All articles by EPI editorial
EPI editorial
Bacs notches up four decades of service
Bacs, the UKs direct credit and direct debit payments processor, reached a major milestone in April when it celebrated 40 years of service which reflect the massive advance made by electronic payments during the period.
Card skimming takes a heavy toll
Despite a decline in the number of ATM card fraud incidents in 2007 losses incurred by issuers increased significantly, rising 43.6 percent compared with 2006 to 438.57 million ($670 million), reports industry body the European ATM Security Team (EAST).
Discover goes global with Diners Club International acquisition
Discover Financial Services has achieved a significant strategic breakthrough with the signing of an agreement to acquire Diners Club International, the global payments card issuing unit of financial services conglomerate Citigroup.
Price control looms in the US
Introduced to the US Congress by John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Chris Cannon, the Credit Card Fair Fee Act (CCFFA) has been applauded by retail organisations nationwide The product of a hearing by the bi-partisan House Judiciary Antitrust Task Force Subcommittee into the fees, policies and practices of the credit card industry in July 2007, the CCFFA, said Cannon, addresses the anti-competitive and secretive system of setting fees that merchants pay for credit card transactions.
Centricom and Neteller team up to take EFTPOS online in the UK
The Poli online bank payment service described by its developer, Australian payments service provider Centricom, as the missing piece of the online payments equation has made its debut in the UK Poli is to be marketed by a new 50:50 joint venture company, Centricom Europe, established by UK online payments and money transfer services provider Neteller Group and Centricom.
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Big retailers urged to use payment muscle
Major retailers must take the initiative to improve competition in the European payments market, European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes told delegates to a conference convened by industry body the European Retail Round Table (ERRT) In particular, she emphasised the European Commissions and European Central Banks strong desire that there should be more than just two pan-European card schemes in Europe at the end of the process of establishing the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Retailers and consumers are increasingly worried that with less choice they will inevitably pay more as banks are led to abandon efficient and cheap national systems. In such a scenario, SEPA would, despite all its pro-competitive goals, end up delivering at best a European duopoly, said Kroes
UK gets remittance company charter
In a move aimed at protecting the interests of foreigners who send money to their home countries, the UKs Minister for International Development, Shahid Malik, has launched a voluntary customer charter for money transfer companies.
More success for mFoundry
mFoundry entered 2008 in fine style, adding another major player in the US financial services industry, PSCU Financial Services (PSCU), to the impressive list of users of its Spotlight mobile banking platform PSCU, the USs largest credit union service organisation, will deploy the platform as the core element of a mobile banking service to be made available to its more than 500 credit union members that represent over 11 million cardholder accounts and 470,000 online bill payment subscribers. The mobile service to be offered by PSCU will facilitate transfers between accounts, bill retrieval and payment, real-time access to cheque, savings and credit card information and search and retrieval of account transaction history
New mobile payments service for China
LinQpay, a US-headquartered electronic payments technology developer, and Internet Payment Solutions, a Chinese online payments service provider, are to establish a joint venture (JV) that will provide mobile phone based payment services in China. The JV will combine LinQpays mobile phone-based payment services with IPSs payment platform which supports bank card transactions of 22 Chinese banks IPS, a unit of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Universal Technologies Holdings, lays claim to be Chinas leading online payment platform in terms of debit card transaction volumes processed.
US processor lands in hot water
In a statement, the FTC and the attorneys general said they had charged YMA with violating federal and state laws by debiting or attempting to debit consumers bank accounts on behalf of numerous fraudulent telemarketers and internet-based merchants.The complainants explained that the merchants designed schemes to extract money from consumers bank accounts by inducing them, through misrepresentations and omissions related to marketing of products or services, to provide the merchant with the consumers personal bank account information The merchants then transmitted the bank account information to YMA, which processed debits to the consumers bank accounts.Between June 2004 and March 2006, the complainants allege, YMA processed more than $200 million in debits and attempted debits to consumers bank accounts; more than $69 million of the attempted debits were returned or rejected by consumers or their banks for various reasons, indicating the lack of consumer authorisation, the complainants allege