The Smart Credit Card

With the new credit card named Redemption, Dynamics Inc. is introducing the smarter version of that dumb piece of plastic in your wallet, in order to offer  the possibility to choose the best way of payment in different situations. Because this smart card possesses two tiny membrane buttons who are each connected to a LED, you have the choice between paying with regular money  and paying with a loyalty scheme, according to your selection, the appropriate LED lights up so you can verify your choice. Two other advantages of this new type of card are that the use of it is more secure than a usual card because it’s harder to make a clone of it and the expansion of new point-of-sale systems without any extra costs. Though we can’t find this smart card in every wallet yet, Citi Bank already tried the technology on a small scale and is about to enlarge that scale starting in November.

Hanne Vanaelst

Bron:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1693165/credit-cards-to-go-electronic-then-disappear-wirelessly-into-iphone-screens 

How to stop rogue automatic payments?!

Nowadays most people live on autopilot as far as goes financial live. Some of our costs are being deducted automatically from our account, but what if you canceled one of these costs and the biller won’t stop pulling money from your account? The answer to this question are the Fed rules: if your authorization to the company has expired, the bank must block the future payments and the bank can’t wait for the biller to stop the authorization. In other words, the bank has the right to block upcoming payments so that it isn’t possible for the biller to deduct money which is not his.

Evelyne Reynebeau

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/how-to-stop-rogue-automatic-payments/?scp=16&sq=credit%20card&st=cse

Banks help the socially excluded all over the world

Underprivileged people are often stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty and marginality, and that is why banks are willing to help them put their lives back on the rails by offering them a bank account into which they can deposit their savings and so build up a small capital.

Just across the Channel in the UK, The Co-op Bank has set up a banking facility programme for ex-prisoners, which should stop them from reoffending and give them better perspectives in life: employment, accommodation, a sense of self-esteem and social acceptance.

Somewhat further away, in India, a similar project has been worked out for prostitutes in the brothels of Mumbai. Exploited sex workers will now be provided with financial security, something that will give them a chance to start leading a respectable life.

Machteld Scheyving

Banking & Finance

‘Fat’ tax on European banks?

To target pay and profits at financial institutions, the European Commission considers a financial activities or “Fat” tax in Europe.  The commission thinks that banks are now not paying enough taxes and should contribute more to repair the damage they caused to the economy during the financial crisis. However , the tax could be difficult to execute on an EU-wide basis  because member states are still responsible for this issue. To give you an idea of the size of the taxation, the FAT tax could bring in a gain of £ 4bn for the UK.

(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/now-the-ec-backs-a-fat-tax-on-banks-2100975.html)

Jonas Plouvier

Higher income, higher costs

Graduates starting university after 2012 will have to pay more interest depending on their earnings. Moreover there will also be an increase in the tuition fee to £7000. High-earning graduates who profit more from their degree than others will have to pay higher interest rates depending on their income. This way the government has developed a system in which they hope to stimulate the poorer students to follow a course at university.

Dieter Slowack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/09/tuition-fees-rise-7000-coalition

Banking and Finance

Major setback for online-banking

Because of an outage in the system, millions of customers weren’t able to enter the website of Chase, one of the largest banks in the sector.  After more than 24 hours, the problems were solved but for businesspeople who work overnight and want to do an important payment, that is too long. From such a large company you should expect a back-up system or another solution and not only a telephone bank service or the normal branches, people want to do such a personal and important thing just the way they do it normally and as soon as possible. That was a major setback for online-banking and especially for Chase, now  the question will rise whether doing your payments online is still safe and efficient enough and hopefully  for the huge sector the answer will be yes.

Jana Sarens

New measures on bankers’ payments

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors proposes a set of new rules against the unsound and exaggerated remuneration structures in the financial sector. First of all the proposal consists of a limitation on the cash element of all kind of bonuses, which contains standard as well as big bonuses. Although the new rule doesn’t regulate the size of the bonuses, it can be a breakthrough in order to make these bonuses less excessive. On top of that, the proposed new guidance also contains the introduction of a claw back mechanism; That is why most bankers are not that enthusiastic about these new measures.

Florian Tack

http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2010/10/08/regulators-publish-draft-rules-on-bankers-pay/