And pigs can indeed fly. Visa and MasterCard have finally caved in to pressure from Canadian competition authorities and agreed to set a 1.5% ceiling on interchange rates in the country for the next five years. But I have to wonder with the pressure on large institutions including telcos to reduce locked in periods, fees, and exits costs, that similar pressure was expected on interchange, and maybe this was a way to get head of the regulators. Continue reading Visa and MasterCard reduce and cap interchange fees in Canada

For non Americans the significance that it took the President to sign an Executive Order is large. An Executive Order is required for either inconsequential items, but more often those which cannot otherwise be agreed upon by the legislative Congress who are generally governed by lobby groups, and therefore cannot make a decision. US Banks have been stuck in the past and refusing to buy into Chip Cards. They have even been balking at PIN rather than signature. This is the country with Miles and Gallons of course. Most wanted to stick with Chip and Signature, as indicated in this … Continue reading US Banks payments jump from days of the Beatles all the way to 2005’ish for rest of the world

This brings in a whole new level of mobile access. Its a bit hard to imagine First world regulators permitting this kind of dual access, but then again it has not been tested and certainly represents a new angle on the fastest growth technology area. Equity Bank to take on M-Pesa with Thin SIM technology Safaricom earlier this week lost a legal battle to block the roll-out of Equity Bank’s Thin Sim technology, when the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) dismissed the telco’s objections to the technology. Safaricom had claimed that the dual SIM … Continue reading Equity Bank’s Thin Sim technology represents a novel threat to most successful mobile app in Africa

In Aug 2013, I picked up on Stripe, and was impressed by their ‘start up’ approach to a space banks should have owned, but failed since day 1. Stripe – simple online payments … Today this piece at Bloomberg surprises with the extent that Stripe have become engaged in the payments eco-system that matters. This piece is worth the read just to see the big name players Stripe have engaged. Stripe Lands Apple in Quest for $720 Billion in Payments They are integrated with Apply Pay, Alibaba and have these backers: Stripe has the backing of investors including Sequoia Capital … Continue reading Stripe are heading towards becoming leaders in payment processing

Early signals in US that Apple Pay with its simple NFC interface is ready to make a big impact. This could also be the kickstart NFC has been lacking. US banks race to gain Apple Pay card advantage But while all the major banks have allocated large budgets to the battle, they do not have a free hand in what they can do. Marketing staff from the banks are due to meet at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter, to receive strict guidelines on how they can advertise Apple Pay to customers. …. … Continue reading Banks ready for battle for supremacy in Apple Pay Passbook

Wells Fargo hold a gun to the Governments head on poor quality mortgages. Somehow this article out of the blue took me straight back to 2007. There still remains a fundamental gap in what Banks believe their role is, compared to what is expected from Government. The concept of government guaranteed mortgages helps many new homeowners but it is also a mis-used function that skews risk management. By definition it eliminates risk for banks. That seems perverse when compared to the concept of banking. The wording of the Wells Chief struck me as something we ought to be concerned about. … Continue reading Wells chief comments on mortgages sounds like a preview of another 2007

While football (soccer to North America) fans may not, as a group apparently represent the intellectual elite,they do reflect the practical & political reality. On June 26th, 2014 when USA and Germany played each other in the World Cup, the brilliantly social reflective fans got straight to the true core of international relations. World Cup chants reveal true state of U.S.-German relations As Germany basks in its World Cup victory, it’s easy to forget that one of the most telling geopolitical moments of the tournament came during the Germany-U.S. game. As American fans chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” the Germans countered … Continue reading As American fans chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” the Germans countered with, “N-S-A! N-S-A! N-S-A!”

This seems like a seminal moment for Enterprise devices that to date were officially owned by Blackberry. Apple and IBM Forge Global Partnership to Transform Enterprise Mobility Continue reading Apple and IBM enter enterprise market together