PayPal steering clear of NFC technology

PayPal is steering clear of the use of NFC technology at the till, maintaining that the tech is years away from attaining mainstream critical mass. Instead it is focusing on a PayPal-issued card or using a mobile phone number and PIN at the point-of-sale. 

US retailer Home depot is now set to roll out Paypal's in-store payment system nationwide following a six-week trial at five pilot stores.

Paypal is hailing the national roll-out to all 2000 Home Depot locations as a vindication of its strategy for mobile payments on main street.

Home Depot customers can either swipe a PayPal-issued card to pay for in-store purchases, or enter a mobile phone number and PIN into the point-of-sale terminal.

See the system in action.

Is Dodd-Frank doomed?

Jonathan Macey of Yale Law School explains why the Dodd-Frank bill may not have prevented the financial crisis but will create jobs for regulators and lawyers.

Sweden’s “iZettle” expands across Europe

Sweden’s iZettle which provides technology that turns mobile phones into card payment terminals, is now preparing to expand into Europe, beginning with a launch this week in Denmark, Finland and Norway. During the beta phase iZettle is making 5,000 chip-card readers per country available free of charge. A UK launch is also on the cards.

The iZettle card reader and accompanying application enables merchants to accept card payments using iPhones, iPods and iPads. It is similar to US offerings from Square, Intuit and VeriFone but works with chip, rather than mag-stripe, cards.

Launched last August, with a full scale commercial roll out in November, the service already has 25,000 active users in Sweden.

Jacob de Geer, CEO, iZettle, says: "We estimate there are at least 20 million small businesses across Europe, not to mention all the individuals that could benefit from the iZettle service. The Nordics are just the first step of our global expansion scheduled for 2012."

A look at Barclay’s “Pingit”

Barclays has just launched what it's calling Europe's first person-to-person service for sending and receiving money using mobile phone numbers. 20,000 Brits signed up in the first two days. The bank's free mobile app, powered by Pingit, is free to download and use, and promises secure transfer of funds in seconds, which will show up immediately on customers' bank statements.

The Barclays Pingit mobile payment system is available to any UK resident with a UK registered mobile number. Users must be 16 or older (originally this was set at 18) and need an Android phone, BlackBerry or iPhone smartphone with web access. Barclays current account customers can send up to £300 a day to family, friends and small businesses. Non-Barclays customers with a current account can receive payments, and "soon they'll be able to send money too," according to the bank.

"Barclays' Pingit could revolutionise the way people send and receive money," stated Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays retail and business banking, about the contactless payments launch. "For friends splitting the cost of dinner, repaying a borrowed £10 or people sending money to a son or daughter at university, it is free, quick, convenient, secure, and easy to use. You can send and receive money in seconds without having to enter account details. I'm sure we'll soon be wondering what we did before it."

According to ThisisMoney.co.uk the Pingit system is "threatening to become the industry standard." Royal Bank of Scotland, owner of NatWest, is understood to be looking at similar ideas as is Lloyds Banking Group. HSBC said it had no plans at the moment to launch a Pingit rival, but a spokesman said the move by Barclays was "certainly a step forward for the banking industry.'"

In the following video Sean Gilchrist, head of digital banking for Barclays, addressing the key question by consumers — security.



Barclays has also produced video tutorials (such as the one below) to educate and reassure customers, demonstrating how to register, send and receive money via the service.

A video ATM? A look at NCR's video teller services

Dollar Bank in the US has announced it will introduce video tellers at three cash machines in the Pittsburgh area in May that will allow customers to see and speak with a remote teller even when branches are closed.

Dollar will be the first bank in Western Pennsylvania or Ohio - and one of the very first in the US - to deploy such ATMs, said Jeff Dudash, spokesman for NCR Corp., the Dayton-based ATM maker.

Each of the video tellers initially will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or even 9 p.m., he said. Dollar operates 73 ATMs in the Pittsburgh region, and 46 around Cleveland. Dollar will roll out walk-up and drive-thru machines at selected branches in the second quarter in a move that will reduce customer waiting times during busy periods of the day and enable the bank to stay open during evenings and on weekends.

The ATMs that incorporate video-conference technology, enabling customers to speak live to tellers.

The Aptra Interactive Teller can be used either as a normal ATM or a portal through which customers can conduct transactions with a live, remote teller via video conference.

Using the system is little different to speaking to a teller in the flesh, says Dollar but the bank will initially use a "concierge approach", with a staff member running through the process.

Last month NCR made an investment in uGenius, the Utah-based video banking outfit with which it developed the Aptra Interactive Teller.

See the new ATM in action.

Training Course - OPERATIONS RISK – ACTIVE MANAGEMENT & COMPLIANCE

Johannesburg, 9 & 10 May 2012

This course carries the Certified Operational Risk Specialist (CORS) certification from Interfima

All too often banks 7 financial institutions have seen the management of operational risk as complying with regulatory requirements rather than a process which can contribute to the financial fortune of an organization. Implementing an effective operational risk framework is a complex process which requires an in-depth understanding of the nature of risks involved and strategies to mitigate them.

This 2 day practical course explores the best practice in operational risk management, at all stages, from assessment to implementation. You will gain tools to manage risk and to create environment where this function is perceived as a value added proposition increasing profitability and structural strength of an organisation.

For detailed course information and registrations please click here.

Training Course - OPERATIONS IMPROVEMENT & MANAGING CHANGE

Johannesburg, 7 & 8 May 2012

This course carries the Certified Operational Specialist (COS) certification from Interfima

Operations improvement and innovation are the actions taken to identify, analyze and improve existing business and other operational processes within an organisation. These may be driven by the need to reduce costs, achieve greater operational efficiencies, or the merging and simplification of existing business units and their processes.

Improvements to operations & processes also bring change. This always introduces a layer of uneasiness to the individuals that make up the organization – the staff. Just as critical as the innovation and improvement the Operations Improvement brings, is getting your staff to accept change as beneficial especially within their own working environments and comfort zones.

This 2-day intensive course is designed for all people involved in banking, business, services and other profit and non-profit organizations to introduce them to the world of Operations through business and organizational processes – what they are and how they can be improved.

For detailed course information and registrations please click here.

“First world” mobile banking has a long way to go to catch-up to “third world” developments

This week Barclays bank in the UK launched “Pingit”, a new service that allows their customers to send money via their mobile phone to third parties using just a mobile number for the recipient.

The service was launched amid much fanfare as being something “new”. However MPesa, has operated the same service very successfully, in Kenya, Tanzania and Afghanistan, since way back in 2007 (just on 5 years ago) as this short video made in 2009 shows.

Other banks in South Africa and elsewhere have been offering the same service for the past three years at least.

Which raises the question: Who really are the innovators? 

Prepaid debit cards – Take care

Prepaid debit cards have really taken on in the US.

They're popular both as gifts for teens and as a way to contain was card spend.  Their use has ballooned as more consumers look for alternatives to high bank fees on traditional cards. The convenience makes then attractive.  The money is protected if you lose the card.  And, parents like them for kids who are not yet ready for credit cards.

"Surprisingly in 2011, 409 billion dollars was uploaded on prepaid debit cards.  It was actually the fastest growing transaction method with 35 percent growth," says MyBankTracker co-founder Alex Matjanc.

And you don't need a bank account to own one.  It is why they're increasingly popular with what's known as the unbanked. Seventeen million Americans do not have bank accounts, and that makes then not eligible for traditional credit cards.

Now here is the catch.  People often assume prepaid cards are cheaper because they don't involve bank fees.  The devil is always in the detail – in this case in the fine print.

Some prepaid cards come with their own fees, a monthly service fee, ATM fees and a fee every time the card is reloaded.

Active users can find that their card fees begin to stack up.

So before you jump on the bandwagon check out the fees.