Payments

I just received the 10-page summary of this year's IPS show.  Great document produced by the indomitable Heather McKenzie – good job.  Here's a little snippet to wet the appetite of those who missed it: There was a mood of cautious optimism at this year’s conference as delegates focused on …

Great article from Bloomberg Business Week about their #1 Customer Service Champion Provider: USAA. Here are a few selected pieces from the story: Since we first produced the list in 2007 with our research partner, J.D. Power & Associates, no other company has come close to achieving USAA's feat: a …

So yesterday I argued that PayPal and their brethren of social monies don’t matter. It was like unleashing the sceptical banker that I know resides deep within me, and it felt good. Then I got a dose of new reality vision (maybe due to so many comments on yesterday’s piece) …

Many of us get excited about new and different toys in the payments world. From Jack Dorsey’s twittering Square to PayPal’s billions of payments, we think the world is changing dramatically. SMS texting payments in Africa and credit exchanges on Facebook add weight to our arguments for change in the …

I've been studying developments in the Middle East lately, and particularly the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC has been running since 1981 and comprises six core states of the Persia Gulf Region: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. The GCC is a bit …

According to Fast Company, only one of the Top 10 financial websites of the world comes from a traditional bank.  That bank is Itaú Unibancoe in Brazil.  Well done Itaú Unibancoe … what happened to the rest of you? Oh yes, banks don't innovate.  I forgot. Mind you, plenty of …

BLOG ENTRY SPONSORED BY: I've just received the magazine announcing the winners of this year's Card Awards (last year's winners can be seen here).  And the envelope openings went to: Best New Credit Card Product of the YearPayPal and Santander Cards Best Credit Card Marketing Campaign of the YearBarclaycard Best …

As many readers know, I've disliked Chip & PIN pretty much since it was launched, as there are better solutions out there.  Here's my comment from 2006: Chris Skinner, CEO of financial services think tank Balatro told silicon.com: "I'm an anti-chip and PIN person. Sorry Apacs – I like them …

We had a great debate at the FSClub the other day, with the provocative title: “this house believes that SEPA (the Single Euro Payments Area) does matter”. The evening was chaired by the more than capable Bob Lyddon, who coordinates the IBOS Association secretariat, and four panel members who ‘played’ …

After the news of a banker’s offspring trying to blow up a flight on Christmas Eve by hiding explosive materials in his underpants, we wonder how such individuals get away with such acts. Can’t we monitor them better? Is there no way to identify the honest person from the dishonest …

I mentioned a dinner which I chaired about remittances the other day, and the firm that organised the dinner sent me a white paper as a follow-up. As a taster, read the previous blog entry or this paragraph gives a good indication of the content: "Remittances are no longer solely …

Interesting article on the guide to all things Europe today, Euractiv, about the Payment Services Directive. The Directive “has been transposed in all but 11 of the 31 EU/EEA countries”. Hmmm … that would be Cyprus, Estonia, Italy and Latvia (Jan); Norway (Feb); Belgium, Greece, Spain, Finland, Malta and Poland …

Everyone's getting real excited about Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, and his new payments application for the iPhone called Square. If you haven't seen it, here it is: In a lengthy interview with Pymnts.com, Dorsey says:  "We can provide a lot of things that I think have been missing …

Following the decision in the UK to phase out the paper cheque by 2018, here's a graph of travellers cheques usage as published by the Federal Reserve via Paul Kedrowsky (double click to enlarge): I wonder when these will be outlawed?   The Financial Services Club is sponsored by:  For …

We had a fascinating and packed meeting at the Financial Services Club this week with David Doyle, EU Policy Advisor, discussing the challenges of the new Barosso European Parliament and their legislative drive in financial services. David is a regular visitor to the Financial Services Club, and runs our European …