Queen's visit slow down traffic in Piccadilly

Raphael Michilis 

23 May 2012

from a bus 14 in London

It is 19.23pm and the traffic is very slow in Piccadilly, Central London. 

My bus, the route 14 to Fulham road, got stuck in front of The Royal Academy of Arts, where Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the royal family attended a Diamond Jubilee celebration of the arts and the exhibition of the British photographer Terry O'Neill.

The bus took more than 45 minuntes to go from Piccadilly station to Green Park station, while paparazi and curious people gathered in front of the museum. 

"Terry is at The Royal Academy of Artsd to meet The Queen in this glorious day," twitted O'Neil.

In normal conditions, the same half a mile trip should take about eight minutes on foot, according to my map phone application (see photo).

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SmartPay brings new e-payment platform to Zimbabwe

By Raphael Michilis
SmartPay has launched their new electronic payments platform Universal Electronic Payments System (UEPS) Switch in Zimbabwe, which the company claims is the first of its kind in the country.

The company says UEPS Switch is set to ease banking problems in Zimbabwe.

The UEPS Switch will enable settlement of inter-bank claims and link the payment systems of all banks, savings and loans companies, and building societies in Zimbabwe.

The platform will also serve the underbanked and unbanked segments of the country, enabling customers to load and spend e-cash, and other online transactions.

In addition, the platform is said to allow its users to make electronic payments even if they are offline.

SmartPay states on its website that “customers are able to effect transactions ‘offline’ in underdeveloped areas where power and communication infrastructure maybe lacking.”

SmartPay counts on a growing mobile market to support its business  in Zimbabwe. Mobile phone penetration rocketed from 40% in 2010 to 66% in 2011.

SmartPay also brings a biometric smartcard that provides a new and secure way to pay for goods and services throughout the country based on fingerprint identification.

The smartcards can engage in sophisticated transaction processing while offline, where security is ensured by data encryption and biometric control.

All transactions happen from the connection between a customer card and another card through a Point of Sale (POS) or an ATM. There is no minimum income requirement for individuals to acquire a SmartPay smartcards.

Users should also be able to get interest of their card balances, says the company website.

Housewives fight legislation that stops them from having a credit card

By Raphael Michilis

A group of discontent housewives started an online petition to fight the Credit CARD Act of 2009.

The group complains that the regulation prevents them from getting a credit card without her husband’s permission as they do not have proof of income.

“This is despite the fact that I make 95% of our household purchases, have an impeccable credit score and handle the majority of my family’s finances,” complains Holly McCall, author of the petition hosted at www.change.org.

“The new rules send a message that stay-at-home parents are not as credit-worthy as young adults still in school without their own income.” reads the petition about the .

The petition initiated in partnership with the online mother’s group momsrising.com appeals for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to fix the stay-at-home moms credit problem.

Meant to curb irresponsible lending and misleading credit card practices, the law denies credit to stay-at-home moms who say the Act sets women back half a century. "It is demeaning," said Holly McCall.


"This doesn't just affect stay-at-home mothers. What about the stay-at-home fathers whose wives work instead of them? And don't tell me that doesn't happen. It does. The longer this law stays unchanged the more people that are going to get hurt," protested Christian Ramage, who signed the online petition.

The Credit Union Times (CUT) newspaper reported on May 18 that Richard Cordray Director of the CFPB met McCall and received from her the petition, that - according to its profile at change.org - has reached 34,795 online signatures to date.

"As we've said previously, we are working to understand how the rule may be affecting stay-at-home spouses," said a CFPB spokesperson to the Huffington Post.

Cordray discussed the matter with Holly McCall and promised to come up with a response to her petition within 30 days from their meeting.

Europe accounts for 47% of world payments in renminbi

By Raphael Michilis

24 April 2012 

Europe has overtaken Asia Pacific in the use of the Chinese renminbi for global payments in the first quarter of 2012, according to the report RMB Tracker by Swift, the payments and messaging platform.

Aside from China and Hong Kong, Europe is the biggest contributor to RMB offshore transactions, accounting for 47% of the payments in renminbi worldwide. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific’s share in RMB payments declined from 59% to 41%

RMB represented 6.7% of all European payments with China and Hong Kong in Q1 2012, an adoption rate slightly lower than the 7.2% observed in transactions with Asia Pacific countries.

However, European contribution to RMB payments is still more significant than its counterpart’s, thanks to its bigger absolute payments value.  The contribution in absolute value to RMB payments from several European countries is also bigger than that of many Asia-Pacific countries.

UK-based financial institutions are leading the City of London to be the next major offshore RMB centre. It did 30% of RMB payments and 46% of RMB FX in Q4 2011, staying on par with Singapore in RMB payments and first in RMB FX for the same period.

Africa and the Middle East also showed strong adoption of the RMB, but the overall value is still really small, the Swift report shows.

Adoption in the US and Canada was relatively good for that period, but nearly zero in Latin America.

Renminbi in numbers:

• 8.6% was the average growth of global payments from February to March

• 13.2% was the RMB growth for the same period, with its share climbing from 0.33% to 0.35%

• 16th was the position occupied by the RMB in the currency global ranking, after leaving the position 17th in February

Americans want mobile app to redeem credit card rewards while on summer holidays

Raphael Michilis
Mobile phones and tablets will be American travellers’ best friend this summer, says the financial corporation Capital One, in the Rewards Barometer research, conducted by BIGinsight.
 
The study heard more than thousand American credit cards rewards holder, who said they will use their mobile devices to find local hot spot coupons or redeem their rewards point for last minute travel deals.
 
More than 30% of respondents confirmed they use their cell phones or tablets to find restaurants, petrol stations, coupons and deals while away on holidays.
 
Before departing for their summer destination, 22% also use their mobile to program their holidays, researching for hotels and places to see, while 14% book their trip from their mobile device.
 
Some of them would also like to have a mobile application to redeem their rewards, 58% would not only to reserve, but pay for their hotels using rewards redeemed through their devices.
 
Nearly half of them (49%) would like to do the same to buy their airplane tickets.

Half of Americans plan to use rewards credit cards to pay for summer holidays

By Raphael Michilis
At least 67% of rewards credit card holders in the US plan to travel this summer, and half of them said they will use their cards to cover part of their trip expenses, according to the Rewards Barometer, a research conducted quarterly by BIGinsight for the financial corporation Capital One.
 
The 2011 edition of the research had found out 42% of respondents said they would use rewards cards to pay for their vacation expenses, 8 percentage points below this years’ result.
 
The majority of rewards card holders (54%) plan to spend between $500 and $2000 in their summer holidays this year.
 
For other 18% of respondents, the 2012 summer getaway budget will from $2,001 to U$3,000. 
 
The study also found out that almost two-thirds of the American reaward card holders do not plan to go away on popular summer holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, July 4th and Labour Day. 
 
Redemption
 
The Rewards Barometer also investigated how Americans plan to redeem their points, and found out that 58% of summer travellers will buy plane tickets with their credit card rewards. 
 
The second most popular redemption option is hotel expenses, with 42% of respondents likely to deduct it from their rewards, followed by fuel 18%. 
 
"Flexible rewards programs that allow cardholders to redeem their rewards when and how they want can make that vacation dream an affordable reality. When choosing a new rewards program, consumers should consider both the value of rewards and the ease of using them," advises Amy Lenander, Vice President of Rewards Programs at Capital One.

India: Electronic payments up, but cheque transactions are still higher

By Raphael Michilis
Electronic payments transactions in India rose by 27,7% in the 2011-12 period, and their volume was up nearly 70% year-on-year, showing unquestionable rising of its popularity.


However, cheques are still the preferred form of payment for high value transactions in the country, reports The Hindu Business Line.


According to the newspaper the traditional paper payment mode accounted for INR 98.9 lakh crore (about USD1.7trn) while the electronic counterparts accounted for only INR 22 lakh crore(USD 391bn) in 2011-12, says the newspaper.


More than INR 115.9 crore credit card, debit card, electronic clearing services (ECS) and national electronic fund transfers (NEFT) took place that year. A little less than the INR 134.1 crore payments made through cheques.


On the other hand, business with cheques followed another trend, falling around 3% in volume and the value of transactions in that period.


The volume of e-payments rose almost 10 times and the value of transactions around four-fold by 2011-12 from 2003-04 levels.


In contrast, the number of transactions using cheques registered slower growth of around 31% and the value has plunged about 15%.