Banks Have Nothing To Fear From TELCOs

In my op-ed article titled “Impact of Regulation on Financial Services Providers” published in the August 2012 issue of The Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce, I’d argued that banks don’t have much to fear from the slew of financial products launched by non-banking financial services providers. Many career bankers averred that they heaved a … Read more

Web – The Forgotten Channel?

According to the World Retail Banking Report 2012 co-authored by Cap Gemini and EFMA and a few other research reports published recently, customers are viewing the Internet as one of the two most important channels of retail banking worldwide, the branch being the other. OTOH, many banks, nonbanking financial service providers and others are virtually treating … Read more

Your QR Code Works. What Next? – Part 2

Following on from Your QR Code Works. What Next? – Part 1, we illustrate a few more best practices of QR code based CTAs (Call To Actions): INTRASOFT. The ad offers download of the company’s financial results by scanning the accompanying QR code. Since financial results are bulky, we presume that the ad chose to employ … Read more

CTS-2010: Cheque Truncation System Or Contract Termination System?

There has been a spate of ads and announcements over the last 3-4 weeks by banks in India about the introduction of the new Cheque Truncation System, CTS-2010, from the new year i.e. three weeks from now. For the uninitiated, CTS transforms cheque clearing from a paper-intensive process to a digital journey whereby only images of … Read more

Skating Away With Online Payments

For several years, online payments in India have been subject to two-factor authentication, which works as follows: Shoppers reach the checkout page of the merchant or biller’s website where they select their method of payment (e.g., credit card). They’re then ferried across to the payment provider’s website. Here, they enter their credit card details including … Read more

The Clear & Present Danger With Contactless & NFC Payments

Technophobes and security pundits have been warning for a long time that it’s possible for a passerby with an RFID reader – and malafide intent – to skim debit / credit card details off of contactless cards and NFC smartphones even when they’re tucked away inside their owners’ wallets, pockets or hand bags. I had … Read more

TransPromos Help Billers Grow Advertising Revenues

Electronic delivery of bills and statements promises to save stationery, printing and postage costs for banks, mobile network operators, municipalities / boroughs, utilities and other types of billers. Attracted by the cost savings potential, a large number of billers have adopted eBilling / eStatements technology in recent times. To actually realize the savings, many billers … Read more