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Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, faces "very little direct competition" for a service launched this week that enables mobile merchants to accept cards via smartphones, Nick Holland, senior analyst for Aite Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, tells CardLine. The United States-based processor on Tuesday introduced "MobilePASS," designed for such on-the-road merchants as plumbers and pizza-delivery workers (CardLine GLOBAL?, 13 Oct.). Merchants download the card-acceptance application from the processor's Web site before paying a fee to gain the merchant ID needed to accept payments. Merchants also can attach, via Bluetooth, a card reader and printer to the smartphone. "Although the main point-of-sale vendors such as VeriFone [and] Hypercom have standalone mobile terminals, they have yet to enter the market with a purely soft solution for use on smartphones," Holland says. "Ditto other processors." He sees bright prospects for the service. "Small-business owners have a high penetration of smartphones, and they are often out of the office," he says. "This type of solution would be perfect for the tradesman or delivery-based service."
October 15 -
Indian credit card companies have slowed the pace of card issuance while simultaneously focusing on fee-based cards, an official from Mumbai-based Bank of Baroda tells CardLine Global. "When the going was good, card issuers were fighting for the higher market share by issuing cards to all and sundry without due diligence," the official says. "In this changed economic scenario, however, issuers are looking at the spending and repayment ability of the customer before issuing a card." According to an official from the State Bank of India who requested anonymity, the bigger change in the card market will be the shift to the premium segment. "We are in the process of launching a new premium card sometime soon, as we see real value in the premium segment," he says. "Premium customers spend and not keep the card idle unlike our basic segments." In February, Citibank launched its Platinum Select card with an annual fee of 4,000 rupees (US$80), while ICICI Bank launched ICICI Bank Singapore Airlines Visa Platinum card in May that comes with an annual fee of 6,000 rupees.
October 15 -
Many call centers in the United Kingdom "routinely" record calls with consumers' credit card information, suggest survey data from Veritape Ltd., a British firm that sells call-recording software. Veritape based the findings on a survey it conducted in September of 133 call-center managers, the firm says in a statement. Only 3% of respondents complied with rules that prohibit the storing of credit and debit card information "once a transaction is complete," Veritape says. About 61% of respondents said they were unaware of the rules, while 18% said they were "aware but … couldn't comply for technical or budgetary reasons." Eleven percent of respondents said they ignore the rules, while 6% said they were working toward compliance.
October 15 -
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