All articles by EPI editorial
EPI editorial
Planet Payment spreads its wings
The company is now moving ahead rapidly, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has already scored impressive successes.Founded in 1999, Planet Payment (Planet) has built a business model around a payments platform that enables travellers to pay by credit card in their own currency while abroad It is a single platform that can be deployed in any country and instantaneously perform conversions of up to 147 currencies; Planet CEO Philip Beck told EPI we believe it is unique.For travellers, the platform brings the benefit of exchange rate certainty, said Beck
UK retail industry body cries foul
UK retail industry body cries foulBanks have come under heavy fire from the UKs largest retail industry body, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which accuses them of exaggerating the extent to which cards have replaced cash, while pushing cashless payment methods as a way of further boosting their own revenue Clearly the banks have spotted that replacing cash with cards would mean a further boost to their profits.He continued that retailers are not opposed in principle to cards taking a bigger share of the payments market but, as they try to accelerate that process, the banks should acknowledge their card charges are too high
Microsoft to power Grupo Santander infrastructure revamp
Microsoft to power Grupo Santander infrastructure revampSpanish bank holding company Grupo Santander has embarked on a major revamp of its payments infrastructure The new infrastructure is due to go live in 2008.The tenth-largest banking group in the world by market capitalisation, Grupo Santander has subsidiaries in 14 European countries, eight South American countries and the US
US community banks give insight into technology spending plans
Protecting customer data security ranks as the top technology priority for 8 out of 10 US community banks, reveals a study conducted by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), an industry body representing nearly 5,000 community banks which in total boast assets of $908 billion.
Canada’s Moneris on US acquisition trail
US banking industry turmoil is providing ripe pickings for companies with financial muscle. Among them is Canada’s largest processor and acquirer of debit and credit card payments, Moneris Solutions, which has what its US unit’s president Greg Cohen terms “very aggressive growth plans.”
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SafeDebit puts US start-up Verient on the payments map
SafeDebit puts US start-up Verient on the payments map New alternative payments solutions continue to be brought to the US market in a regular stream. Among the latest is SafeDebit, a joint offering by US payments processor NYCE Payments Network and US payments technology developer Verient
Western Union’s mobile money transfer service gathers pace
Establishment of a global mobile phone-based remittance service has taken another step forward with the forging of an alliance between Western Union and Orascom Telecom, a mobile network operator (MNO).
In search of the next killer application
As the first Visa, CSFI Research Fellow payments technology industry veteran Dave Birch has a tough task ahead mapping out the future of innovation in the European payments market He outlined to EPI the approach he will follow and highlighted an area he sees as having major potential, mobile payments Described by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) as one of the UKs uber-techies, Dave Birch is no stranger to cutting-edge innovation in the electronic payments industry
Western Union versus Arizona
An ongoing legal battle between US remittance giant Western Union and Arizona’s Attorney General, Terry Goddard,dating back to 2006 is set to drag on into next year.
US online banking growth slows
Growth in the use of internet banking in the US could be slowing, indicates a survey of online banks by internet information provider comScore.Indicatively, comScore found that the number of customers who logged into a current, savings or money market account at one or more of the top ten US online banks increased by 8.1 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2007, down from 9.5 percent year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2006.