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Ainsley Ward

Vice President, Payments Solutions

CGI

Member since

10 Oct 2007

Location

Glasgow

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Ainsley's opinions

Technodazzle

I was reading an article a few days ago on the plateau of ebook reader sales and the slow retreat back to paper (here), and of course this lead my thoughts back to our own industry – particularly the nonsensical cheque lobbyists. However, does this harking back to a bygone era of paper banking reveal a bad case of Technodazzle in our industry? Tec...

06 June 2016 /payments Trends in Financial Services

Let's all go rob a bank

If I walk into a shop, pick up any item and then walk out again, the chances are that store security will stop me and I'll probably end up in court pretty soon. Likewise if I walked into a bank branch and demanded all the cash, it's likely my face will end up on Crimewatch UK and the court will beckon. So I won't try either of those crimes (even i...

23 December 2015 /payments /regulation

Belgium's Banks give Maestro borders

A press release by FEBELFIN (Belgian financial services association) yesterday (here in Dutch) states that from 17 Jan 2011 Belgian Maestro cards can no longer be used outside of continental Europe. Today I received a letter from my bank confirming the announcement and blaming it on the need to 'protect my transactions from fraud'. Essentially thi...

10 November 2010 /retail

European Union can see into the future...

Just tracking a press release on the Europa portal and saw that they are releasing press releases in the future... The link takes you to a press release on the Spanish Presidency site that will be published some time in February! http://www.eu2010.es/en/documentosynoticias/noticias/greco.html Spooky :-)

22 January 2010 Whatever...

Are RFID tags the new chewing gum?

I appreciate that this is probably my first foray into Hyacinth Bucket territory, but I've noticed recently that there's been a new addition to the street litter here in Brussels. As the number of cigarette butts (and packets and plastic wrap) has considerably decreased there seems to be a new addition to the flotsam and jetsam - RFID tags. To be ...

02 December 2009 /retail Whatever...

MasterCard using the credit crisis to close European HQ?

The moderately recent IPOs of MasterCard and Visa have had a profoundly different effect on the two companies presence in Europe. While Visa seperated out it's EU business into an independent association, MasterCard's has slowly had its powers sucked away by the dominant US HQ. Having been recently made redundant from MasterCard's European headqua...

03 September 2009 Whatever...

Post-apocalyptic new capitalism - from a Xmas conversation

Strange things happen once the mince pies start to settle, just after you've finished seething at the Queen's speech and set the kids up with the latest Disney. This year a cousin and I began to debate what we'd change following last year's global bust - and in doing so we defined our vision of Post-apocalyptic new capitalism – which I'd like to s...

05 January 2009 /regulation Whatever...

Strange things afoot in the POS world...

When I worked for a terminal vendor a few years ago, I made a prediction that the market would quickly consolidate down to a few (probably 3) big players - and that they'd most likely be VeriFone, Hypercom & Ingenico - but what I didn't see coming was that the market would get as cutthroat as this. What's unfolding in the Hypercom/Ingenico/Th...

12 February 2008 Trends in Financial Services