133 Results from 2007, /retail
Retired Member
The story on Finextra about Citi's new loyalty scheme caught my eye. For every pound you spend, you are awarded a point and as they add up you can redeem them to get music downloads or even an iPod to play them on. Ok, bit gimmicky maybe but doesn't sound too bad. It's only when you look at the figures you realise you'd need to rack up 15,000 pou...
13 March 2007 /retail
Zopa continue to send disruptive signals into the financial services space. They are progressing well on discussions to include Zopa loans within Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). This asset class, would be unsecured personal loans. Social lender Zopa is offering Sipp investors the chance to make between 6% and 14% on their cash in the run u...
12 March 2007 /retail Trends in Financial Services
Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra
Chinese authorities have acted to curb the spread of virtual currencies into the real economy. The FT reports on a recent formal notice from the government and central bank effectively banning the use of virtual cash to pay for material goods and services in the real world. The edict was issued in response to the growing popularity of Q-coins, the...
08 March 2007 /payments /retail Futuristic Banking
Toy maker Hasbro is doing its bit to keep pace with the vogue for virtual currency. When it launches this summer, Hasbro's latest edition of the 60s board game, The Game of Life, will be the first in America to replace cash with a Visa-branded card as the preferred form of currency. A new electronic "LifePod" - which replaces the spin ...
08 March 2007 /payments /retail
Matt White North America editor at Finextra
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
Elton Cane Digital product delivery at News Corp Australia
The trained dog at the ATM story got me thinking about how well banks are catering to disabled communities with their banking channels -- whether branch, ATM or website. I recall that some banks have given thought to ATM accessibility in the past by having at least one machine in a row of several positioned much lower than the rest so short people,...
02 March 2007 /retail Trends in Financial Services
What's interesting about the DoCoMo mobile payment technology referenced in this recent story, and what differentiates it from many other m-payment initiatives operating elsewhere in the world, is that the Osaifu Keitai (literal translation = wallet cell phone) system acts like a contacless smart card, using Son'y FeLiCa technology. (Other Japane...
28 February 2007 /payments /retail Trends in Financial Services
Steve Ellis Founder at Finextra Research
Unfortunately, it seems likely that ING's 'ourvirtualholland' may have to contend with some of the issues found in 'ourrealamsterdam' - take a look at this news report from Reuters' Second Life columnist Warren Ellis (no relation) recorded on his own blog. Here's a snippet of Warren's report: <There have been attempts, recently, to downplay t...
26 February 2007 /retail
Looks like National Australia Bank (NAB) is the latest bank to fall victim to mail-out problems that compromise customer data. They're not the first, and are unlikely to be the last. The usual bank spokesperson agenda in these situations is to claim that there is nothing in the lapse that exposes customers to to risk of fraud. But thinking about ...
26 February 2007 /security /retail Trends in Financial Services
ING has made a serious stab at extending its presence beyond the realms of the physical world by announcing plans to open a Dutch mini state in screen-based 3-D universe Second Life. In making the move, the Dutch banking group is following in the footsteps of its compatriot ABN Amro, which in December opened a virtual financial advice centre for S...
23 February 2007 /retail
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