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

All I want for Christmas is a novelty gift card

With the dire state of the economy forcing people to tighten their belts, it seems most Americans would rather forgo that pair of socks or pointless gadget this Christmas in favour of something they can actually make use of - a gift card. Research from the National Retail Federation suggests 55% of Americans will ask Santa for a gift card this year...

24 November 2008 /retail

Pay the robot, or else

Dave Birch, on his Digital Money blog, has found what may well be the fintech geek's ultimate fantasy - a payments terminal in the shape of a life-sized android. Developed in Japan (of course) by NEC, the robot lets you make payments by selecting the appropriate e-money icon on the touch screen panel embedded in his torso before swiping your NFC-e...

14 November 2008 /payments

Kazakhstan's super-rich get diamond studded credit card

The FT reports the launch of a new Mastercard credit card in oil and mineral rich Kazakhstan. Big deal, you may say, but this is no ordinary piece of plastic - it's inlaid with a 0.02 carat diamond and laced with gold. To be issued by Kazkommertsbank, the card has a $1000 annual fee and $50,000 credit limit. Predictably, the FT points out the inco...

03 November 2008 /retail Whatever...

Des O'Connor hit by card scam

Sarkozy isn't the only recent high profile victim of fraudsters. Des O'Connor - British chat show host and famously bad singer - was taken for around £1000 by a shop assistant who used his mobile phone to record the entertainer's card details. After recording the details of Des and many others, Olanrewaju Apalara went online and registered the ca...

31 October 2008 /security Whatever...

Scratch and sniff cards

With Barclaycard chief Antony Jenkins predicting that the humble plastic card is doomed as we all migrate to mobile phones and biometrics, German vendor Giesecke & Devrient looks like it has been working on some creative ways to delay the inevitable. We received a press release today reminding us of the range of 'scratch and sniff' cards they'...

29 October 2008

Evil Hank and evil Ben

Forget your boring ghosts, vampires and witches, if you really want to put the frighteners on people this Halloween you need to invest in an 'evil' Hank Paulson or Ben Bernanke mask. For the bargain price of $79.90, a quick thinking online entrepreneur will make sure you terrify even the hardiest soul. But if the credit crunch means $80 is a bit o...

28 October 2008 Whatever...

Marx cashes in on capitalism's crisis

With capitalism taking a pretty bad beating over the last few months, the work of its greatest critic, Karl Marx, is being rediscovered. Apparently, sales of Das Kapital have gone through the roof in Germany as people look for an explanation, and maybe cure, for our current plight. Publisher Karl-Dietz Verlag says it has sold around 1500 copies so...

21 October 2008 Whatever...

Jagger wants e-commerce satisfaction

Mick Jagger is joining a load of industry bods - including Steve Jobs - to draw up a report on barriers to e-commerce within the EU. He was asked to help out after taking part in a roundtable discussion on the subject in Brussels earlier this week. The report comes as the EU looks to make it easier for people to buy online across national borders. ...

19 September 2008 /payments /retail Whatever...

Outsourcers get crunched

The current market turmoil looks like it's going to hit offshore outsourcing firms pretty hard. As the FT reported a couple of days ago, firms like HCL and Wipro are putting a brave face on the crisis, insisting the events at Lehman - a customer of both - won't have much of an impact on them. But despite the bullishness, Wachovia Capital Markets h...

19 September 2008 /retail /wholesale

IT administrators - devious and dangerous

You might want to think twice before laying off any IT administrators because it appears they can, and more importantly will, walk away with all your company secrets. A survey from Cyber Ark has found that of 300 IT security professionals questioned, 88% would steal valuable and sensitive company information if laid off tomorrow. Some would walk a...

28 August 2008 Information Security