FEM de Dag informs us that Way2Pay now has 20.000 customers and that 40 % of its customers shop during the day (from their work-place).
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Consumer Union sees card trouble
The Dutch consumer Union reports that quite some service glitches occur for customers that want a new card. It placed an announcement asking its members for experiences and received 150 comments, ranging from non-functioning cards to price issues.
The Consumer Union wants bank cards to be replaced without charges in those cases where the customer sends in a nice and clean card. More news is to be found in the december 2003 issue of their Money-Magazine.
The Consumer Union wants bank cards to be replaced without charges in those cases where the customer sends in a nice and clean card. More news is to be found in the december 2003 issue of their Money-Magazine.
InterFaktuur : another EBPP
Bill payment is a costly thing. And getting your customers to sign up to EBPP and authorise payments on your website may earn you money. Thus InterFaktuur Nederland is offering an EBPP solution, that uses direct debits in the back-end. Basicly the same payment concept offer as Privver, but it's not part of a consolidated solution.
Meanwhile Postal Services in the US drops its 4-year-old electronic bill-payment service operated through CheckFree Corp (see this article).
Meanwhile Postal Services in the US drops its 4-year-old electronic bill-payment service operated through CheckFree Corp (see this article).
Friday, November 14, 2003
Minister of Finance visits Wallie-card
I think our Minister of Finance Zalm, is about the only other professional involved in the Dutch financial industry, who maintains a weblog. I remember mailing him my link when I started this weblog and a couple of months later, he started his own.
In this weeks weblog he notes that he visited the Distri-Group on monday, November 10, to become familiar with their role as a distributor of pre-paid phone cards and as the issuer of pre-paid payment product: the Wallie-card.
Both products by the way need to comply with identification and suspicious reporting requirements, but I'm pretty sure that that has not been a part of the discussion during the visit.
In this weeks weblog he notes that he visited the Distri-Group on monday, November 10, to become familiar with their role as a distributor of pre-paid phone cards and as the issuer of pre-paid payment product: the Wallie-card.
Both products by the way need to comply with identification and suspicious reporting requirements, but I'm pretty sure that that has not been a part of the discussion during the visit.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
ABN AMRO helps retailers with eurochecker
ABN AMROissued a press release to inform the public that it will send an eurochecker to 60.000 retailers. This is a brief illustrated leaflet explaining how to check the security features of bank notes. ABN AMRO hopes to contribute to solving the retailers problems with false bank notes.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Paying digital content by billing the subscriber: Planet Internet / OD2
Planet Internet announces that as of today it will offer its subscribers to the Planet Music Club the option to get digital music from the British OD2. Subscribers pay 7,49 euro per month and get 1000 credits. These credit can be used to:
- play a track on the site (1 credit).
- download a track to the harddisk (10 credits),
- burn the track on a CD (99-189 credits).
Now does this make Planet an e-money issuer...? That wholly depends on the question if the credits are merely credits at OD2 (in which case we have a prepayment for services, with Planet acting as the payment agent) or if the credits are those of Planet. In that case it all depends on how to interpret 'receipt of funds' in terms of the E-money directive. But pending my entrance in the PlanetMusic club I cannot give further specifics.
- play a track on the site (1 credit).
- download a track to the harddisk (10 credits),
- burn the track on a CD (99-189 credits).
Now does this make Planet an e-money issuer...? That wholly depends on the question if the credits are merely credits at OD2 (in which case we have a prepayment for services, with Planet acting as the payment agent) or if the credits are those of Planet. In that case it all depends on how to interpret 'receipt of funds' in terms of the E-money directive. But pending my entrance in the PlanetMusic club I cannot give further specifics.
European Card Review interviews Stolwijk
European Card Review has interviewed Stolwijk, now that he is leaving his post as chairman of the Board of Interpay, but will continue as chairman of SiNSYS, the joint venture between Interpay, Banksys and SSB, for two or three years.
Mr Stolwijk explains that the next ten years will see a slow move towards more unified infrastructure. Still even aligning Belgium and the Netherlands is already a difficult job, he says. Also he suggests that the current PIN-brand might not survive in this future:
In the Netherlands, the PIN brand might not survive – it might become Maestro or whatever.
Mr Stolwijk explains that the next ten years will see a slow move towards more unified infrastructure. Still even aligning Belgium and the Netherlands is already a difficult job, he says. Also he suggests that the current PIN-brand might not survive in this future:
In the Netherlands, the PIN brand might not survive – it might become Maestro or whatever.
FINREAD Seminars In the U.S.
This press release invites US market players to learn more about FINREAD; the specification for smart card readers and e-commerce terminals.
Possible boycot of 100-euro note by retailers
Het Financieele Dagblad (paid access) reports that Dutch retailers are considering to refuse the 100 euro for payment in shops. Earlier retailers made clear that an increase in falsifications occured. Their suggestion that retailers be reimbursed by the government for the loss they make when accepting a very good falsification of the euro, has been discussed with the central bank and Ministry of Justice. This has not resulted in any agreement, which means that retailers may be advised to refuse 100-euro notes in their shops.
Saturday, November 08, 2003
Süddeutsche looks at draft paper on legal framework for single payment area
The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeiting has published this brief article on the draft Communication of EU-Commissioner Bolkestein with respect to the future legal framework for payments. The newspaper notices that the 82-page document aims at protecting the consumer.
The consumer protection goes to the extend that payment institutions may even become liable in those cases where the seller of goods and services does not deliver properly or delivers faulty goods/services (something currently the case the UK, Sweden and Finland). Also, the paper praises the Dutch situation in which a central clearing house is helping consumers with the changeover to another bank (a service not yet operational by the way).
The newspaper describes that the wording of the Commission Consultation document is still quite open, allowing for comments by banks and users after the official publication next week. But the article in the newspaper suggest that the EU-employees already have a more detailed vision on the actual texts of a draft directive.
The consumer protection goes to the extend that payment institutions may even become liable in those cases where the seller of goods and services does not deliver properly or delivers faulty goods/services (something currently the case the UK, Sweden and Finland). Also, the paper praises the Dutch situation in which a central clearing house is helping consumers with the changeover to another bank (a service not yet operational by the way).
The newspaper describes that the wording of the Commission Consultation document is still quite open, allowing for comments by banks and users after the official publication next week. But the article in the newspaper suggest that the EU-employees already have a more detailed vision on the actual texts of a draft directive.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Reinventing Money ?
The purpose of this site is to demystify money by presenting the best leading-edge ideas on monetary and non-monetary exchange. It is a resource devoted to the advancement of economic democracy, self-determination, and global harmony.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Payment Systems Oversight / Supervision
The Dutch Ministry of Finance has today explained the tasks of De Nederlandsche Bank with respect to overseeing payment systems and maintaining financial stability. It described four options in case of financial stability problems in the market:
1-solution by market players themselves
2-liquidity support by central bank (only possible with on basis of securities),
3-government guarantee or recapitalisation by Ministry of Finance
4-liquidation.
1-solution by market players themselves
2-liquidity support by central bank (only possible with on basis of securities),
3-government guarantee or recapitalisation by Ministry of Finance
4-liquidation.
ABN AMRO sets up Group Shared Services
ABN AMRO announces a number of reallocations in top management tasks. Among the changes is the establishment of new division af of January 1, 2004: Group Shared Services:
Group Shared Services will be established to create cost savings through consolidation and standardisation. Furthermore, GSS will focus on further exploiting new market solutions for support services with the aim to achieve better products and services for our clients at lower costs.
After having co-led the successful restructuring of Wholesale Clients, which is now largely complete, Hugh Scott-Barrett will be appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Managing Board, responsible for GSS.
Group Shared Services will be established to create cost savings through consolidation and standardisation. Furthermore, GSS will focus on further exploiting new market solutions for support services with the aim to achieve better products and services for our clients at lower costs.
After having co-led the successful restructuring of Wholesale Clients, which is now largely complete, Hugh Scott-Barrett will be appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Managing Board, responsible for GSS.
Worldpay battling online attack
Erwin Boogert pointed me to this BBC NEWS item on an attack of Worldpays systems. Worldpay is a payment systems provider servicing credit-card payments for 27.000 retailers. It is receiving numerous autorisation requests since Tuesday; something known as a Denial of Service attack (DoS).
Worldpays website is too slow to open at this moment. Yet at another website we learn that WorldPay says it hopes to restore services to near-normality by the close of business today. Also, Worldpay, part of Royal Bank of Scotland group, stresses that no consumer information has leaked.
Worldpays website is too slow to open at this moment. Yet at another website we learn that WorldPay says it hopes to restore services to near-normality by the close of business today. Also, Worldpay, part of Royal Bank of Scotland group, stresses that no consumer information has leaked.
First excercise on cross border credit transfers
The European Consumers Organisation, BEUC, issued a press release yesterday as well as the results on a study-excercise about cross border credit-transfers. The good thing is that the organisation acknowledges that their excercise was by no means a full-scale professional test. They've merely asked their member organisations to send payments back and forth.
One of the conclusions is that the Regulation should have been fully implemented in the Netherlands, but that its not. I'm quite curious about that. Having sent and received a number of cross-border payments I noticed that the Regulation is implemented quite well. The BEUC-observation though that Postbank has not adapted its online banking for IBAN (awarding them a prize for the worst technical problem) is hard to deny of course.
The one payment that backfired (with a charge of 25 euro) did so because the IBAN that I entered was incorrrect. And for another payment, filling in the IBAN in the Internet-banking environment of RABO, immediately led to automatic fill in of the address details of the bank of the beneficiary.
So much for my excercise. Needless to say that it would be a good thing to actually do a full scale professional test. All research so far has been anecdotal, while it would be a very good thing to use representative data. We would be happy to execute such a test.
One of the conclusions is that the Regulation should have been fully implemented in the Netherlands, but that its not. I'm quite curious about that. Having sent and received a number of cross-border payments I noticed that the Regulation is implemented quite well. The BEUC-observation though that Postbank has not adapted its online banking for IBAN (awarding them a prize for the worst technical problem) is hard to deny of course.
The one payment that backfired (with a charge of 25 euro) did so because the IBAN that I entered was incorrrect. And for another payment, filling in the IBAN in the Internet-banking environment of RABO, immediately led to automatic fill in of the address details of the bank of the beneficiary.
So much for my excercise. Needless to say that it would be a good thing to actually do a full scale professional test. All research so far has been anecdotal, while it would be a very good thing to use representative data. We would be happy to execute such a test.
Just a quote....
.. about the difficult situation of being a CEO of a clearing house (in this case Interpay), cited in the Financieele Dagblad (paid):
"My shareholders are my commissioners and they are my customers. I wish that for nobody. And I dare say this because I'm leaving at the end of this year."
Mr Stolwijk, CEO of Interpay made the statement during a conference on iT&Banking in Amsterdam.
"My shareholders are my commissioners and they are my customers. I wish that for nobody. And I dare say this because I'm leaving at the end of this year."
Mr Stolwijk, CEO of Interpay made the statement during a conference on iT&Banking in Amsterdam.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Government to finance e-purse for public transport
Karla Peijs, the Dutch Minister of Transport, has written this letter to parliament, explaining that the government will allocate 100 million euro to introduce the so-called 'OV Chipkaart'. An additional funding of € 74 million may also be expected.
A research study shows that the overall-benefits to society may be in between € 400 - € 1500 million and that without government funding the project will most likely not be realised (as some individual players are to lose money due to the migration to the new system). Other highlights:
- the new system will cost € 160-170 million compared to current cost of € 120 million,
- the largest net benefits will be € 570-710 million, due to better product conditions, shorter queues and increased social security,
- 13 million travelers will pay € 1,5 to € 2,5 for the contactless OV-chipcard.
It's interesting to note that there is a very brief reference to the need to discuss with the central bank the payment elements of the chipcard. There is also a generic reference to rules and regulations that need to be complied with, yet a reference to e-money regulation is not being made. Which, given the pre-paid nature of the product, is quite interesting an omission.
The full study about costs and benefits is not being published as there is still some discussion about who pays for placing the toll gates at the train stations. It is expected that this does not change the overall picture however.
A research study shows that the overall-benefits to society may be in between € 400 - € 1500 million and that without government funding the project will most likely not be realised (as some individual players are to lose money due to the migration to the new system). Other highlights:
- the new system will cost € 160-170 million compared to current cost of € 120 million,
- the largest net benefits will be € 570-710 million, due to better product conditions, shorter queues and increased social security,
- 13 million travelers will pay € 1,5 to € 2,5 for the contactless OV-chipcard.
It's interesting to note that there is a very brief reference to the need to discuss with the central bank the payment elements of the chipcard. There is also a generic reference to rules and regulations that need to be complied with, yet a reference to e-money regulation is not being made. Which, given the pre-paid nature of the product, is quite interesting an omission.
The full study about costs and benefits is not being published as there is still some discussion about who pays for placing the toll gates at the train stations. It is expected that this does not change the overall picture however.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Greenspeak: The payments system in transition
Alan Greenspan recently addressed the participants of the Federal Reserve Payments System Development Committee 2003 Conference and spoke about the Check 21 Act. Download the speech here.
Pilot to reduce 1 and 2 eurocent in circulation
Raad Nederlandse Detailhandel announces that it will start a pilot to round the payments in supermarket to 5 eurocents. The goal is to eliminate the time-consuming payment with small coins at the supermarket counter (and the costly counting process). Raad NDH estimates that, when introduced in the Netherlands, savings may amount to 30 million euro.
The initiative for the pilot has been discussed in the Social Platform on Payments, a forum of interest groups and regulators, that regularly discuss developments in retail payments.
The initiative for the pilot has been discussed in the Social Platform on Payments, a forum of interest groups and regulators, that regularly discuss developments in retail payments.
Way2Pay to mail 1,5 million Postbank customers
Planet Multimedia reports that Way2Pay, the Paypal-like payment service of ING, is going to mail 1,5 Postbank customers to convince them to use Way2Pay. Apparently the operational issues have been resolved and Way2Pay is ready to gain market share. As a part of the promotion Way2Pay also gives away 5 euro for the first sale.
Way2Pay manager Peekel explained to Planet that some thousands transactions are done each month, notably in the webshopping segment. P2P payments hardly occur. Of the 450 shops contracted, some 150 are actually operational. Soon, a feature will be available, where a transaction in the Way2Pay-account leads to a notitification in MSN Messenger.
With the promotion campaign, Way2Pay may just be one step ahead of Rabobank, which - according to their earlier announcements - should also be introducing their payment service shortly now.
Way2Pay manager Peekel explained to Planet that some thousands transactions are done each month, notably in the webshopping segment. P2P payments hardly occur. Of the 450 shops contracted, some 150 are actually operational. Soon, a feature will be available, where a transaction in the Way2Pay-account leads to a notitification in MSN Messenger.
With the promotion campaign, Way2Pay may just be one step ahead of Rabobank, which - according to their earlier announcements - should also be introducing their payment service shortly now.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
KBC to bring domestic payment processing to Finforce
Having just noticed a real herd of visitors from Belgian bank KBC reading this weblog made me curious if there would be something interesting to blog about KBC. So I ended up reading this press release, which explains that KBC is to outsource its domestic payment processing to Finforce. Finforce is the 90 % KBC, 10 % EDS company that currently processes KBC's cross border payments.
An interesting observation in the press release is that, according to KBC, the current international banking markt appears to be insufficiently ready to outsource payments processing to a specialised third party processor. KBC also 'invites' other players to bring their payments processing to Finforce (and become shareholder as well).
These are interesting times. The next 10 years we'll all be slowly moving to European scale processing but nobody really knows the exact end result....
An interesting observation in the press release is that, according to KBC, the current international banking markt appears to be insufficiently ready to outsource payments processing to a specialised third party processor. KBC also 'invites' other players to bring their payments processing to Finforce (and become shareholder as well).
These are interesting times. The next 10 years we'll all be slowly moving to European scale processing but nobody really knows the exact end result....
IMF will investigate supervision in the Dutch financial sector
The Ministry of Finance reports that the IMF will investigate the supervision of the financial sector in the Netherlands. This is all part of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) that has this website where the results will be published.
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