All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
RBA to review card payments
Australias central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), has announced that it is to review the countrys credit and debit card systems in mid-2007, and any changes that result from the review will be in effect by the end of 2008 The review will encompass the RBAs changes to the credit card system since 2002, as well as changes made in April 2006 to the electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) system.The review will include reforms to the debit card systems, as well as interchange fees and access arrangements in other payment systems, which the RBA said reflected its efforts to improve the efficiency of the overall payments system The review will examine the development of the payments system over recent years and the implications for competition and efficiency, and assess whether the various standards and access regimes remain appropriate.The RBA will conduct a study of the resource costs involved in different methods of payment, including cash
Lloyds TSB launches debit card savings programme
In the US, Bank of America has had great success with its Keep the Change debit card savings product, which rounds up to the nearest whole dollar the amount of every purchase made with a Bank of America Visa debit card and transfers the difference from the cardholders current account to their savings account
Amex, eFunds enter prepaid deal
American Express (Amex) and eFunds, the US payment processing and information intelligence solutions provider, have formed a global, multi-year strategic partnership in which eFunds will provide processing services for the Amex portfolio of prepaid cards.eFunds said that its prepaid card processing expertise will provide Amex with increased flexibility, greater capacity and enhanced functionality to handle the increase in sales and transaction volume of its prepaid card business Amex gift cards are redeemable at US retailers and restaurants that accept Amex, and are available for purchase at tens of thousands of locations across the US, including supermarkets, drug stores, shopping centres, banks and American Express Travel Service locations, as well as online at www.americanexpress.comgift.eFunds will provide processing services to Amex-backed gift cards sold by shopping centres in the US; the Travellers Cheque Card, available online and at banks and travel agencies in the US, UK and Germany; and incentive cards issued by American Express Incentive Services, a joint venture of Amex and Maritz.According to US research consultancy Mercator Advisory Group, the open prepaid market is estimated to grow by more than 55 percent per year over the next four years, making it one of the fastest-growing payments markets.Prepaid cards issued with global card brands, such as Amex, represent the most rapidly growing segment of the prepaid market
MasterCard wins World Cup lawsuit
After a bitterly contested legal battle, MasterCard has won a US lawsuit against the world football governing body, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), over the sponsorship rights to the football World Cup.In April 2006, FIFA announced that it had signed an agreement with Visa, giving Visa exclusive sponsorship rights to the World Cup and other associated events However, MasterCard, which has sponsored the World Cup for 16 years, claimed that it had right of first refusal on future sponsorship deals and quickly lodged a lawsuit in the US, stating that FIFA was in breach of contract over the deal.In early December 2006, US federal judge Loretta Preska ruled in favour of MasterCard, and ordered FIFA to scrap its planned eight-year deal with Visa, and also ordered FIFA to give MasterCard advertising and sponsorship rights to the World Cup from 2007 until 2014.Preska said that losing the sponsorship of the World Cup, the worlds most popular sporting event, would have hurt MasterCards competitive position against Visa
Balancing risk and profitable growth
CI spoke to Marc Gaudart, senior vice-president of Experian-Scorex, part of global information intelligence provider Experian, about the use of decision analytics in consumer lendingDecision analytics, which encompasses techniques such as credit scoring, is a vital tool in enabling lenders to manage risk in their portfolio It is as important in emerging markets, which are keen to embrace consumer credit in the same way as some of the more mature countries did 20 years ago
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German banks sign up for V PAY
As the implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) gets closer, Visa Europe has reached an agreement with Germanys DZ Bank and WGZ Bank and with Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR), the national association of German co-operative banks, for the issuance of Visas SEPA-compliant debit card, V PAY The central banks of the co-operative bank group, DZ Bank and WGZ Bank, will allow their partner banks to also issue payment cards co-branded with electronic cash and V PAY.As representatives of the co-operative banking group, DZ Bank and WGZ Bank will open up their technical card payment processing to enable the issuance of V PAY in conjunction with their technical partners CardProcess, DG Verlag, GAD and Fiducia IT.Visa said the agreement was an important step towards the realisation of SEPA, as it would bring competition to the co-branding of debit card programmes within European payment card organisations for the first time
Morgan Stanley bows to pressure to spin off Discover card division
US financial services giant Morgan Stanley is to spin off its Discover card division following months of pressure from shareholders, despite Discover posting vastly improved financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2006 The news came as Morgan Stanley posted its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, in which it reported a fall of 11 percent in profit in the fourth quarter, with net income declining to $2.21 billion from £2.47 billion in the year-ago period
India’s card market poised for growth
New products, foreign participation and a booming tourism industry are combining to create high levels of growth in Indias nascent cards sector, helped by product innovation and a supportive regulatory environment With an enormous population, a booming economy and increasing integration with the global marketplace, the emerging Indian cards industry seems poised for impressive growth
Germany’s Sparda to migrate debit scheme to Maestro
MasterCards Maestro debit scheme, which has already been selected by Belgiums Banksys network as the replacement for its existing domestic debit scheme, has been chosen by Germanys Sparda banking group as the replacement for its domestic debit scheme in the run-up to the implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).Sparda is scrapping its electronic cash (ec) scheme in favour of using Maestro for both national and international debit card payments.Sparda is a co-operative banking group comprising 12 German banks with 2.65 million members, and will make the transition to Maestro in early 2007
A card design for life
Card issuers and networks are experimenting with ever more innovative ways to market their cards to technologically savvy consumers Card personalisation and online marketing are proving to be the most effective methods Victoria Conroy reports.The worlds first incarnation of the credit card was launched 50 years ago and set the template for all payment cards