Cards Briefs: Florida Firm Begins Study of Brand Equity

Amid growing interest in financial industry brand names and concerns about their survivability against new forms of competition, Payment Systems Inc. has launched a syndicated research project called Brand 2000.

Subtitled "The Future of Financial Services Brand Equity," the program will include focus-group interviews to gauge consumer attitudes and perceptions, a broad consumer survey to probe the propensity to recommend or switch brands, and a "profitability segmentation" to project, based on the impact of branding, various consumers' bottom-line contributions.

Payment Systems' credentials in this area include a major study of bank card brands in Europe. In the United States, it is offering to analyze individual financial institution brands. Study participants have the option of having up to 1,000 of their customers surveyed to make comparisons against the overall market.

Terminal Maker to Integrate Austrian 'Purse'

VIENNA - Thyron Ltd., a British manufacturer of transaction processing equipment, said it has agreed to integrate the Austrian electronic purse program into its Financer terminal line.

The smart cards, known as Quick, are produced by Austria Card of Vienna, a subsidiary of the central bank. They use chips manufactured by Siemens, which will be working with Thyron to ensure that Financer operates as a multi-application system. Thyron also processes international debit, credit cards, and a smart card for taxicabs, Cabcharge.

Financer and its associated data-collection host system, FTP, had previously been certified by the Visa, Europay, American Express, and Diners Club operations. In Austria, Quick transactions will be specially formated by FTP and routed to Europay for security checks and clearing.

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