Mobile Banking - Banc Sabadell launches iPad app

The iPad hasn’t yet launched in Spain, but that hasn’t stopped Banc Sabadell from getting an early jump on launching its own iPad app. The bank says it will be the first financial institution in Europe and among the first worldwide to offer an iPad-specific banking experience.

The bank reworked its iPhone mobile banking service to “make the most of the new interactivity and touch-screen features offered by Apple’s iPad device,” it said in a press release. The new version of BS Mobile is designed for both personal and corporate customers.

The application is already available in the Apple iPad application store.

World Bank report cites risk to remittances

The Philippines remained the world’s fourth highest recipient of remittances from nationals in 2009, even as these flows face risks from high unemployment rates in host economies, the World Bank said in a report, “Migration and Development Brief”, posted on its Web site recently.

The report showed the Philippines trailed only India ($49 billion), China ($48 billion) and Mexico ($22 billion). Remittance flows to developing countries could grow 6% to $335 billion this year, a turnaround from 2009’s 6.2% dip to $316 billion, it added.

Central bank data show that money sent home by Filipinos abroad beat official projections of a 4% rise last year, actually growing 5.6% to $17.35 billion. These flows grew by an even faster 7.75%, year on year, to $2.786 billion in the first two months of this year, the same data show.

But the report said remittance growth could be tempered by uncertain employment prospects in high-income markets. "... high unemployment rates... in receiving countries... may give rise to pressure to impose additional restrictions on new immigration," it said, adding that such outlook could also dissuade high-skilled workers - a source of big remittance values - from migrating.

Process improvement anyone?

Take a lighthearted break, relax and prepare for your flight. We have a look inside the Boeing factory as a 737 is assembled and takes to the air. Makes our business processes look a bit silly.

Risk management weaknesses at finance firms persist - EIU survey

Many of the flaws in risk management at banks and insurers that precipitated the global financial crisis remain unaddressed even as new dangers have emerged, according to research from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report, sponsored by SAS and based on a survey of 346 financial sector risk managers, reveals that most have made significant progress since the crisis to strengthen their risk capabilities.

Discussions about risk have become a key part of the boardroom agenda, chief risk officers now have a prominent seat at the top table and there is renewed zeal for instilling a greater awareness of principles in the front office, the so-called first line of defence.

However, inadequacies in expertise, data quality and processes remain a worry. The enthusiasm for a large-scale overhaul of risk management has created personnel shortages as firms and regulators scramble to acquire suitable expertise.

Around 40% of respondents says they do not conduct regular updates or have a clear risk strategy in place. Meanwhile, less than one-half of respondents are confident that they understand the interaction of risks across business lines, and poor communication between departments is seen as a key barrier to effective risk management.

In addition, the focus on regulatory compliance could distract attention from emerging risks, says the report. Respondents to the survey highlight uncertainty over future regulation as the main barrier to effective risk management. There is a danger that the focus on compliance could be crowding out day-to-day risk management.

Risk managers recognize that data quality and availability need to improve but collecting, storing and aggregating data is an area of weakness for many firms, with only 39% of respondents believing that they are effective at these activities.

Abhik Sen, report editor, says: "When it comes to managing risk, banks and insurers are clearly keen to raise their game. But the research shows that improvements have not yet gone far enough to reassure everyone about their capacity to protect themselves and others from a catastrophe like the financial crisis."

The global recession appears to have sparked a spending splurge, with the top 100 financial institutions set to spend over $100 billion a year implementing risk governance frameworks by 2012 - more than double the 2006 figure - according to recent research from business advisory firm Deloitte.

Using IBAN and BIC in SEPA Credit Transfers - Public Consultation Online

The European Payments Council (EPC) Customer Stakeholder Forum (CSF) representing the EPC and customer organizations acting on a European level have prepared a set of questionnaires to investigate the actual experience of users inputting the IBAN and the BIC. This has been a response to suggestions that some bank customers may have problems using these two identifiers when initiating SEPA Credit Transfers.

To this end, two online questionnaires have been prepared, one for individual users and another for business users. Users are asked to respond online to the survey published in English. As it is important to get as many responses as possible, translations have been provided for a number of languages - see below under related files.

The questionnaires will be available for a two-month period beginning 3 May 2010 and ending 5 July 2010.

You can access the questionnaires please CLICK HERE

Remittances – Do you need information?

One of the biggest problems in the Remittance industry is the availability of accurate information.

The World Bank operates a website that provides data on the cost of sending and receiving Remittances from one country to another. Called remittances, these international transfers are often initiated by migrant workers. The site covers 178 "country corridors" worldwide. The corridors studied flow from 24 major remittance sending countries to 85 receiving countries, representing more than 60% of total remittances to developing countries.

Pay the website a visit. It’s certainly worth it. You can find it at http://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/

New US Mobile Payment System

A Silicon Valley company has created a mobile payment system called FaceCash that it hopes will one day displace credit cards.

Here’s how it works: You can download the FaceCash application on any leading smartphone — it will be available on iPhone, BlackBerry or Android phones beginning next week. Then you type in your bank account information, Social Security number, and driver’s licence number, and upload your picture. That’s it. You can now use your phone to make pretty much any in-person transaction, whether at a restaurant or at a grocery store — as long as the merchant has signed up for the service. To accept your payment, the merchant simply scans the FaceCash barcode on your phone with a scanner, and your picture will pop up on their computer screen — which helps them avoid fraud. They then approve your payment.

FaceCash has a tough road ahead of it in the short term, because it needs to sign up lots of customers and merchants before it can be useful to either side. On the flip side, if it devises some smart marketing tactics, and cuts deals with banks so that it can become a credit instrument as well as a debit card, this company has a very nice chance. And we should wish it well, because it offers a more open, useful, and inexpensive technology than the gouging credit card companies.