Headlines:
PayPal Plans Clone Version for China
PayPal Inc., the electronic payments subsidiary of the San Jose online auction giant eBay Inc., is planning to create a version of its service in China.
Though the company's service is available in several Asian countries, including China, and accepts payments in Japanese yen, PayPal has not created any national version of its Web site outside of North America and Europe. Its first non-English Web site was introduced in Germany on Feb. 12.
Job ads on the China section of eBay's Web site say the company is looking to hire people "for the localization of the PayPal Web application" and to assist with quality assurance "of the Chinese application/site."
PayPal has followed eBay into countries where it was successful. PayPal said it had expanded into Germany and the United Kingdom because these are the most popular countries for eBay after the United States.
eBay bought the Delaware-based EachNet Inc., which operated a similar online auction site in China, in July of last year. Last month EachNet's Web site became China's version of eBay.
These moves are consistent with eBay's statement in its second-quarter earnings release that it planned to invest significantly in China and the international expansion of PayPal this year.
Financial Giants Join Anti-Phishing Project
Eleven financial services companies will participate in the Financial Services Technology Consortium's new Counter-Phishing Initiative.
They will help the consortium evaluate options for fighting phishing, which uses e-mail that purports to come from a bank or other enterprise to obtain account numbers and passwords from customers.
Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Comerica Inc., Visa U.S.A. Inc., ABN Amro Holding NV, KeyCorp, Capital One Financial Corp., and University Bancorp Inc. are among the participants, the consortium said Monday. The three other financial companies asked not to be named, the consortium said; 17 vendors are also involved.
The project was announced Sept. 20, but its first phase began in July and will run through December. Vendors will provide the specifications and prices of their products, and banks will document the technical and cost requirements for any counter-phishing products they are now using.
The next two phases will involve implementing and monitoring anti-phishing products. Gene Neyer, the project's managing executive, said he expects all three phases to be completed next year.
"We see our role in the industry as bringing the best knowledge together around the table," Zachary Tumin, the executive director of the New York research group, said Monday. The consortium invited the financial services companies because they are "deeply knowledgeable about what's required in operations," he said, and it invited the vendors because they know what is possible.
Mr. Neyer said the project would dissect phishing schemes to determine the most effective way to protect banks and consumers during each part of the "phishing life cycle."
