Headlines:
One-Day Settlement for ACH in Mexico PayPal Service Now Available in China Misys of London Acquires Almonde Certegy Will Offer Parsam Software
One-Day Settlement for ACH in Mexico
The Federal Reserve banks are accelerating automated clearing house payments to Mexico.
The Fed said Monday that starting July 25 funds sent to Mexican receiving banks would be available in one day instead of the current two days. There is no change to the 67-cent crossborder surcharge fee imposed on originating banks.
Larry Schulz, a vice president in the Fed's retail payments office, said in a press release that faster funds availability would make the international ACH service "more attractive for consumer and corporate users." Plans for the faster settlement were announced in April.
The payments are routed from U.S. banks to Banco de Mexico, the country's central bank, which acts as a gateway operator and can forward the funds to any bank in Mexico.
The Fed introduced its Mexican ACH service in February 2004 after testing it for a year. Since then there has been some interest among consumers but little demand from corporate customers.
In April the Fed said that the roughly 23,000 U.S. retirees living in Mexico receive ACH Social Security payments every month; a total of about 24,000 ACH payments are currently sent to Mexico every month. Observers say that U.S. banks hope to use the ACH service to offer low-cost remittance services.
PayPal Service Now Available in China
PayPal Inc. announced Monday that its service is available in China.
The company said it is accepting transactions in the Chinese currency, the yuan, and customers can link their PayPal accounts with bank accounts at 15 Chinese banks and with more than 20 debit cards. Besides U.S. dollars and yuan, PayPal also accepts Australian and Canadian dollars, euro, yen, and British pounds.
The Chinese service had been expected for months; eBay Inc., PayPal's parent company, started posting job advertisements for PayPal executives on its Chinese Web site in October 2004.
PayPal, of San Jose, has similar Web sites in 11 other foreign countries. Its first, in the United Kingdom, was announced in October 2003. It also has German, Australian, Austrian, Belgian, Canadian, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, and Swiss sites.
PayPal's international expansion strategy has been to follow eBay, which has preceded the payment service into all of those countries. In July 2004 the auction company bought EachNet Inc., which operated an auction site in China. (eBay bought a 33% stake in EachNet in March 2002.)
Misys of London Acquires Almonde
The banking software provider Misys PLC has purchased Almonde, which makes regulatory risk management software, for $18 million.
Misys said Almonde's banking-book software would complement its own trading-book products.
The London companies formed a marketing partnership a year ago. "Combining our businesses was a natural step to take," said Michel van Leeuwen, the chief executive of risk management for Misys' banking systems division, in a press release issued Friday. "Over the next 12 months, we'll see huge changes in the risk management market."
Certegy Will Offer Parsam Software
The payment processor Certegy Inc. said Monday that it will offer its customers Parsam Technologies' uMonitor software for opening and funding accounts and applying for loans online.
The software will also enable Certegy to offer online bill presentment to its customers, said Mary Waggoner, a Certegy spokeswoman.
Certegy is based in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Parsam is based in Cordova, Tenn.
