Monday, September 29, 2003
Internetbanking could be better ...
... according to a survey of the Dutch consumer union. Consumentenbond.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Wallie, a pre-paid card for on the web
RTLZ reports as did 1.1a2, about the initiative of the Distri-group to issue pre-paid cards, to be used for payment on the web. These kind of cards can be considered e-money, similar to the www.bon concept.
The card is named Wallie-card, some brief info can be found at the Wallie-card- homepage. It appears as if the card will be targeted at younger customers and that a free game will be part if the introduction strategy.
The card is named Wallie-card, some brief info can be found at the Wallie-card- homepage. It appears as if the card will be targeted at younger customers and that a free game will be part if the introduction strategy.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
PayPal faces integration challenge
CNet News.com reports that better integration facilities would help Paypal improve its offering to the market:
'What would be perfect for me is if the user never had to leave my site,' said Safran, a Reseda, Calif.-based Web developer.
He also said he would like to see PayPal work better with his e-commerce software. Safran and other Internet merchants are raising issues like these as PayPal tries to diversify its user base beyond eBay's online auction community, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of the $2.8 billion in payments it processed in the second quarter
'What would be perfect for me is if the user never had to leave my site,' said Safran, a Reseda, Calif.-based Web developer.
He also said he would like to see PayPal work better with his e-commerce software. Safran and other Internet merchants are raising issues like these as PayPal tries to diversify its user base beyond eBay's online auction community, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of the $2.8 billion in payments it processed in the second quarter
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
SiNSYS, the new kid on the block....
After a lot of preparation, today the official announcement is made that a joint venture is established between Banksys, Interpay and SSB. It's name is SiNSYS. I assume the name stands for synergy in systems, or something like that.
The joint-venture is headquartered in Brussels. Banksys and Interpay each hold a 24.5% interest, SSB holds 51%. SiNSYS will provide services for the processing of international debit and credit card transactions of its shareholders. Current annual volumes amount to 800 million transactions for 18 million cards and 500,000 merchants. These figures are expected to rise to approximately 1.5 billion transactions for 30 million cards and 800,000 merchants by 2007.
The joint-venture is headquartered in Brussels. Banksys and Interpay each hold a 24.5% interest, SSB holds 51%. SiNSYS will provide services for the processing of international debit and credit card transactions of its shareholders. Current annual volumes amount to 800 million transactions for 18 million cards and 500,000 merchants. These figures are expected to rise to approximately 1.5 billion transactions for 30 million cards and 800,000 merchants by 2007.
Quality mark accessibility for service-bus of ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO has introduced buses which incorporate a bank branch in order to properly service the rural areas without a bank branch. In a press release issued together with the Dutch Office of Accessibility, ABN AMRO announces that its service-bus will tomorrow receive a trust mark. The trust mark tells consumers that the building (or bus) is accessible to the disabled.
Dutch on-line shopping increases 36 %
Thuiswinkel.org and Blauw Research issued this press release to inform the public that:
- on-line spending of Dutch consumers has increased with 36 % to an amount of € 575 million,
- the number of buyers on the web has increased 24 % to 2,8 million consumers,
- the number of first-time buyers on the web has decreased from 410.000 to 300.000 consumers,
- the average value spent increased from € 188 to € 205, due to higher spending in the travel and consumer electronics segment,
- the travel segment is largest with an on-line turnover of € 235 million,
- promising new segments are: insurances on-line, tickets-online and ordering DVD's and games,
- the expected turnover in 2003 will be € 1,200 million.
- on-line spending of Dutch consumers has increased with 36 % to an amount of € 575 million,
- the number of buyers on the web has increased 24 % to 2,8 million consumers,
- the number of first-time buyers on the web has decreased from 410.000 to 300.000 consumers,
- the average value spent increased from € 188 to € 205, due to higher spending in the travel and consumer electronics segment,
- the travel segment is largest with an on-line turnover of € 235 million,
- promising new segments are: insurances on-line, tickets-online and ordering DVD's and games,
- the expected turnover in 2003 will be € 1,200 million.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Consumers open wallets for paid content
C-NET news reports that US consumers increasingly open their wallets for paid content:
The Online Publishers Association (OPA) reported that spending on paid content grew to $748 million in the first half of 2003, an increase of 23 percent over the same period last year.
....
OPA said the top three paid content categories--personals and dating, business and investment, and entertainment and lifestyles--accounted for 65 percent of spending in the first half of 2003, up from 61 percent in 2002.
....
Subscriptions continue to be the dominant price model, accounting for 88.5 percent of paid content revenue in the first half of 2003.
The Online Publishers Association (OPA) reported that spending on paid content grew to $748 million in the first half of 2003, an increase of 23 percent over the same period last year.
....
OPA said the top three paid content categories--personals and dating, business and investment, and entertainment and lifestyles--accounted for 65 percent of spending in the first half of 2003, up from 61 percent in 2002.
....
Subscriptions continue to be the dominant price model, accounting for 88.5 percent of paid content revenue in the first half of 2003.
CEO of Interpay leaves his post
Het Financieele Dagblad reports that mr. Willem Stolwijk, CEO of Interpay will leave his post at the end of the year. Mr Ben Haasdijk will take over his position. The news is published two days before more details will be known of the future cooperation between Interpay and Banksys.
Interestingly, if I'm not mistaken, a similar event occured some months ago at Banksys with CEO Chris Lebeer suddenly leaving (see this article). So I wouldn't be surprised if more organisational changes will be announced in due time.
Interestingly, if I'm not mistaken, a similar event occured some months ago at Banksys with CEO Chris Lebeer suddenly leaving (see this article). So I wouldn't be surprised if more organisational changes will be announced in due time.
Monday, September 22, 2003
EU study on perception of security
Perception and reality may not always be the same, certainly not if the issue is security of payments instruments. The EU has commissioned a study, that was presented last week at a conference on Payments and Security.
At the conference, a range of distinguished speakers (including representatives of ECB, the Commission, Visa, Mastercard, European Payments Council) presented their vision. Hans v/d Velde, President of Visa Europe had some interesting Visa-information:
- 80 % of EU consumers also buy in the EU,
- EU exports a net amount of € 60 million euro per month in e-commerce (more people buy from other countries in the EU than EU-citizens buy in other countries),
- in July 2003 60.000 chargebacks were presented to Visa, totaling an amount of € 8 ,illion euro),
- of the chargebacks, 85 % is estimated to be fraudulent,
- e-commerce transactions are 15 % more probable to be fraudulent than regular transactions.
At the conference, a range of distinguished speakers (including representatives of ECB, the Commission, Visa, Mastercard, European Payments Council) presented their vision. Hans v/d Velde, President of Visa Europe had some interesting Visa-information:
- 80 % of EU consumers also buy in the EU,
- EU exports a net amount of € 60 million euro per month in e-commerce (more people buy from other countries in the EU than EU-citizens buy in other countries),
- in July 2003 60.000 chargebacks were presented to Visa, totaling an amount of € 8 ,illion euro),
- of the chargebacks, 85 % is estimated to be fraudulent,
- e-commerce transactions are 15 % more probable to be fraudulent than regular transactions.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Payments in practice
Earlier this week I suddenly noticed an old 5 cents ('Stuiver') in my wallet. Some waiter must have slipped that one to me late while I wasn't paying attention...
My supermarket allows cash-back when I pay with my debit-card. But they've changed the procedure and now make customers sign that they actually received the cash-back. Reason: too many customers actually forgot that they had received the money from the till and in all honesty claimed a second cash back. With this simple and elegant procedure it won't happen again.
My supermarket allows cash-back when I pay with my debit-card. But they've changed the procedure and now make customers sign that they actually received the cash-back. Reason: too many customers actually forgot that they had received the money from the till and in all honesty claimed a second cash back. With this simple and elegant procedure it won't happen again.
Swift informs Internet community
Swift has A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for SWIFT Financial Messaging and informs the Internet-community with this RFC.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Dutch bankers introduce sticker: keep pincode safe !
This Tuesday (actually the day that the European Commission held a conference on payments and security), the Dutch Bankers Association published a sticker on its website, to be used by consumers. It states the most important rules (keep the pin-code safe, be careful with the debit-card, don't tell the pin, not even to police or bank employees) and provides a list of phone numbers to be used in case of theft and notification of the bank.
Interested? Download the sticker here !
Interested? Download the sticker here !
Paypal comes to Europe: Dublin
Reuter reports:
On-line auctioneer eBay will create up to 800 new jobs in Dublin as it expands its European operations, the government announced on Tuesday. The U.S-based company will locate the European headquarters for its PayPal Internet payment unit in west Dublin and will also open a second European customer support center, the office of the deputy prime minister said.
Net effect: Paypal will most probably create EU-typical front-ends to its back-end processing in the US. And thus become a bigger threat for EU-based payment systems and P2P initiatives.
On-line auctioneer eBay will create up to 800 new jobs in Dublin as it expands its European operations, the government announced on Tuesday. The U.S-based company will locate the European headquarters for its PayPal Internet payment unit in west Dublin and will also open a second European customer support center, the office of the deputy prime minister said.
Net effect: Paypal will most probably create EU-typical front-ends to its back-end processing in the US. And thus become a bigger threat for EU-based payment systems and P2P initiatives.
Dutch Mobile market info
Telecom.paper reports the main findings of their study on the Mobile Market in the Netherlands in the first half year:
- customer base grows to 11.9 million mobile customers at end of June 2003, up 2.1% from December 2002,
- 40.1% of customers signing up for post pay services, up from 38.0% in December 2002,
- revenues at EUR 2.6 billion
- market on track to realise a growth rate of between 10%-15% resulting in EUR 5.3 and EUR 5.4 billion for 2003 (up from EUR 4.7 billion in 2002),
- T-Mobile gained market share (+1,6 to 13,6 %), while KPN continues to hand in market share to its competitors (-1 to 40 %). Telfort (-0,8 to 9,9 %) did not manage to keep up its good performance of 2002, and lost terrain as well. Vodafone (26,6 %) and Orange (8,9 %) slightly up.
- market for non-voice services takes 9.7% of total service revenues,
- non-voice revenues likely to come in under that value at between EUR 560- EUR 570 million, up between 47% and 50% in comparison with the year 2002, during which operators generated EUR 380 million in revenues from non-voice services
- customer base grows to 11.9 million mobile customers at end of June 2003, up 2.1% from December 2002,
- 40.1% of customers signing up for post pay services, up from 38.0% in December 2002,
- revenues at EUR 2.6 billion
- market on track to realise a growth rate of between 10%-15% resulting in EUR 5.3 and EUR 5.4 billion for 2003 (up from EUR 4.7 billion in 2002),
- T-Mobile gained market share (+1,6 to 13,6 %), while KPN continues to hand in market share to its competitors (-1 to 40 %). Telfort (-0,8 to 9,9 %) did not manage to keep up its good performance of 2002, and lost terrain as well. Vodafone (26,6 %) and Orange (8,9 %) slightly up.
- market for non-voice services takes 9.7% of total service revenues,
- non-voice revenues likely to come in under that value at between EUR 560- EUR 570 million, up between 47% and 50% in comparison with the year 2002, during which operators generated EUR 380 million in revenues from non-voice services
Credit cards: what about the signature?
Ron Onrust pointed me to a site that deals with the following question:
How crazy would I have to make my signature on a credit-card sales slip before someone would actually notice?
You may find the answers at the ZUG-site. Readers will find that all kinds of signatures go unnoticed such as:
- a cross,
- hieroglyphes,
- a matrix,
- Mariah Carey,
- Istolethiscard.
Now who are behind this prank? Well, the ZUG-site is run by
comedy producers John Hargrave and Jay Stevens, who have developed new media comedy projects for America Online, ZDTV, the BBC, and dozens of dot-coms that blew all the money we made them on foosball tables.
How crazy would I have to make my signature on a credit-card sales slip before someone would actually notice?
You may find the answers at the ZUG-site. Readers will find that all kinds of signatures go unnoticed such as:
- a cross,
- hieroglyphes,
- a matrix,
- Mariah Carey,
- Istolethiscard.
Now who are behind this prank? Well, the ZUG-site is run by
comedy producers John Hargrave and Jay Stevens, who have developed new media comedy projects for America Online, ZDTV, the BBC, and dozens of dot-coms that blew all the money we made them on foosball tables.
Chipcard in public transport: government bill of 120 million euro
In the Netherlands, the third Tuesday of september is the day that our government announces its plans and budgets for the next year. Emerce highlights the plans with respect to the introduction of the so-called 'OV-Chipkaart'; a chipcard to be used country wide for public transport.
The Dutch government has announced that the OV-chipkaart needs to be introduced in all regions of the Netherlands in 2007. The Ministry of Transport will decide this year how much money is needed for that. It has earlier explained that a maximum of € 120 million is available. Regional transport companies however, suggest that € 150 million is needed.
Next year, more than 10 trials will run, that will be evaluated in 2005. Operator of the system is Trans Link Systems.
The Dutch government has announced that the OV-chipkaart needs to be introduced in all regions of the Netherlands in 2007. The Ministry of Transport will decide this year how much money is needed for that. It has earlier explained that a maximum of € 120 million is available. Regional transport companies however, suggest that € 150 million is needed.
Next year, more than 10 trials will run, that will be evaluated in 2005. Operator of the system is Trans Link Systems.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
SSB wins Interpay/Banksys contract
Het Financieele Dagblad reported that Interpay and Banksys will give a press conference on their cooperation (joint venture) in the area of credit cards. Immediately speculations occured as to the scope of the cooperation.
On this issue I reported in February this year:
European Card Review reports in their January/February issue that SSB, the Italian 'Interpay' may win the contract of Banksys/Interpay for processing Dutch and Belgian credit-cards. The other contestants for this bid are thought to have been First Data and TSYA.
And in August 2002 I mentioned on this blog that the Board of Directors of Interpay had informed its employees that it had assigned consultancy firm BCG to advise on the future of credit-card processing for Interpay. I predicted the outcome to be that credit-card processing would be too expensive on the small Dutch scale and that outsourcing and cooperation (Banksys) would be one of the options.
Now, let's wait until next week to find out how many Interpay-employees (my guess: some 60-100) will be affected by this decision.
On this issue I reported in February this year:
European Card Review reports in their January/February issue that SSB, the Italian 'Interpay' may win the contract of Banksys/Interpay for processing Dutch and Belgian credit-cards. The other contestants for this bid are thought to have been First Data and TSYA.
And in August 2002 I mentioned on this blog that the Board of Directors of Interpay had informed its employees that it had assigned consultancy firm BCG to advise on the future of credit-card processing for Interpay. I predicted the outcome to be that credit-card processing would be too expensive on the small Dutch scale and that outsourcing and cooperation (Banksys) would be one of the options.
Now, let's wait until next week to find out how many Interpay-employees (my guess: some 60-100) will be affected by this decision.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Debit-card criminals caught
Most Dutch newspapers reported today that six criminals (five men and one woman) have been caught. They intercepted re-issued Postbank debit-cards and then phoned the Postbank customer in order to ask for the pin. Starting 2002, they've managed to get their hands on € 800.000 out of 350 accounts.
Now, when's the time that criminals begin to understand that these crimes really don't pay...?
Now, when's the time that criminals begin to understand that these crimes really don't pay...?
Monday, September 15, 2003
Identity theft... a new multimillion industry...?
Ron Onrust provided me with a link to this remarkable column by Robert X. Cringely on identity theft.
What we do know is that there is somewhere between 250,000 and 750,000 identity theft victims every year. While many cases are small, the U.S. Secret Service reported in one year investigating more than 7,000 cases with an average cost to victims and financial institutions of $217,000 or a total cost of about $1.5 billion. The American Banking Association reports identity fraud losses to its members of around $1 billion per year and the credit card companies absorb around $1.5 billion per year in such fraud losses.
What we do know is that there is somewhere between 250,000 and 750,000 identity theft victims every year. While many cases are small, the U.S. Secret Service reported in one year investigating more than 7,000 cases with an average cost to victims and financial institutions of $217,000 or a total cost of about $1.5 billion. The American Banking Association reports identity fraud losses to its members of around $1 billion per year and the credit card companies absorb around $1.5 billion per year in such fraud losses.
Friday, September 12, 2003
Dutch POS-terminal suppliers unite themselves
According to this press release the POS-terminal suppliers in the Netherlands have set up an industry association. Its name is Nederlandse Leveranciers Betaalsystemen (NLB: translated: Dutch Suppliers Payment Systems) and its members are:
-Alphyra Benelux BV
-Banksys Nederland
-CCV Holland BV
-EFT Systems Nederland BV
-Quality Equipment Benelux BV
The organisation has been set up to ensure proper communication and discussion about changes that can be expected at the POS-side of payments (EMV, EMV, EMV).
-Alphyra Benelux BV
-Banksys Nederland
-CCV Holland BV
-EFT Systems Nederland BV
-Quality Equipment Benelux BV
The organisation has been set up to ensure proper communication and discussion about changes that can be expected at the POS-side of payments (EMV, EMV, EMV).
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