All articles by EPI editorial
EPI editorial
M-Pesa sparks payments revolution
Sparked by the advent of the M-Pesa service, Kenyans are adopting mobile payments in their droves, ending reliance on costly and often archaic methods of remitting money for millions of people. However, the M-Pesa phenomenon is but one aspect of technologys role in revolutionising payments in Kenya.Kenyas financial services sector is undergoing a revolution for which much of the credit at the retail payments level goes to M-Pesa, the countrys pioneering mobile phone-based money transfer service launched in March 2007.
Google still firmly in the game
Many industry observers counted Google Inc out of the online payments business, but the Internet giant is signalling that it maintains a tantalising toehold in the business, and its sheer size guarantees that its competitors ignore it at their peril.Mountain View, California-based Google reawakened its payments business recently, introducing an online application designed to automate implementation of its Google Checkout service to handle payments so that even the smallest online mom-and-pop shop can be up and running in minutes.Many online merchants felt that Google was less than committed to handling online payments, especially after the company launched a significant price increase that eliminated its long-standing practice of offering subsidised processing fees to merchants that also used its AdWords program for online advertising.By bringing its pricing close to its online payment rivals, eBay Incs PayPal Inc and Amazon.com Inc, it was seen by many as a sign that Google was reigning in its ambitions in the online payments market.The price hike ricocheted around the web, as many merchants vowed to leave Google for PayPal.But the migration never materialised at levels mirroring the online outrage, and Googles decision to end the subsidies have, no doubt, helped the search giant ride out the weakening online advertising market amid the recession.Rekindling interestThe launch of the new online tool has rekindled interest in Google Checkout, which the company has been relatively quiet about since its launch in 2006
UK Faster Payments Service enters corporate market
Initially limited to modest value consumer payments the UKs Faster Payments Service (FPS) initiated its Direct Corporate Access (DCA) on 22 July this year enabling bulk payments of transactions of up to £10,000 ($16,400) to be processed in near real time.The honour of submitting the first DCA transaction went to UK payments software developer Albany Software on behalf of Eagle Consulting, a firm which provides outsourced accounting, treasury, payroll and taxation services to customers such as Holiday Inn Hotels and Shell.Commenting on the DCA service, Harry Hornby, a director of Eagle Consulting, said: Whether we are processing routine payroll payments or completing an emergency payments submission for a client suffering a systems failure we now possess an inexpensive same-day payment solution for business.The DCA is available for file submission between 6am and 2pm, Monday to Friday This is unlike the other FBS offerings which are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The transaction was made in conjunction with Barclays, the first bank to initiate a full roll-out of the DCA service, via Albanys epay payments gateway solution.Albany sales and marketing director Georgia Leybourne told EPI that epay is an intelligent processing engine which analyses payments data flow and then generates recommended optimum payment methods.In March 2009, epay became the first FPS Secure-IP (internet-based) software product to achieve BACS Approved Software Service status.Approval includes testing by payments processor VocaLink on behalf of Bacs, the UKs direct credit and direct debit payments processor and input from payments industry body APACS and CHAPS Clearing Company, operator of the UKs real-time gross settlements system
Visa prioritises mobile network interoperability
In North America all telecommunications service providers are legally required to use NeuStars clearinghouse.NeuStar also operates the GSMAs PathFinder service which facilitates internet voice and data interoperability by translating telephone numbers to internet protocol-based addresses.This service was launched by the global MNO association in late-2008.Commenting on the alliance between Visa and NeuStar, Visas head of product Elizabeth Buse highlighted that it provides Visa with a single point of connection to MNOs globally.This initiative has the potential to accelerate delivery of mobile financial services in both emerging and developed economies, said Buse.Services envisaged by Visa and NeuStar include the transfer of money from Visa accounts to a mobile users account, enabling the recipient to use funds deposited for wireless top-up of prepaid airtime minutes or bill payment for wireless services
UK Post Office takes on the banks
Around 800,000 UK households own a second property abroad, a major market which the UK Post Office is targeting with the launch of its Overseas Property Money Transfer service (OPMT) in conjunction with UK foreign exchange specialist HiFX.Highly innovative, the OPMT service can be accessed online and offers consumers with foreign property considerable benefits, including cost savings and the ability to fix exchange rates for up to a year.Commenting on the advantages offered to foreign property owners by the new service Sarah Munro, the Post Offices head of money transfers, said: Until now, many users of international bank to bank money transfer services have found it to be an expensive business, with limited options for small transfers.She added that many foreign property owners have also been at the mercy of volatile currency markets and had not benefited from advantageous exchange rates currency specialists secure by transacting in large volumes.Adding further to the OPMT services appeal, the Post Office does not charge commission on transfers and will reimburse customers for any charges that the destination bank may impose.According to the Post Office, customers using the new service can expect to save hundreds of pounds a year
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Logica puts its weight squarely behind Callataÿ & Wouters
Marking the formal launch of its business partner network initiative Belgian financial services technology developer Callata & Wouters (C&W) has formalised its partnership with UK technology and business services company Logica.As the key feature of the partnership Logica will offer and implement the full range of C&Ws flagship Thaler multichannel core banking system to financial institutions through all possible delivery methods, such as direct implementation, business process outsourcing and software-as-a-service
Euronet prepaid units come under epay brand
Marking finalisation of a major rebranding exercise, epay became US payments solutions provider Euronet Worldwides single prepaid brand on three continents in July, following conversion of the remaining brands in four countries.Brands that disappeared in July 2009 were PaySpot in the US, Telerecarga and Movilcarga in Spain, Brodos in Romania and Transact Germany.The brands joined those that have already been replaced by epay in Australia, Ireland, the UK, Malaysia, New Zealand and Poland.Major players in the mobile phone prepaid top-up market, businesses now unified under the epay brand processed a total of 700 million transactions with a total face value of $11 billion.As a combined unit epay is the worlds largest processor of electronic mobile top-up transactions, according to Europay.The epay platform supports online electronic top-up via 421,000 POS terminals and integrated electronic cash registers at a total of 227,000 merchant locations including those of retail giants Wal-Mart and Tesco.Euronet has direct top-up partnerships with about 130 mobile network operators (MNO).In addition to direct relationships with MNOs, Euronets ATX unit offers software and outsourcing services for prepaid processing to prepaid scratch card distributors opting to switch to electronic top-up solutions.Under the IngeVoucher brand, ATX operates transaction processing centers in London, Paris, Dubai, Warsaw and Hong Kong remotely supporting retailers in some 60 countries.Euronets ambitions in the prepaid market extend beyond the mobile top-up sector and include growing its existing footprint in areas such as long distance landline services, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, toll roads and merchant processing
Surging energy prices spark slump in UK direct debit use
Hit hard by soaring energy costs UK consumers in their droves have begun cancelling gas and electricity account direct debits, warns services comparison and switching specialist uSwitch.com.Sparking the exodus was last years 42 percent increase in energy prices which added on average £381 ($625) to consumers annual energy bills Many felt forced to cancel direct debits as a result, noted uSwitch.According to the Office of Gas & Electricity Markets, the power supply regulator, some 40 percent of households pay energy bills by direct debit.However, based on data for the last quarter of 2008 and the first and third quarters of 2009, uSwitch reports a 7.3 percent fall in the number of households paying via direct debit with the number paying by cheque or cash up 72 percent compared with 2008, from 275,400 to 474,300
VeriFone powers taxi payments in Boston
Payment systems vendor VeriFones taxi business VeriFone Transportation Systems (VTS) continues to make solid headway, with Boston in the US becoming the latest city where it has achieved a market-dominant position.To date, VTS has deployed credit card payment accepting devices based on VeriFones MX870 multimedia payment system in more than 1,000 Boston taxis, or more than half of the total taxi fleet of 1,825 licensed by the Boston Police Hackney Carriage Unit.Providing impetus to VeriFones success in Boston is legislation that became effective at the start of 2009 which requires all taxis licensed by the City of Boston to provide credit card payment systems for use by passengers.VTS is the clear leader in the taxi payment and passenger information system market, said John Ford, president and owner of Boston taxi company Top Cab and City Cab which have VTS payment solutions installed in all 510 of their vehicles.Passengers increasingly want to pay with credit cards and our drivers have realized additional per-trip revenues by having this capability, despite the problems in the economy, added Ford.VTS success in Boston builds on similar market dominance in other US cities including Philadelphia where VTS is the sole systems supplier with the citys 1,600 taxis equipped to accept conventional payment cards and contactless payments based on MasterCards PayPass system.VTS also holds a dominant position in New York City, where it is the largest supplier with some 6,600 taxis equipped by VTS to accept conventional and contactless payments.The largest deployment of VTS solutions is not, however, in the US but in Australia where VTS where it was last year selected by the countrys largest taxi company, Cabcharge Australia, to supply an onboard payment solution for its fleet of 20,000 vehicles.The solution, VeriFones Vx 810, enables Chip and PIN, Pen and PIN (a combination of signature and PIN) and contactless payments
Bank of America and Bottomline team up in B2B market
Central to the alliance is BoAs sale of PayMode, its B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) unit, to Bottomline for $17 million plus warrants for 1 million Bottomline shares.After a thorough evaluation, we concluded that working with Bottomline will accelerate the growth and capability of PayMode and enable us to quickly deliver an even more compelling offering to our clients, explained Dub Newman, global product management executive for BoA.We selected Bottomline due to its deep domain expertise, focus on financial supply chain technology and impressive order-to-pay solution set.Launched in March 2008 PayMode has been adopted by 550 BoA corporate clients for payables automation with a total of 80,000 of the clients suppliers receiving electronic payments and remittance data