Stolen HSBC data tapped for Italian tax evasion probe

Italian police have launched a tax evasion investigation based on data stolen from HSBC's Swiss private banking arm by an IT employee, after being given a list of around 7,000 account holders by French counterparts.

According to Bloomberg, a Turin-based court requested the Italian names on the list of 127,000 accounts belonging to 79,000 people, obtained by French authorities. Herve Falciani, an HSBC IT employee stole the data three years ago and fled to France while under investigation before eventually handing it over to authorities.

Last month French prosecutor Eric de Montgolfier revealed that the stolen files have been decrypted and launched a tax investigation based on over 8,000 accounts related to French customers.

The willingness of foreign tax authorities to pay for information relating to Swiss private bank accounts has been a growing source of diplomatic tension. In February German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her government may buy stolen data on Swiss accounts.

PayPal launches Android mobile developer library as smartphone sales surge

PayPal has opened up its Mobile Payments Library - which lets developers add checkout functionality for physical goods and services to their apps - to Android users. This follows the launch last month of an equivalent library for iPhone handsets and is intended to help developers charge for goods and services sold through applications without having to collect and store debit or credit card information.

The eBay unit has also introduced a PayPal X Toolkit for Google App Engine, a platform for developing and running Web applications and services on the search engine outfit's cloud.

Recent data from Gartner found that Android devices surpassed iPhone sales for the first time in Q1 as smartphone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units, an increase of 48.7 per cent from the first quarter of 2009.

UK mobile money operation Monitise says it has seen a similar surge in the use of m-banking smartphone apps, processing 20 million enquiries and transactions in the last six months. Earlier this year Monitise unveiled a mobile money app for Android phones, available as a free download from the 'Android Market'.

Alastair Lukies, CEO, Monitise, says: "Smartphones are completely changing the face of mobile banking. A sea change is well underway in how people manage their day-to-day finances as they realise how simple, slick and fast mobile banking is - as easy as a few taps on a keypad."

Research house Forrester recently found that European BlackBerry and iPhone users are nearly three times more likely to use mobile banking services than the owners of other handsets.

Western Union to cut 175 jobs and consolidate operations

Western Union is to cut 175 jobs and consolidate its operations in an effort to achieve $50 million in annual savings by 2012. The global money transfer operator - which currently employs some 6,800 people - says the overhaul will simplify business processes and move decision making closer to the marketplace. The restructuring comes just over a month after the company named chief operating officer Hikmet Ersek to replace Christina Gold as CEO.

The upheavals will cut through a swathe of management layers, reducing the number of executive vice presidents, senior vice presidents and vice presidents. The company's bill payment business will be put under the command of America's president Stewart Stockdale, and a new position focusing on electronic channels and new customer segments for consumers and businesses will be created.

The proposed changes to business operations include the closing, consolidation, and downsizing of facilities and the creation of a new regional operations centre in Europe.

Most of the management changes will be effective in the next 30 days, while the changes to business operations - resulting in the migration of the work performed by approximately 550 positions - are expected to occur over the next 18 months.

The company anticipates recording a total of approximately $80 million of restructuring charges through 2011, which includes $75 million for severance, facility closure and other costs.

CEO-elect Ersek says: "Simplifying our structure will allow us to improve our productivity and customer focus, capitalize on growth opportunities, and enhance long-term financial returns for our shareholders."

Reserve Bank of India issues alert on fraud in remittance transactions

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised banks to exercise due caution and to be extra vigilant while opening or allowing transactions in remittances.

“It is clarified that any person resident in India collecting and effecting or remitting such payments directly or indirectly outside India would make himself or herself liable to be proceeded against with, for contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 besides being liable for violation of regulations relating to know your customer (KYC) norms or anti money laundering (AML) standards,” the RBI said in a notification.

It has been brought to the notice of the RBI that fraudsters are seeking money from the gullible people, under different categories, such as, processing fees, transaction fees, tax clearance charges, conversion charges and clearing fees, said the RBI. The victims have also been persuaded to deposit the amount in accounts with banks in India, and such amounts have been withdrawn immediately.

Australian banks to launch iPad banking apps

Australia's major banks are rushing to develop applications for the Apple iPad tablet on the back of significant growth in mobile banking use.

St.George Bank has become the first of the major banks to announce a dedicated app, which is to be made available for free download from the Apple iTunes store next week.

The iPad is being launched to Australians this week.

The app will go beyond the stripped back service made available by most banks for the iPhone, offering users the full functionality of St.George Internet banking, as well as a branch and ATM locator, product and service information, interest rates and product selector tools, and access to St.George video content through the bank's YouTube channel.

St.George head of eDistribution, Travis Tyler said more than 110,000 St.George customers use the bank's mobile banking service.Tyler thinks the iPad is more likely to be used by customers at home.

"We wanted to make sure we provided the full functionality of Internet banking".

Tyler also revealed the bank has a dedicated "think tank" of in-house experts working on new functionality for both the iPhone and iPad as customers embrace what Tyler said is a far more feature-rich experience than that offered by traditional websites.

NAB has also developed a dedicated iPad app, which it will launch today. The app will include full service NAB Internet banking, an ATM and branch locator and currency exchange rates. The bank said it will expand functionality over coming months.

Sam Plowman, executive general manager for direct banking at NAB said that as customers continue to embrace new technologies, "internet banking should be available anywhere, anytime, on any device".

Ean van Vuuren, head of consumer online with Westpac said the bank is definitely looking at building for iPad as mobile banking continues to gain popularity, but it has no firm launch dates at this stage.

ANZ and CBA (Commonwealth Bank), meanwhile, are first looking to simply optimize its existing online site for viewing on an iPad.

"We believe that the iPad and devices like it will become very popular for accessing online services in the home," an ANZ spokesman said.

She said the bank has already made changes to its platform to ensure that its internet banking service works well on the iPad.

"We are also working on other concepts related to the iPad and our approach is to deliver a customer experience that fully utilises what Apple have created in terms of screen size, multi-touch and other capabilities."

A CBA spokesman described the iPad as "an exciting device."

"We have tested NetBank on the iPad and think it’s a good experience, so we won't be developing a specific iPad application," the spokesman said.

Spanish financial institution Banco Sabadell became the first bank to release a native iPad app in late April.

MasterCard to open up its payment system to mobile and internet payments

MasterCard has announced it is to let mobile and web developers integrate its payment technology directly into apps. The move appears to mirror the model announced by PayPal, which serves up its own payment software for programmers.

However, those behind the venture have suggested MasterCard will be willing to let third parties take even more of a hands-on approach, with the company looking to make its payments system as flexible as possible.

According to the New York Times, MasterCard's chief innovation officer, Josh Peirez, is keen to see what third parties can come up with. The idea is that those outside MasterCard will be able to utilize the technology in ways the company hasn't considered before.

"A big part of the strategy is to be able to harness the innovation of others in the developer community to really push our business forward," Peirez told the paper.

It's no surprise MasterCard is looking to open up, with the firm having previously “built” its own payment apps that relied on merchant agreements and repeated data entry - a set-up deemed unappealing by many.

MasterCard's new approach appears more open, with MasterCard Labs which is behind the project - stating 20 of its services are available for third parties to use in their applications.

The news follows a renewed bid by PayPal to make its PayPal X software the default choice for developers, with its in-app purchase system now available for Android as well as iPhone.

It would appear PayPal still has some time before MasterCard becomes a real competitor, however, with Peirez merely stating that the company aims to open up its technology “by the end of the year”.

US faces long wait for mobile payments at PoS - Boston Fed

Mobile payments are unlikely to take off on a large scale in the US for at least the next three years, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

The prospects for the emerging technology are considered in a public policy discussion paper issued by the bank, which suggests that the investment costs currently outweigh the potential benefits.

On the demand side, consumers and merchants are well served by the current card system, and face a low expected benefit-cost ratio, at least in the short run, suggests the paper. On the supply side, low market concentration and strong competitive forces of banks and mobile carriers make coordination of standards difficult.

"Although it appears that some useful standards, both proprietary and open, will be available in the short or medium term, they will not be widely adopted until a business model develops that gives industry participants incentives to support this product, or until consumer demand for mobile payment services increases substantially," the paper concludes.

It suggests that the Fed could intervene in a policy push to establish appropriate regulatory oversight for mobile payments and encourage private industry stakeholders to work together to establish common industry standards.

Download the full analysis directly from the Boston Fed at http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/ppdp/2010/ppdp1002.pdf