Here’s one: Europe Could Ban Mag-Stripe Cards by 2011 Read More »

With so much buzz on the iPhone and its alleged “killer” competitors, many developments occur behind the scenes that are often overlooked. Industry stalwart Blackberry still retains a relatively large portion of the market but must continue to enhance their phone’s capabilities to keep the iPhone in their sight. Wireless providers AT&T and Verizon fire press releases like salvos on a battlefield on their upcoming “faster data networks” in the hope of retaining their customers. Blogs and twitter feeds explode on rumors of iPhone’s impending migration to Verizon. Application developers continue to spring out of the woodwork, hoping to be the next hot download in the App Store. As this battle drives rapid product development and smartphones continue to proliferate the consumer market, what might the future hold for the big players in this back-and-forth chess match? Read More »

Only half sarcastic on the entry title – it is good news and big news for both Citi and ViVOtech, but when when WHEN are we going to get past “pilot” stage with contactless? Read More »

It occurs to me that Internet and mobile banking are really about extending the traditional custodian (or what I commonly label as “paternalistic”) model of banking and payments services. My bank and credit card firm is firmly in charge of my money, as demonstrated by the fact that transactions happen on the institutions’ say-so, with me, the so called “accountholder” only given opportunities to challenge such decisions after the fact. The system is backwards, but that’s only because we’re still in the infancy period. For example, Read More »

A client asked a worthwhile question in the lead-up to today’s subscriber webinar about my recent report, “Personal Finance Management Beyond PFM Lite.” The question: How do free personal finance sites on the Web get people to trust them?

The answer in part: Make lemonade out of lemons.

The question is topical because some bankers and vendors seem to believe that security fears erect a nearly insurmountable barrier of entry for Web startups. Though many consumers inherently trust bank security, the reality is that some will be willing to experiment with such sites because they believe there’s an acceptable trade-off between risk and reward.

To get a feel for how Web startups tell their security stories, I examined Read More »

One of the talks I was eagerly anticipating at next month’s Black Hat Briefing in Las Vegas was entitled “Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines” by Barnaby Jack. Unfortunately, that talk has been canceled by his employer, Juniper Networks. As word spread that Jack would be disclosing vulnerabilities using a real ATM during his demonstration, one unnamed ATM vendor got nervous. While no one has reported the threat of lawsuits, that is an increasingly common occurrence these days at security conferences: people who are trying to fix flaws are increasingly being silenced. Read More »

Our new financial services survey of heads-of-household shows that consumers are quite literally putting their money where their mouth is. I posted a blog response on it here. http://www.finextra.com/community/fullblog.aspx?id=2984

On Tuesday, the FTC approved, by a vote of 4-0, the final consent order regarding the CVS Caremark Corporation following a federal investigation into pharmacy’s security practices.

The FTC investigation was initiated in response to media reports that CVS pharmacies, the nation’s largest chain, with over 6,300 locations, were routinely disposing of sensitive personal information in open dumpsters. The FTC says the allegations included information such as “pill bottles with patient names, addresses, prescribing physicians’ names, medication and dosages; medication instruction sheets with personal information; computer order information from the pharmacies, including consumers’ personal information; employment applications, including social security numbers; payroll information; and credit card and insurance card information, including, in some cases, account numbers and driver’s license numbers.” Read More »

The Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team announced the acceptance of “eLayaway” for 2010 season ticket puchasess. This is a snapshot of several trends we’re seeing – changing consumer behaviors and the need (desperation?) of some “merchants” (using an NFL team loosely as a merchant in this case) to think outside the box with alternative payments acceptance. Read More »

The traditional model of banking and payments is not fit to survive another decade, so with the industry in turmoil why not start major changes now? I propose that the best outcome is unsurpassed market share for the leaders with bad things only happening to criminals. Today, you Read More »