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ING Bank has purchased at least 1,200 NCR Corp. cash-recycling ATMs that are expected to play a key role in the financial institution's new branch design, which eliminates cash handling by employees. Brussels, Belgium-based ING is deploying the NCR SelfServ 34 model ATM in its Proxi branches throughout Belgium. Proxi is the name of ING Bank's new branch configuration. "All of the cash transactions, such as deposits and withdrawals, are handled at the ATMs, freeing bank employees to concentrate on bigger-ticket transactions, including selling insurance and loans," Paul De Grove, NCR sales and account manager, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication, Monday. ING has opened 250 Proxi branches in Belgium, and the bank so far has deployed 520 SelfServ 34 ATMs. Each branch has a minimum of two machines. The machines are equipped with cash-recycling and cash-dispensing modules, De Grove says. When a bank customer deposits bank notes into the ATM, the machine's cash-recycling module counts the funds, storing the banknotes inside its safe. The recycling module also dramatically reduces the bank's need to hire armored car companies to deposit cash into the machines each week. The bank will need the services of an armored car company every three weeks instead of every week, De Grove says. When funds in the cash-dispensing module have been depleted, the cash-recycling module continues to dispense bank notes, De Grove says. The ATMs hold 16,000 to 17,000 20 (US$29.89) and 50 (US$74.72) euro banknotes, he says. Although NCR announced it had signed an agreement to sell 1,200 ATMs to ING, the deal may be much larger, De Grove says. "We could sell as many as 1,500 to 1,600 machines," he says. NCR is based in the United States.
October 19 -
Consumer groups in Malaysia want the maximum liability limit imposed on credit cardholders for unauthorized transactions caused by lost or stolen cards to be lowered or even scrapped, according to a report in the local newspaper The Star. The limit of 250 ringgits (US$74 or 50 euros) was established in June 2004, according to the Association of Banks in Malaysia. This limit applies when the cardholder has not acted fraudulently or has quickly informed the issuer about a lost or stolen card. The National Consumer Complaints Centre says issuers should reduce the limit because banks often fail to inform cardholders of their liability for transactions on lost or stolen cards. Another group voiced a similar concern. "We want the liability to be reduced to between 50 and 100 ringgits," a spokesperson for the Consumer Association of Penang tells CardLine Global. Local banks declined comment.
October 19 -
British police say fraudsters are pretending to be bank fraud officials in order to steal consumer card details, including PINs. London police said fraudsters using that method have led to 13 fraud incidents since August in areas of the capital. Fraudsters pretend to be from the fraud department of a bank such as Barclays, police said. Fraudsters tell victims their accounts have been compromised, then ask for card details or send a courier to collect the consumer's card. Police said fraudsters used the threat of violence at least once. Police said they believe the fraudsters are cold-calling potential victims.
October 19 -
Alliance Data Systems Corp. today announced that its LoyaltyOne Inc. division has acquired a 29% interest in Brazil's Dotz online loyalty marketing program. The two companies plan to expand Dotz, which Brazil-based Companhia Brasileira Del Servicios De Marketing operates, into a broad, retail-based coalition marketing program similar to Canada's Air Miles loyalty program. Banco de Brasil, Brazil's largest national bank, which counts some 78 million credit, debit and co-branded cardholders among its customers, has signed on as an anchor sponsor. The new coalition-based program will eventually enable Brazilians to earn rewards through a single loyalty program for shopping at dozens of different point-of-sale and online retailers, says Dallas-based Alliance. The program's model is Air Miles, Canada's largest loyalty marketing program, which launched in 1992 and incorporates 100 sponsors across diverse categories, including American Express Co. and MasterCard Worldwide. Some 70% of Canada's households participate in Air Miles, the company says. LoyaltyOne executives believe Dotz has the potential to become one of the world's largest loyalty programs. "We will leverage the unparalleled success we've had in Canada ... within a country that has almost six times the population of Canada (and) offers both a tremendous market and financial opportunity," Bryan Pearson, LoyaltyOne president, said in a statement.
October 19 -
Commercial spending in the Asia Pacific region in 2008 grew by 13.6%, to US$23.4 trillion (15.7 trillion euros) from US$20.6 trillion the previous year, according to Visa Inc.'s annual global Commercial Consumption Expenditure Index released last week. Asia Pacific economies with the highest level of commercial consumption last year were China ($7.2 trillion), Japan ($6.2 trillion), India ($2.7 trillion), South Korea ($2.1 trillion) and Australia ($1.5 trillion), accounting for 84% of the region's total, Visa says. "The increase in 2008 spending in Asia Pacific demonstrates the strength of the region as a whole and that the engine of these economies—business—continues to work hard, despite global financial uncertainties," Bruce Mansfield, regional head of Visa's commercial solutions in Asia Pacific, said in a press release. Mansfield cited such emerging economies as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam as markets that experienced the strongest growth rates, which were between 29% and 40%. "The real story about growth rates comes from the small but rapidly developing emerging economies in the region," he said. "These growth rates in commercial spending are clear signs of rapid advancement in Asia's emerging economies."
October 19 -
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