Richard's on the Whisky trail again - this time Johannesburg

One of our Principal Associates, Richard Barr is a member of the Whisky Israel tasting society, and a good whisky friend and big whisky lover. From time to time he posts his notes and adventures on Whisky Israel blog. Read his current post about his experience of buying whisky in Johannesburg, South Africa. It's certainly woth a read. Catch it HERE.

To read about Richard's whisky adventure in Madrid please click HERE.

And Richard's next trip? Well he is off again this week. To Hong Kong this time. Have a great trip Richard.

Visa’s Digital Wallet

A view from Jim McCarthy, Head of Product Development at Visa Inc. on wher Visa may be heading.

Dow plunges 512 points

Investors threw in the towel and Wall Street posted its worst day since the Great Recession. Worries mount about U.S. economic growth and escalating debt crisis in Europe while investors sought safety in U.S. Treasuries and 10-year note yield fell below 2.5%.

Bank of America is promoting its new Windows 7 application using Microsoft Tag barcodes

Bank of America launched its Windows 7 app in May. This allows enabling customers to pay bills, transfer funds, view balances and find ATMs using their handsets.

They have now created a Microsoft Tag, a 2D barcode that users scan to get redirected to a page where they can download the banking app.

On the Microsoft Tag blog, Treena Colby writes: "You are a gal or guy on the go. You have a stack of bills a mile high. You have no time to organize your life, much less read your mail or navigate a website to get what you need. You are the perfect target audience for the latest Bank of America marketing campaign."

Barclays Mobile Banking

A short video from Barclays Bank in the UK showing how simple and effective mobile banking can be.

Square now processing $4 million in mobile payments per day

Square is continuing to grow in the mobile payments space. After passing the $3 million mark at the end of May, Square is now processing $4 million in mobile payments daily, and is on track to reach over $100 million in transactions in July. Square’s COO Keith Rabois says that he expects the company to double this volume by October.

Square is planning on launching payments capabilities outside of the US in 2012.

iPad usage of Square is on the rise too, especially after the company launched a disruptive new iPad app to replace cash registers and loyalty cards. The breakdown in terms of usage are iPad (21%), iPhone (45%), iPod (3%) and Android (31%).

Over the past 12 months, Square has shipped more than 500,000 credit card readers, and is processing more than a million transactions per month. And Square devices are now sold in Apple Stores.

For professionals on the move and for small businesses Square is certainly something to consider.

Citibank unveils new consumer banking iPad app

Citibank has released its first consumer banking app designed for the iPad. The tool allows customers to perform banking activities such as checking their account balances, controlling cash flow, paying bills, transferring funds, accessing rewards and finding nearby Citibank ATMs and branches.

The app's special features allow for in-depth financial management such as planning cash outflow with the help of interactive charts. The tool also gives consumer banking customers the ability to analyze personal spending habits through automated, customizable charts and compare those spending habits with general consumer data that can be filtered in a number of ways. In addition, the new app offers real-time customer service access, including direct access to Citibank's Twitter customer support option.

Citibank is emphasizing the tool's interface, saying that it does more than just mirror app interfaces for laptops or mobile phones by taking advantage of the interactivity allowed by the iPad. See it in action here: