Fake credit card factory lands man in jail

A London court has jailed two men who it found guilty of running a fake credit card factory and using the counterfeit plastic to buy luxury goods worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Gabriel Yew and Cheng Chee Weng were sentenced to four years and 15 months in prison respectively at Southwark Crown Court after having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and supplying articles for use in fraud.

The pair were caught after a plain clothes officer from the Westminster Chinese Unit on patrol in Chinatown, central London, noticed a man handing over a sum of money in exchange for an envelope.

The officer approached the men and when they refused to explain themselves he opened the envelope, finding 11 counterfeit credit cards. The men ran off but the officer caught one who had 11 blank plastic cards on him.

The man - Weng - was arrested and the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) was called in. After enquiries, the police ended up searching a flat belonging to Yew who was identified as the man who escaped in Chinatown.

In the flat police found thermal printers to produce counterfeit cards, plastic cards and holograms, over £10,000 in cash and gold ingots and other jewellery valued at between £8,000 and £10,000. A list of a number of stolen account numbers was also found at the address - 250 of them were already encoded onto the counterfeit cards and police recovered a further 450 compromised details.

The operation's mastermind, Yew used the fake cards to buy computer handsets, iPhones, expensive whisky, jewellery and other items worth up to £300,000.

SWIFT to reduce message prices by an average 20 percent

SWIFT, the provider of global financial messaging services, has announced that it is reducing the price of messages on its core FIN service by an average of 20 percent. This will represent an estimated saving of €70 million for SWIFT customers in 2011. The new pricing plan takes effect on 1 January 2011.

SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 9,500 banking organizations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 209 countries. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardized financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.

"We have delivered the reduction by focusing on increased efficiencies and rigorous cost controls at SWIFT despite the tough global economic environment and the decreased volume growth" said Lázaro Campos, Chief Executive Officer, SWIFT. "Consistent with our strategy for the next five years - SWIFT2015 - we are committed to further decreasing the price of our messaging services in the future, while continuing to invest in the security and reliability of our platform."

“This is the largest price reduction since 1995 and SWIFT has ensured customers with smaller volumes also benefit,” said Yawar Shah, Chairman of the SWIFT Board and Managing Director, Citi. “In fact, the announced 20 percent reduction is in addition to the achievement, ahead of schedule, of a targeted 50 percent price reduction over five years set in 2006.”

The new pricing plan reflects the guiding principles of SWIFT’s pricing policy which aims to encourage traffic growth, increase market share and respond to market conditions and competitive threats. Additionally, the policy aims to reward both large and small volume users, and offer choice to customers.

The reduction applies to all types of FIN traffic and SWIFT is also extending the optional Fixed Fee programme to a broader group of customers. The Fixed Fee option has proven successful because it offers customers opportunities for significant savings as well as cost predictability.

Year-to-date average FIN traffic growth is above seven percent. SWIFT recorded its latest traffic peak on 11 May 2010, when it processed 18.36 million FIN messages.

Dutch banks and mobile operators form national m-payments consortium

Leading banks and mobile operators in the Netherlands are joining forces to create a joint venture company aimed at introducing mobile payments at the check-out. Consortium members ABN Amro, ING, KPN, Rabobank, T-Mobile and Vodafone have signed a letter of intent to create a single uniform system for mobile transactions in the Netherlands.

Research conducted by the group concludes that it is both "technically and commercially feasible" to create a national infrastructure for mobile payments at the check-out.

"To bring this about, the six companies plan to set up a joint venture," says the group in a statement. "By affiliating themselves to the system, all banks, mobile providers and other service providers will ultimately be able to provide their services by telephone."

Intended for introduction in 2012, the scheme will use NFC-based contactless technology and payment software located in a secure part of the SIM-card in the user's phone.

In addition to the potential to make in-store cash payments, other applications such as admission tickets, coupons and customer cards will also be made available says the group.

Kenyan bank sued over mobile phone banking service

Kenya’s Equity Bank’s latest product M-Kesho ran into trouble recently after a businessman accused the bank of breach of confidence and use of his idea.

Mr Hoswell Mbugua Njuguna, in a court action, sought an injunction against Equity Bank from using information he says he gave to agents of the bank in confidence to market the product.

In a sworn statement, Mr Njuguna says that he was the author of the original work, which he completed and submitted for registration in July 2006. His work, he said, is titled “Weka Usaidike”.

In August 2006, he says, he confided the idea to two agents of the bank in a bid to negotiate an agreement. But in breach of the confidence, he adds, the bank created a product known as M-Kesho in partnership with Safaricom with characteristics identical to those of the one he had discussed with the agents.

He says that the profits the bank has been making constitute unjust enrichment. Unless stopped by the court, he says, the bank would still use the said information to make profits.

According to recent reports Equity has opened more than 200,000 accounts on M-Kesho since its May launch.

'There is R12bn under mattresses'

The Banking Association of South Africa believes that the country's unbanked are holding about R12 billion, which would have a massive impact if brought into the market.

Brian Richardson, the CEO of mobile banking company Wizzit, said at the association's inaugural summit in Johannesburg recently that the case of R12 billion 'under mattresses', was not unique to SA.

But he said it was 'sad' that last year, the number of unbanked people increased.

'We seem to be going backwards and the economy and the global meltdown has been blamed.'

WIZZIT Payments (Pty) Ltd is a provider of basic banking services for the unbanked and underbanked (people or enterprises that have no or only limited access to banking services) in SA. Its services are based on the use of mobile phones for accessing bank accounts and conducting transactions, in addition to a Maestro debit card that is issued to all customers upon registration.

Wizzit is a branchless banking business, meaning that its services are designed so that customers can generally conduct transactions without the need to visit bank branches.


While Wizzit does not operate any branches on its own, it has partnered with the Absa Group and the South African Post Office and the that act as banking agents and allow Wizzit's customers to deposit funds at any Absa or Post Office branch.

However, Richardson said the key to getting more people to open bank accounts depended on affordability, accessibility and availability.

'We don't have all the answers and if it was easy to bank the unbanked, everyone would be doing it.'

Richardson said banks could not be all things to all people and big banks would experience some difficulties in serving the informal market.

'Banks are highly formally structured organizations designed to serve a formal structured market so it's not easy for them to deal with the chaos of the informal market.'

He said that when it came to mobile banking, SA was losing the race.

'Our system in countries like Zambia is far more successful.'

Most US consumers remain wary of Mobile Banking – Recent Study

Although a growing number of consumers are taking advantage of mobile banking, most have yet to use their cell phones or PDAs to manage their cheque accounts or savings accounts.

The two biggest reasons, according to an August report by Javelin Strategy & Research in San Francisco, are concerns about security and a “lack of a compelling value proposition.” In other words, many question; “What’s the point?”

Javelin, which says 19 of the 30 largest US financial institutions now offer mobile banking, rates Federal Savings Bank “best in class” for the second year in a row. The others with the most robust mobile banking offerings are Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo, which all provide multiple modes for mobile banking, including text banking, access to websites created for mobile banking and smartphone applications.

Still, banks are missing opportunities. Just over one-third of top financial institutions have Android-based applications, compared to 80 percent that have iPhone apps, even though Android owners now outnumber iPhone users and half of them are mobile bankers, the research firm says. Other opportunities include money transfers, remote deposit and account opening capabilities, according to Javelin.

Meanwhile, results of recent survey by KPMG, the audit, tax and advisory firm, show almost one in five US consumers has conducted a banking transaction on a mobile device, compared to only 9 percent when KPMG completed the survey 18 months earlier.

Young people ages 16 to 24 are the most likely users, with a third reporting they had banked on a mobile device. Among US respondents who had never banked by cell phone, roughly half cited security and privacy as the primary reasons.

Those who said that they were comfortable with mobile banking grew to 16 percent, up 6 percent from the last survey. Those who weren’t comfortable dropped to 55 percent, an 11 percent decline, according to KPMG.

Despite this US consumers are behind much of the world when it comes to mobile banking. KPMG says about one-third of consumers globally in the new survey say they are comfortable making financial transactions on a mobile device.

Euroclear Bank to allow transactions in Chinese Yuan

Euroclear Bank has announced that it is to allow clients to settle transactions and deposit Eurobonds and Hong Kong domestic securities denominated in the Chinese Yuan Renminbi in Euroclear Bank.

The first transactions in Renminbi are due to be settled on 27 September.

Euroclear Bank will support the Renminbi-denominated securities market, said Olivier Grimonpont, Regional Head and General Manager of the Euroclear Bank branch office in Hong Kong. He also added, investors will be able to settle these transactions in Euroclear Bank and eliminate foreign-exchange risk by having to settle in alternative currencies as offshore borrowers look to raise funding in Renminbi or to broaden their investor base.

Euroclear Bank intends to take an early and significant role in servicing these securities for issuers and investors alike. The Yuan Renminbi is the 53rd settlement currency offered by Euroclear Bank.