NYCE to Use CDs in On-Line Debit Payments
MIAMI BEACH - NYCE Corp. is promoting debit card payments on the Internet with a system that it hopes other electronic funds transfer networks will accept.Automated teller machine cards have largely been shut out of Internet commerce because of the need to process personal identification numbers in encrypted form. NYCE would address that problem by issuing compact disks to its cardholders.
The Woodcliff Lake, N.J., networking company unveiled its initiative, SafeDebit, this week at the Bank Administration Institute Retail Delivery Conference.
CDs would provide a level of security at least as high as that of debit cards with PINs at point of sale, said NYCE president Dennis Lynch.
"It will look to a financial institution just like any POS or ATM transaction through our network," Mr. Lynch said at a press conference. NYCE chose CDs in part because personal computers readily accept them, as opposed to smart cards, he said.
NYCE said Michigan National Bank and the retailers CVS Pharmacy and Walgreen Co. have said they want to use SafeDebit in its early market stages, scheduled for the second quarter.
Mr. Lynch said he hopes ATM networks such as Star and MAC buy into the proposal so that it approaches national coverage.
Barclays Names Chief of U.S. Sponsors Group
NEW YORK - Barclays Capital, the investment banking unit of Barclays Group, said Thursday that it had appointed its head of high-yield capital markets, Nicholas Daifotis, to start a U.S. financial sponsors group.The British banking company already has a London-based group targeting leveraged buyout firms in the fast-growing private equity market. Mr. Daifotis will build a New York-based team to focus on the same kind of business.
Joseph Bencivenga, global head of high-yield, who is based in New York, will take over Mr. Daifotis' high-yield responsibilities.
4 Salomon Bankers Relocated to Lisbon Office
LONDON - Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney unit, which is building a trans-European investment banking operation, has placed three of its people in Citibank's Lisbon office.Pedro Pinto Coelho, formerly based in London as head of Portuguese investment banking, will manage the Lisbon operation, the Citigroup unit said Thursday. Investment bankers Ana Barros and Manuel Noronha Andrade also will be based in the Lisbon office. Salomon will target local institutional and corporate clients for the firm's global investment banking products, and plans to open a Lisbon branch next year.
Separately, Peter Fraser is relocating from Salomon's London office to Citibank in Lisbon. Mr. Fraser, who sold fixed-income products to Portuguese clients, will head fixed-income investor sales from there.
B of A, FleetBoston Units Join Trading Network
NEW YORK - The securities units of Bank of America Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp. have agreed to make investments in the Redibook electronic communications network.They join founding investors Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc; Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; Fidelity Investments; Charles Schwab & Co.; and several other firms in the alternative trading network.
- Laura Mandaro
Amresco Agrees to Sell 3 Lending Businesses
DALLAS - Amresco Inc. agreed to sell its asset management, commercial mortgage banking, and real estate structured finance businesses to Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, the U.S. subsidiary of Lend Lease Corp., Melbourne, Australia, for $247.5 million.The price is subject to adjustment, and $222.5 million of it will be paid in cash.
