All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Region Round-up
Businesses in Hong Kong are favouring cash over credit cards as a mode of payment… Malaysias Alliance Bank is confident of positive growth in its credit card business… Sri Lankan Airlines has partnered with American Express and Nations Trust Bank to launch a frequent flyer credit card…
Growing Indian wealth boosts card usage
Rising household incomes are fuelling card usage across India as more industry sectors open up to accept electronic payments, and despite the global economic downturn which has also hit India, card growth prospects look to be very promising over the next few years
M-Cube moves forward in style
The profile of UK prepaid and payment solution provider M-Cube is on the rise following the hugely successful launch of its ground-breaking Aspinall Foundation prepaid card earlier this year. However, M-Cube is setting its sights beyond the prepaid sector, as Victoria Conroy reports.
Capital One acquires US regional bank
Capital One, the former credit card monoline, is no stranger to diversifying into business lines other than cards in a bid to become a full-service bank. It acquired Hibernia Bank back in 2005 and North Fork Bank in 2006 and began rolling out auto loan and mortgage operations. But there is a new sense of urgency in its planned acquisition of another regional US bank, Chevy Chase, for $520 million in cash and stock
PwC warns of more gloom in credit sector
In its latest annual analysis of the UK credit card market, global consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers warns that despite tightening lending criteria and collections activity, card issuers are in for a bumpy ride over 2009 and beyond as consumer confidence and spending power ebbs away. Precious Plastic, the annual analysis of the European payment card market from global consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has come to be regarded as one of the key barometers monitoring the health of consumer credit, but issuers reading the latest edition will not find much to be confident about.
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New era for EUFISERV
Pan-European card scheme EUFISERV Payments is embarking on a new chapter in its history, by announcing the EUFISERV ATM scheme has been fully separated from its former processing business in line with the SEPA requirements of the European Central Bank and the European Commission.
Japan card penetration high, but usage remains low
The Japanese payment card market has long been acknowledged as probably the most technologically advanced in the world. However, in terms of card usage, Japan remains a cash-centric society where payment market opportunities remain largely untapped, according to a new report from US payments consultancy Mercator Advisory Group.
Visa planning to push Australian chip migration forward
Visa is planning to accelerate the migration of chip and PIN in Australia as part of a five-year agenda to strengthen the country’s payments system. Although levels of fraud in Australia are relatively low compared to other developed card markets, fraud has been rising over the past couple of years, but Visa says the move is also being driven by Australias migration from cash and cheques to electronic payments.
Region Round-up
Bahrains BMI Bank and Geant Hypermarket have launched their new co-branded credit card La Carte…
A market of extremes
Kazakhstan may have been placed on the comedy map by the character of Borat, but in payment circles at least, the country has been acknowledged as a major growth hotspot for payment cards and electronic banking Kazakhstan, on the border with Russia, is a country rich with natural mineral and energy resources, which has helped Kazakhstans GDP to achieve an average annual growth of around 10 percent since the beginning of this decade.