4 8 August 2010

News:

The two biggest US mobile phone operators, AT&T and Verizon Wirless, are planning a partnership with Discover Financial Services and Barclays, two sources at Bloomberg confirmed to E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy.

The Israeli Supervisor of Banks, Rony Hizkiyahu, sent a letter to banks and credit companies on 28 July, urging them to conduct risk assessments and establish clear policies for employee use of social networking sites (SNSs).

Bangkok Smartcard System (BBS) has announced a partnership with Australian smart card developer Vix ERG to develop, design and deliver a smart card that can be used for micro-payments in Bangkok's transportation, retail, service and tourism sectors.

Features:

In November 2009, we published an editorial on the PriceWaterhouseCooper Report 'Precious Plastic 2010' regarding challenges the UK card industry may face in 2010. Now plastic may become even more precious. Earlier this year, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published the UK Government's response to its October 2009 Consultation on the UK credit and store card market. As set out in the response, the government and the card industry have agreed to introduce five new rights for cardholders.

A report published by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) concluded last year that consumers do not benefit from the way the market for personal current accounts is structured. Nicola Kingaby, an Associate at TLT, discusses the recent trends in the retail banking market and examines the OFT's role in making the sector more transparent.

Fraudulent online schemes are becoming more and more sophisticated and increasingly diverse, forcing organisations to vigorously enforce their fraud prevention controls. Darren Hodder, Director at Fraud Consulting Ltd, examines the emerging security threats that organisations should be aware of, and explains the measures which are available to businesses to prevent them from falling victim to cyber attacks.

The payments market is rapidly changing in Argentina. However, the development of mobile payments still has a long way to go. Ramon Moyano, Partner at Estudio Beccar Varela, discusses the reasons why m-payments in Argentina have not reached their full potential yet.

Financial services and alternative payment methods have truly taken off since Russia's economic growth in the late 90's. Alexander Barmin, Elena Geveling and Konstantin Nazarov, of Denton Wilde Sapte, discuss the increasing use and growing importance of the e-money industry in Russia, and why the time to regulate has come.

The mobile commerce industry in Africa is one of the fastest growing m-commerce markets in the world. Yet, to turn the growth into a profitable market, many obstacles, such as bureaucratic regulatory frameworks and inefficient distribution channels, have to be overcome. Yolande van Wijk, CEO of First National Bank's Smart Services, explains the different models in Africa's mobile commerce industry and what needs to be done to make mobile payments truly successful on the African continent.

The global digital currency landscape has changed rapidly in the last couple of years. A number of US companies closed down while, in other jurisdictions, businesses are thriving. Mark Herpel, Editor of DGC Magazine, gives an overview of the developments that have taken place, looks at the present market and examines what the future might hold.