OCTOBER 12, 2005    VOL. 1 / NO. 3

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RANDOM NOTES

Discussed over lunch at last week's Visa payments security summit: Problems with card payments in certain countries - South Korea, Romania and Spain, particularly -- are causing some institutions to block all transactions in those countries. At Justice Federal Credit Union, whose members include frequently-traveling Justice Department employees, customers have been trained to alert staff where they'll be traveling and when. With the advance information, staff can easily override the country blocks and assure the customer use of their card. Members are happy to oblige and consider it part of their travel checklist, says Debby Libengood, card services manager.

.Branch renaissance down under: Only about 10% of Australian banking transactions, including ATM and EFT POS transactions, occur within a branch, reports Credit and Collections News Briefs. Australia lost 1,500 branches in eight years and the bank manager's "standing in society plummeted" along with those closures, reports a Web site maintained by Fairfax New Zealand Limited, New Zealand's largest media company. Now the Australian banking industry is rethinking retail branches, in part to gain a competitive edge over mortgage brokers who have successfully lured home loan customers away. The reinvesting in the brick-and-mortar and the elevation of the local manager's role started four years ago at the Bank of Queensland, where the branch manager has equity in the business. After fixed costs are paid for, profits are shared with the bank.

Here in the U.S., meanwhile, many consumers, especially the un-banked and under-banked, would apparently welcome the chance to bank in a Wal-Mart store, according to a national telephone survey by Synergistics Research Corp. The survey found these groups more receptive to banking in a retail store if that store was owned by Wal-Mart .
A lot of banks are finding that the ability to give customers a debit card instantly gives them an edge over other banks that make them wait. »more

More Articles in This Issue

» DEBIT CARDS NO WAITING
A customer walks into a branch, completes an application for a debit card, and is handed one right there and then - with no need to have to wait for it to arrive in the mail a week or so later. This "instant activation" not only pleases customers, who can use the cards the moment they leave the branch, but also benefits the bank financially. »more

» MERCHANTS NEED EDUCATION ON DATA SECURITY
 Merchant storing of inappropriate data in their systems was a concern shared by many speakers at last week's Visa's Cardholder Security for the New Electronic Payments Age summit in Washington, D.C. During the presentations and in the hall during breaks, merchant accountability and liability was a common topic as the financial services industry continues to seek ways to protect their customers from fraud. »more

» NEXT TIME YOU PLAY SCRABBLE, TRY 'BETSIMPSIER'
What's a "betsimpsier"? Something you can buy at an auto parts store? Perhaps some new and exotic disease? It's the tagline for a marketing campaign by Chicago-based MB Financial Inc., which this summer coined the word with its advertising agency to represent its strategy of "better, simpler and easier banking." »more

 » EMV ETA?
With the continued upgrading of the Canadian payment infrastructure to the EMV smart card standard mandated by Europay, MasterCard and Visa, can widespread U.S. adoption be far behind? Yes, say some experts, who believe widespread use of EMV-standard smart cards in the U.S. may be as far as a decade away. »more

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