Latest opinions that Matt White has shared on Finextra

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Matt White

North America editor

Finextra

Member since

27 Nov 2006

Location

Toronto

View Matt White's full profile

Matt's opinions

The future of ATMs

A while back I blogged about the potential of biometric ATMs. I was taken by the news that they are being used to pay illiterate workers in India but my hopes for this technology to make the world a better place seem a tad optimistic. Diebold CEO Tom Swidarski is dismissive about the potential for biometric cash machines because he feels that all ...

24 May 2007 /payments

Are the French lazy?

Talking to Diebold CEO Tom Swidarski at the company's Emea Expo this week I was a little taken aback by his blunt answer to my question about last years closure of the ATM vendor's manufacturing plant in Cassis, France. Not for Tom the usual waffle about restructuring, he was quite clear about the reasoning behind the decision, despite union threat...

24 May 2007 /retail

Getting on the green bandwagon

The banks certainly seem to be waking up to the potential of going green. In the last couple of days Barclaycard, Fortis and Lloyds have rushed out press releases on the subject. Barclaycard are trumpeting a new green credit card. It is not due to be launched until the summer which is just as well considering they don't seem to have got around to ...

18 April 2007 /retail

Biometric cash machines

Interesting story on the BBC Web site about biometric ATMs. They are being used in India to pay illiterate workers who have trouble with the paperwork involved in collecting their wages from the bank. The ATMs use fingerprint technology to identify card holders and also provide voice instructions for the user. The security benefits of biometric ca...

05 April 2007 /security /payments

Pointless research?

According to a survey, nearly half of Which? members are ‘annoyed’ with their bank’s interest rate. Now there’s a shock…

04 April 2007 /retail

Proper mobile banking

I spotted the headline “Royal Bank of Scotland Launches New Mobile Banking Service in North Wales” on PR Newswire and thought that it sounded right up Finextra’s street. However, I was shocked to discover that far from being some technical innovation the mobile bank is actually a service that physically moves around the valleys of Wales to provid...

20 March 2007 /retail

Bad timing by Barclays

Barclaycard announced today that they are cutting 630 call centre jobs. Some of these (200 according to Amicus) will be offshored to India. You have to wonder about the bright spark who came up with the timing of this announcement. Barclaycard is struggling – a couple of weeks ago it announced that profits were down a massive 40% in 2006. But any...

06 March 2007 /retail