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Visa Wave Gaining Wider Acceptance in Malaysia
Edge, Bernama.com, Business Times, Harian Metro, The Sun, Utusan Malaysia (Malaysia) - Visa International is confident that Visa Wave, Visa Asia Pacific's contactless payment product, will continue to be adopted widely in Malaysia as its issuance rose 100 percent last year in the country to 330,000 cards. Its country manager for Malaysia, Jeffrey Perera said the company is encouraged by the feedback and market response to the Visa Wave contactless productand that since its commercial deployment in Malaysia in February 2005, Visa Wave had shown an increase in transaction values, customer satisfaction based on the speed and convenience of the service, and improved card loyalty. Parkson, one of the largest local retail chains in the country has joined the list of merchants that accept Visa Wave. Visa has also partnered with Al Rajhi Bank making it the sixth bank to issue Visa Wave cards in Malaysia.
Stanchart Offers New Credit Card Rewards
Business Times, Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore) - Standard Chartered Bank is bringing a new credit card rewards program for travelers under which the bank's Visa cardholders may use the points earned on their card to buy air tickets and hotel stays via a "members only" online travel agency, Travel Perks. The bank says that there are now about 200,000 Stanchart credit cardholders in Singapore. Data from Visa International shows that Singaporeans spent S$2.08 billion overseas on their Visa cards last year, up 10 percent from 2005. "We are traveling a lot more," said Meranda Chan, Visa International’s country manager for Singapore and Brunei.
Asean Battling Capital Flows a Decade after Crisis
Bloomberg (Asia) - A decade after an exodus of capital triggered a financial crisis and pummeled their economies, Southeast Asian ministers will discuss ways to combat inflows that are threatening their monetary stability again. Southeast Asian nations have lagged behind China and India in attracting foreign direct investments. Government and business spending in Japan, China and India remained the biggest in Asia Pacific in 2006, according to an index compiled by Visa International. Expenditure by governments and companies rose to US$11.4 trillion, a five percent increase from the year before, the Visa Commercial Consumption Expenditure index showed. Still, signs of a pick-up in spending are encouraging. While the biggest expenditure were recorded in the region's largest economies, growth rates were the fastest in countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, the Visa index showed.
Indian Mobile Operator Offers Bill Payment
CardLine Asia Pacific (US) -Indian mobile and fixed phone network operator Bharti Airtel has announced the mChek service, which will allow customers in the country's New Delhi and National Capital Region pay bills through their mobile phones. "MChek lets you put your credit card in your mobile phone and use it in a safe, smart and simple manner for over-the-counter and Internet purchases, and person-to-person payments," the company said. The service is a joint effort by Bharti Airtel, Visa, ICICI Bank and the State Bank of India. Any credit card can be used to make payments, and debit and other payment mechanisms will be available in the future, according to the company.
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Credit Companies Urge Retailers to "Get On Board" with Data Security Standards
InternetRetailer.com (US) - For six years, credit card companies have been threatening retailers with fines and loss of credit card status if they don’t comply with the payment card industry data security standards. And retailers have been routinely ignoring them. Now that might be changing. The card companies recently increased their fines to as much as US$25,000 a month for large merchants who don’t comply with the standards. Retailers are getting a clear message from merchant banks, credit card companies and consumers that they need to get on board with security standards designed to protect credit card account and other data in consumer databases. If consumer attitudes and the fear of public shame aren’t enough to sway technology plans, the credit card companies have implemented a new schedule of fines for security breaches. Visa also will offer $20 million in incentives to merchant acquirers if their retailers comply by end August and have not been involved in a data compromise. The goal is to promote faster compliance, says Eduardo Perez, Visa USA’s vice president of payment risk.
Restaurants Focus on Security to Stop Bank Card Fraud
News & Observer (US) - When you go out to eat, you probably hand your credit or debit card over to your server without much thought. But that transaction deserves a closer look. Visa claims that since January 2005, restaurants have accounted for about 40 percent of incidents in which consumers' credit card information has been compromised. Restaurant owners don't have to know every detail about how their systems operate, Visa spokeswoman Rosetta Jones said. "They're selling plates of pasta, not security". The important thing for restaurateurs to find out is whether their systems are storing customers' entire 16-digit credit card account numbers or "track data" as restaurants that store this data are easy targets.
Ups and Downs of Linking Names to Games
Financial Times (UK) - Corporate sponsors at the past three Olympic Games have experienced differing benefits from their sponsorship contracts. But when people described the 1996 summer games in Atlanta as the "Coca-Cola Olympics", it was rarely intended as a compliment, their investment was undermined by widespread criticism that the games were over-commercialized. However at the 2004 Athens Games, the second largest Greek bank, Alpha, paid €74 million to become the lead sponsor. Hector Verikios, who headed Alpha's sponsorship team, called it "a positive experience". It launched an Olympics Visa gold credit card in partnership with Visa, and attracted over 110,000 subscriptions, which was three times the expected number.
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China Merchants Bank Promotes Olympic Credit Cards in Henan
Sohu.com，Qq.com (China) - China Merchants Bank has launched its Visa Olympic credit cards in Henan. The media quoted an official of Zhengzhou branch of China Merchants Bank saying the new cards, in addition to the basic functions, will also provide cardholders with additional benefits related to the Olympic Games.
ICBC Boosts Profits 31 Percent Amid Personal Banking Rise
Financial Times, International Herald Tribune (Hong Kong), Business Times (Singapore), Hong Kong Economic Times, Sing Pao, Hong Kong Daily News, Sing Tao Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Metropolis Daily (Hong Kong) - China's largest bank yesterday posted a 31 percent gain in profits in its first set of results since it launched the world's largest IPO last October. ICBC's net profit rose to RMB 49.8 billion (US$6.4 billion) last year on the back of growing personal banking and wealth management businesses as China's economy continued to prosper.
Citigroup Sets up Pakistan Microloan
International Herald Tribune (Hong Kong) - Citigroup said it arranged Pakistan's first commercial microfinance loan for Rs 1.32 billion or US$22 million, tapping the market or credit to the poor. The Lahore-based Kashf Foundation, which provides collateral-free loans and savings services to poor women, will receive the funds in three phases, Citigroup said in a statement on Tuesday. The first $6 million will be given over five years, while the schedule for the next two phases of $8 million each will be announced later.
Royal Bank of Scotland May Seek India Licence
The Economic Times (India) - Industry sources say the 280-year old British banking giant, Royal Bank of Scotland, a US$71 billion financial powerhouse which is among the top 10 financial services groups in the world, is keen to roll out its retail and corporate banking operations in India. Other than a 1,000-people IT development centre in India, the group has yet to have a presence in India.
Thai Islamic Bank to list in Three Years
Bangkok Post, The Nation (Thailand) - The Islamic Bank of Thailand, the only Islamic bank in the country, plans to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand by 2010. The small niche player expects to grow by at least 100 percent over the next three years on the back of the rapid growth of global "oil dollar" capital. CEO and senior executive vice president Suwan Damnernthong believes the capital from oil exports, mostly earned by Muslims, will provide his bank with high growth potential similar to what is happening around the world. Under Syariah law, Islamic banks all over the world conduct their business not only under traditional banking standards but also Islamic rules. For example, Islamic banks cannot provide interest to depositors. They instead provide dividends or returns under a profit-sharing condition.
Two Ailing Taiwan Banks to go on Auction Block
International Herald Tribune (Hong Kong) - Taiwan's Central Deposit Insurance Corporation will start the sale of two ailing banks this month as part of a government effort to strengthen the industry, two people with knowledge of the plan said. The bad debt agency hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to begin the auction of Enterprise Bank of Hualien and Taitung Business Bank by the end of April.
Bank of America Rewards Program for Major League Baseball Fans
PR Newswire (US) - Bank of America - the Official Bank of Major League Baseball - is loading up the bases and the rewards by launching the first full season of the Bank of America MLB Extra Bases credit card program. Through the Extra Bases rewards program, fans can redeem rewards points for tickets to regular season games, VIP all-access tours of selected ballparks or a spectrum of unique rewards that only MLB and its 30 Clubs can deliver, many of which are exclusive to this program. Additionally, Bank of America has affinity credit card relationships with 23 Major League Baseball Clubs.
Citibank Introduces Citi Mobile Banking Service for Cell Phone
The Associated Press (US) - Citibank is starting a mobile banking service that customers can download to their cell phones. The service, Citi Mobile, will be introduced first in Southern California and should be available throughout the US by midyear. Citi joins other US financial institutions that are rolling out wireless banking applications. Citibank's new mobile service which will require registration of a specific phone and selection of a six-digit access code will allow the owners of cell phones and other wireless devices, like the BlackBerry, to review balances and transactions, transfer funds among accounts, pay bills, search for Citi branches and ATM locations, or connect to Citi's customer service centers.
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Minister Promises to Control Credit Card Ownership
Bernama.com, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia (Malaysia) - Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop described credit cards as a temptation that can ruin a generation and promised to control the ownership. He said the ministry had discussed with Bank Negara to find the best way of tightening the application criteria. Tan Sri Yakcop also said that the level of credit card debts was not worrying as the non-performance loan ratio has dropped to 3.7 percent compared with 16.1 percent during the economic crisis. He added that 60 percent of credit card users also paid the amount due on time every month which showed that they used the facility as an electronic payment.
Credit Card Spending in March Exceeds KRW 20 Trillion
Yonhap News (Korea) - The start of a new school year and the spring graduation season has led domestic credit card spending to exceed KRW 20 trillion this March, a 12.1 percent increase year-on-year and a 10 percent increase from the previous month. Although card spending in December exceeded KRW 20 trillion due to the Christmas seasonal factor, this is the first time spending has reached such levels in March.
MasterCard Launches New Age Shopping
scoop.co.nz (New Zealand) - MasterCard has launched an innovative new payment solution in Taiwan that is set to revolutionize the way consumers pay for goods and use their mobile phones. MasterCard, in cooperation with Taiwan Mobile and Taipei Fubon Bank, has embarked on a pilot whereby consumers will be able to pay for purchases using their Nokia 3220 mobile phones and MasterCard Paypass contactless payment technology.
Chong Hing Bank, CUP Launch Instant Cash Transfer Service
Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Ming Pao Daily News, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, Ta Kung Pao (Hong Kong) - Chong Hing Bank and China UnionPay (CUP) have launched an instant cash transfer service, allowing Hong Kong’s customers to transfer money to Fujian’s bank accounts. With the new service, recipients can withdraw cash or make payment with their CUP cards on a real-time basis, avoiding the transfer process that usually requires a few working days. CUP said it is planning to expand the service to the whole country within three to five years.
Royal Attacks "Rip-off" Bank Charges
Financial Times (Hong Kong) - Segolene Royal, the Socialist presidential candidate, said yesterday she would force banks to disclose more fee information to retail customers, limit charges and permit class-action consumer lawsuits. "In 2006, banks' financial profits rose more than 30 percent and the banking fees for individuals and companies have become exorbitant," Royal said. She called some bank practices "a rip-off".
Singaporeans Probed over Money Laundering for Foreign Group
Straits Times (Singapore) - They earned S$1,000 a week forwarding money sent from Australia to people in Russia and Latvia, but several Singaporeans are now under investigation after it was discovered they could be "money mules" laundering funds for an international crime syndicate. The Singaporeans being quizzed by the Commercial Affairs Department applied online last year to be transaction managers for what was supposed to be an international aid agency. In reality, they were being hired by a so-called phishing syndicate to act as "money mules".
New "MasterCard Nearby" Service Delivers to Cardholders' Cell Phones
Business Wire (US), CardLine (US) - MasterCard recently unveiled the MasterCard Nearby, a trial of a new service that allows cardholders to use their mobile phones to access information such as ATM and merchant locations, driving directions and rewards. The service, which was developed in partnership with go2, is accessible from any compatible web-enabled mobile phone. Recently, MasterCard has undertaken several trials of MasterCard PayPass-enabled mobile phones and is participating in contactless mobile phone trials underway in several countries, in partnership with major telecom companies and financial institutions. MasterCard is also working to enable person-to-person cross-border money transfers via mobile phone.
Merchants Say Higher Fees Are Forcing Them to Hike Prices
Los AngelesTimes (US) - Credit card companies have always taken their cut when a customer uses plastic as part of the cost of doing business electronically. But a recent surge in fees has sparked an intense dispute, with small merchants complaining that the higher charges are forcing them to raise prices and, in some cases, threatening to drive them out of business. With the two sides at loggerheads, Congress is preparing to step in on behalf of merchants and consumers. The issue is an inviting one for the Democrats who now control Capitol Hill and are receptive to regulating consumer issues.
Credit Card Companies Still Raking it in Despite £12 Charges Cap
The Guardian (UK) - A study by uSwitch has showed that the UK’s Office of Fair Trading's £12 cap on credit card charges, imposed a year ago, has not cost card providers anything and may actually have helped them make higher profits through higher average repayment rates, higher cash withdrawal charges and higher balance transfer fees. The credit card companies have made at least £815 million compared with the £300 million lost due to the OFT's cap on late payment charges.
E-Business: Google Cloaks Users' Search Logs
Business and Finance (US) - Google has announced its intention to make anonymous the personal data it receives from users' web searches in a move welcomed by privacy groups. Currently, the search giant collects search information from individuals such as queries, IP addresses and cookie details, which it keeps for an indefinite period. However, in an entry on its corporate blog posted on 14 March, Google said that while it will continue to keep server log data, it intends to make anonymous such information after 18 to 24 months, unless it is legally required to retain data for a longer period. While admitting that the steps it intends to take cannot guarantee complete anonymity, Google believes the changes will make it very unlikely that users could be identified.
New Credit Card Player Unveils Aggressive Plan
Gulf News (UAE) - A consumer finance company set up by Dubai Holding aims to capture six percent of the UAE credit card business by the end of this year. The new company, Dubai First, bought Dubai Bank's credit card business when the bank converted into an Islamic institution at the start of 2007.
Younger Consumers Actually Open Direct Mail Card Offers, Report Finds
CardLine (US) -Roughly 45 percent of 18- to 24-year-old consumers typically open credit card offers they receive in the mail, compared to 36 percent of all consumers, according to a Mintel International Group report. The survey also found that among those 18 to 24 year-olds who hold a credit card and open credit card offer envelopes, 54 percent do so because the envelope promises "lower APR or fees" than their current credit card or cards and 31 percent do so because the envelope indicates that they are pre-approved.
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Hong Kong Urged to Improve Services for Tourists
China Daily Hong Kong Edition, Sing Pao, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Apply Daily, Oriental Daily News, The Sun, Macao Daily News, AM730, Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong Economic Times, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Daily News, Metropolis Daily (Hong Kong) - Li Gang, deputy director of the Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong, yesterday asked the Hong Kong and mainland tourism authorities to work together to improve the standard of tourism services in Hong Kong. This follows news reports by the national TV network, CCTV, about mainland tourists being subject to price hikes in Hong Kong shops. James Tien, the Tourism Board’s newly appointed chairman, agreed that the report would have a negative impact on the tourism industry, especially with the "golden week" holiday in May approaching.
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