All articles by EPI editorial
EPI editorial
US moves down contactless road
An upbeat message on the progress of contactless payments in the US emerged from industry body the Smart Card Alliances first annual Payments Councils Summit held in late February Indicative of progress, Mohammad Khan, president of contactless payments technology vendor VivoTech, told delegates that 35 million contactless financial payment cards, branded with MasterCard PayPass, Visa payWave or American Express ExpressPay, have now been issued and that more than 400,000 readers are in place at 80,000 merchant locations The momentum is not expected to slow, said another speaker, Didier Serra, GM of the Americas for French smart card microprocessor developer Inside Contactless, who forecast that contactless financial payment cards in issue in the US would grow to between 50 and 60 million in 2008.
CheckFree homes in on emerging US home cheque deposit market
Remote cheque deposit capture from home is a newcomer to the US banking scene but one Bob Meara, a senior analyst at consultancy Celent, believes will see targeted but significant adoption And it is a market in which billpay specialist CheckFree, a unit of financial services technology vendor Fiserv, intends gaining an early entrant advantage with its new consumer remote cheque deposit capture offering CheckFrees internet-based solution permits consumers to take advantage of their existing scanner hardware
Panda takes control of online customer security
In the online transaction environment, customers computers are the weakest link in the security chain, stresses Jose Antonio Lopez, Panda Securitys director of corporate solutions To strengthen the chain, the Spanish internet security company has developed Panda Security for Internet Transactions (PSIT), an anti-fraud system that enables banks, payment platforms and other businesses operating online to ensure that their customers computers are not infected with malicious software (malware). He said that PSIT, which scans a customers computer in real time and is imperceptible to users, eliminates the risk of passwords being stolen or other fraudulent operations
Metavante buys into European prepaid card market
Recognising the substantial growth potential of Europes prepaid card market US payments services and technology provider, Metavante Technologies has acquired Nomad Payments, a UK provider of prepaid and debit card processing services and software, for about $58 million. Acquiring Nomad presents Metavante International Group with the opportunity to establish a European center of operations, with a blue-chip client base, multi-currency capabilities, high-volume processing platform, proven business model and an established European sales channel, said Metavantes president and CEO, Frank Martire.
TJX Companies settles data breach claim
In a sequel to the biggest-ever data security breach in the US, TJX Companies, the parent company of TK Maxx, Marshalls, and other retailers, has settled with the bankers associations of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Maine Association of Community Banks and three community banks, Eagle Bank, Saugusbank and Collinsville Savings Society
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Massive UK data loss sets alarm bells ringing throughout the banking industry
The CDs contain large amounts of confidential information, including names, addresses, bank account details and dates of birth of 25 million individuals, including recipients of child benefits.The CDs were lost on 18 October while they were being transferred by courier from an HMRC office in north-east England to HMRCs London headquarters and the loss was first reported to senior HMRC officials on 24 October
Metavante’s Healthcare Gateway goes beyond the basics
Health care insurance plans in which consumers bear a portion of costs consumer-directed health care (CDH) are increasingly prevalent in the US, a development that leaves existing payment solutions falling short of requirements, believes banking and payments technology developer Metavante. However, with its new internet-based Metavante Healthcare Gateway (MHG) product, Metavante claims to have a solution that solves many challenges facing CDH plan providers.Two major challenges are coping with member eligibility verification and claim status inquiries from health service providers faced with increased payment collection responsibilities. According to Metavante, 60 percent of calls received by its CDH plan clients from service providers relate to eligibility information and verification, while 25 percent relate to claim status inquiries
SEPA’s logistical nightmare
Companies in Europe face a potentially daunting challenge if they are to participate in the Single Euro Payments Area direct debit and credit transfer schemes, warns payments software vendor Eiger Systems. In order to meet the 2010 SEPA deadline, explained Eiger Systems, all domestic account details must be converted into the bank identifier code (BIC) and international bank account number (IBAN) format, a process that will require contacting what could amount to millions of customers. Organisations that are most seriously affected by the conversion are large business-to-customer companies that have extensive customer and supplier bases. The problem is compounded by the fact that banks are not allowed to provide a conversion service for accounts they do not hold .Eiger Systems communications and product strategy director, Jonathan Williams, said he believes there are only two solutions available. Either companies assign internal resource to contact each customer to obtain their BIC and IBAN details, which could potentially run into millions of individuals, making the task virtually impossible, or they need to source a vendor solution, which will perform a conversion to BIC and IBAN and ensure the details are verified as part of the process, he explained.Williams added that Eiger Systems Bank Wizard product provides a solution
UAE mobile payments market picks up pace
UAE mobile payments market picks up paceAmobile phone-based money transfer service targeting Filipinos residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been launched as a joint venture by German mobile payments service provider paybox and Abu Dhabi-based money transfer and payments company Lari Exchange The potential market encompasses 300,000 expatriate Filipinos who each year remit $1 billion to the Philippines, said paybox.Charges for the mobile remittance product are expected to be significantly lower than other existing offerings to the Philippines, it added.paybox explained that the mobile remittance product is an interactive voice response service that enables senders to instantly transfer money to the Philippines using their mobile phones
War rages on internet battlefield
Though the internet provides vast opportunities to advance the use of electronic payments, it has also become the hunting ground of cyber criminals on an increasing scale.