds in promoting card usage among consumers thanks to a massive rise in competition The countrys banks are also some of the most forward-thinking when it comes to card segmentation, co-branding and technology innovation, as Victoria Conroy reports. With double-digit GDP growth levels over the past four years, the former Soviet republic of Georgia is a stand-out performer in Eastern Europe when it comes to card payments
New model for merchant-funded rewards
As consumers increasingly turn to debit cards, financial institutions cannot simply cut-and-paste credit card rewards programmes and apply them to debit cards As such, some banks are now exploring the merchant-funded rewards proposition and expanding their profitability potential, as Charles Davis reports. With more than a quarter of a century of proven results, credit card rewards have driven the growth of the cards industry
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First Data adapts to changing landscape
He speaks to CIs John Hill about the increasing importance of debit, the companys evolving acquisition strategy and its eye on new initiatives.CI: How is First Data proceeding in emerging and developing countries?PS: Debit is often the primary product in developing markets
Crackdown on credit card cheques
Victoria Conroy reports.With the flurry of pro-consumer legislation making its way through the halls of the US government, it was only a matter of time before the UK government adopted a similar stance as a consumer champion by promising to crack down on the consumer lending market in the UK.
Canada gears up for card reform
Interac, which has set its debit card interchange fee at zero, told the Senate committee that it welcomed competition from its rivals, but only on the basis of it being allowed to change to a for-profit company so that it could compete on a level playing field.Interchange a contentious pointMasterCard indicated that it has not set an interchange fee for its Maestro debit card, and that its switch fees are currently set at C$0.005 ($0.004) per transaction, or 37.5 percent less than the C$0.008253 currently charged by Interac.
Streamlining to survive?
The Feds latest report, based on the consolidated call reports from banks themselves filed with their federal supervisory agencies, shows that as of December 2008, 18 banks with assets exceeding $200 million met the definition of a credit card bank, accounting for approximately 77 percent of outstanding credit card balances on the books of commercial banks or in pools underlying securities backed by credit card balances.These 18 credit card banks reported 2008 net earnings before taxes of 1.43 percent of outstanding balances adjusted for credit card-backed securitisation, a massive fall of 132 basis points or nearly 48 percent from 2007
Region round-up
ASIA-PACIFICMobile paymentsCiti and MasterCard pilot India m-paymentsUS banking giant Citi is teaming with MasterCard, mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, telco Vodafone and technology solution provider ViVOtech to pilot contactless mobile payments in Bangalore, India.According to Citi, the trial is the largest of its kind in the Indian marketplace, with up to 5,000 customers and 500 merchants participating Customers will need to use the Nokia N6212 near-field-communication (NFC) enabled mobile phone and then download their Citi MasterCard credit card onto the phone over the air.