Philippine Remitances

Payza

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 4 Aug 2012 11:30:00 -0700

Payza is an e-commerce business that allows payments to be made through the internet between users who have registered for the service (Payza members). For personal users, it is a method for transferring money internationally and a platform for the purchase of goods and services online. For merchants, Payza is an online business management tool which they can use to process payments, issue invoices and make payouts.

Payza is a money transmitter agent with offices in London, New York City, Montreal, Mumbai, Dhaka, Moscow, and Stockholm

History

MH Pillars Ltd, a UK-based advanced payments consultancy, acquired the strategic assets of AlertPay (Alert Services Inc., CANADA)and launched the Payza.com platform in May 2012. In July 2012, the company announced that Alastair Graham would become the new Chief Executive Officer for Payza, a new position for the company.

Market development

Payza targets markets in developing countries and other local areas in which access to online financial services is limited.

The company's mission statement states Payza's intent to provide “affordable and convenient payment methods to under-serviced markets, and [connects] the global marketplace with emerging economies.”. Payza, unlike many large payment processors, supports remittances – the transfer of money by a foreign worker to his or her home country. Remittances play a large part in the economies of developing and transition countries - they constitute the second largest financial inflow in much of the developing world.

Payza offers its services in more that 190 countries, in both developed and developing marketplaces, though not all of its services are available in all marketplaces in which they operate.

Bangladesh

In early 2012, Payza began operating in Bangladesh, in collaboration with Bangladesh-based Casada Technology, a provider of consumer electronics and digital signage. Payza's target customer base in Bangladesh is the growing IT sector, particularly Bangladeshi freelance IT workers who can use the Payza platform to receive payments from outside of the country and transfer them into their local banks.

By September 2012, Payza’s services in Bangladesh had been widely adopted.

In November 2012, Payza received the first license issued from the country’s central bank, Bangladesh Bank, for inbound foreign remittances entering Bangladesh via an online payment gateway. The company subsequently announced the launch of the remittance platform SimplySendBD, developed in collaboration with Casada Technology Bangladesh Ltd.

Services

Payza supports sending and receiving payments in 190+ countries in 20+ currencies.Individual customers can open an account with Payza through registering their email address and personal data on the company's website. Completing an optional identity verification process allows the sending/receiving of higher-value payments, though it is obligatory for all transactions in some parts of the world. Accounts are identified by email address(es) associated with them; payments made from a Payza account are like "sending" money to an email address.

For businesses, Payza provides several business management tools such as checkout buttons, shopping carts, support for invoicing and payouts, and tools for developers to integrate Payza with their websites.

General Services
Remittances to/from 190+ countries
Electronic invoicing
Credit card payment processing
Prepaid cards
Currency exchange
Business management tools
APIs and other developer tools

Fees

The are no fees when sending money. Fees applied when money is received will vary based on the account type.

Security

All Payza data is encoded with 128-bit SSL encryption. Payza reviews all websites of merchant accounts to ensure that they conform to Payza’s terms and conditions before they are allowed to accept payments.

Payza employs a proprietary monitoring system called the Fraud Matrix, which scans every transaction through Payza and flags any suspicious activity.

In August 2012, Payza partnered with Intelligent ID to enhance their identity verification for users in the United Kingdom.

In October 2012, Payza upgraded their SSL encryption using Trustwave, a Certification Authority and distributor of SSL certificates.

In October 2012, Payza announced the incorporation of the TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program, which confirms the security of their website, with the goal of strengthening customer confidence in their platform.

Criticism

In 2013, Themco launched a forum for users complaining that Payza refused to release their funds. Terry Gilder, CEO of Themco, claimed Payza had illegally withheld $1.289 million from the company.

In March 2010, the company became embroiled in a row over accepting payments for the drop mephedrone, which was legal at the time, but classified as a class B substance later that month.

In September 2010 the State of New Hampshire Banking Department issued the company with a cease and desist order, claiming they did not hold a valid licence to transfer money.

The company maintains the website PayzaSucks.com and Payza-Scam.com.

Awards

Paybefore Awards, Outstanding Newcomer in Prepaid/Emerging Payments (2013).

Executive Vice-President Firoz Patel was Nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and advanced to the Finals in 2012.

Source: Wikipedia

Palawan Express

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:00:00 -0700

Brief History of Palawan Pawnshop Chain

The management of the Palawan Pawnshop (PPS) business under Bobby and Angelita Castro started in August, 1985. Its first branch was, and still is, strategically located along Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa’s main road. By August of 1987, Palawan Pawnshop branched out to Malvar Street, right in front of the Public Market. In 1989, PPS established its 3rd and 4th branches in the Municipalities of Narra and Brooke’s Point, located south of Palawan. In the succeeding years, expansion was fast and by November 1997, PPS had 18 branches in Puerto Princesa and 9 other municipalities of Palawan, including El Nido in the far north and Bataraza in the south.

In June, 1998, PPS opened its first three branches outside the Province of Palawan namely Silay City, Victorias City and Cadiz City in Negros Occidental. Following a rapid expansion of branches in the Visayas, the need to establish a center of business operations in the area became necessary. Thus, in November 1999, PPS opened a branch in Bacolod City where its area office was also established.

Moving out to Panay Island in the following year, PPS opened its first branch in Zarraga, Iloilo. Not long after, PPS was able to put up several branches in Iloilo under the supervision of the area office in Jaro, Iloilo City.

In 2003, Palawan Pawnshop started its money transfer business now known as Palawan Express Pera Padala, in the Municipality of Cuyo, Palawan. Cheap, fast and no-frizz services, Soon, it became one of the core the businesses of the company.

Aggressive with its expansion thrust, PPS established a stronger presence by putting up more branches in key locations: Capiz (2002), Negros Oriental (2003), Aklan (2004), Metro Manila (2004), Cebu (2005), Antique (2005), Guimaras (2005), Bohol (2007), Romblon (2007), Mindoro Provinces (2008), Batangas (2008), Pangasinan (2008), Quezon (2009), Leyte (2009), Zamboanga (2009), Marinduque (2010), Davao (2010), Samar (2011), Masbate (2011), and other locations in Mindanao.

Indeed, Palawan Pawnshop has marked a name in the pawnshop and money remittance industries.

Through grit, hard work and determination, Palawan Pawnshop has now grown to over 750 branches all over the Philippines. It has remained a most trusted and reliable company, and one of the biggest providers of employment. Now operating nationwide, PPS lives up to its commitment to the public: to provide unlimited credit facilities and to deliver fast, accurate and efficient financial services to its clientele while firmly clinging to its philosophy of honesty, fair play and compassion in its business dealings.

Through the years, Palawan Pawnshop remains as MATATAG, MAASAHAN, AT MAPAGKAKATIWALAAN.

LBC

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:00:00 -0700

History

LBC was founded in the 1950s as a brokerage and air cargo agent. Ten years later, the company operated as an air cargo forwarding service provider and was the first to introduce a 24-hour air cargo delivery service.

LBC soon became a respected leader offering dependable express courier and money remittance service throughout the Philippines. From being a forerunner in the domestic market, LBC established its first overseas office in San Francisco, California in 1985. Presently, LBC has over 60 branches in the US and Canada.

In ASIA, LBC is situated in countries that have a high number of Filipino expatriates. It has four offices in Hong Kong and eight others in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

As LBC continues to expand overseas, it has evolved and established new business supporting the growing needs of migrant Filipino and their families. One of these is its banking and finance business which was established in 1995 and currently has 20 branches in the Philippines. LBC carries on advancing and fulfilling its mission to reach out to the global Filipino community that will ultimately make the world a smaller place.

The brain behind this giant cargo forwarding company is Carlos "Linggoy" Araneta. Later, LBC has become a family-run business with his three sons as his partners namely Juan Carlos, Santiago and Fernando. They work hand in hand to reach out to millions of Filipinos here and abroad. Eventually, LBC's network spanned from just a remittance company to becoming a multi-service conglomerate. It engaged in corollary businesses such as travel and banking as well as insurance. It also offers financial services, ICT services, logistics services, digital services and e-commerce. It took the advantage of the Internet and thus the website was born, www.teamlbc.com.

Innovation

Despite of the zooming trends brought by technology thru Internet banking, lots of customers still rely in an old and trusted method: hand delivery to your doorstep. Truly, LBC has come a long way. Its branches expanded from the initial 14 branches in the 70s to 543 at present covering majority of rural and urban areas. From then on, its commitment to express delivery, spread to other countries where there are Filipinos. LBC first established its overseas office in San Francisco, USA in 1985. Several years later, it opened up in Vancouver, Canada. Right there and then, many of LBCs branches have knocked on other countries' doors for service.

Commitment, innovation and technology are prime factors why LBC achieved a high status in the courier business. This position has not stopped them from working on top because they think that serving others is continuous and never ending.

The Logo

The logo used a polygon shape and the Rockwell font use the letters LBC and the slogan in Black Arial font, HARI NG PADALA!

References
Team LBC Official Website. Accessed on 30 March 2008.

Western Union

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 9 May 2012 20:00:00 -0700

History

Western Union has been making our customers' lives a little better for more than 160 years.

Founded as the New-York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in 1851, Western Union continues to span distances with innovative technology. For more than 160 years, we have been a powerful force fueling global economic growth and innovation.

Today, we promote global economic opportunity and growth by bridging gaps in the financial services sector. Our growing product portfolio includes businesses solutions, consumer-to-consumer money transfer, bill payment services, and stored value options such as prepaid cards. Online, by phone, from 100,000 ATMs and through more than 515,000 Agent locations worldwide, Western Union aims to move money anytime, anywhere and anyway our customers choose, helping consumers and businesses grow.

See our highlights below, or learn more about our colorful heritage of progress from our expanded timeline, at right.

Western Union Through the Years

1851

Western Union founded as the New-York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company.

1856

Changed our name from the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company to Western Union. The new name marked consolidation of several lines in the western-most reaches of the U.S. telegraph system.

1861

Completed the first transcontinental telegraph line across North America.

1865

First traded on NYSE under ticker symbol WU.

1869

Introduced the first successful stock ticker.

1871

Introduced money transfer.

1884

Named one of the original 11 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

1890s

Provided service to Europe, Northern Africa, North and South America, Australia and Asia.

1914

Introduced the first customer charge card.

1933

Delivered the first singing telegram.

1943

Pioneered the first commercial inter-city microwave communications system.

1974

Introduced the first commercial satellite in the U.S.

1980

Money transfer revenue exceeded telegram service revenue for the first time.

1982

Pioneered commercial e-mail service with EasyLink.

1995

Acquired by First Data Corporation.

2001

Celebrated 150th anniversary by expanding to more than 100,000 Agent Locations worldwide.

2006

Spun off as independent company; traded on NYSE under ticker symbol WU.

2007

Announced partnership with GSMA to develop mobile money transfer.

2009

Expanded pre-paid card business.

2009

Acquired Custom House to grow cross-border business-to-business payments.

2010

Created Western Union Business Solutions.

2011

Acquired Travelex Global Business Payments to grow Western Union Business Solutions.

2012

Opened 500,000th Agent location1.

2012

Completed 231 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $79 billion of principal between consumers, and 432 million business payments.

2013

Celebrated five years of the Our World, Our Family® program: five years, $50 million, five million lives made better.

2013

Consumers can now send and receive money via 100,000 ATMs.

Reference :Here

Cebuana Lhuiller

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 4 Jun 2011 13:00:00 -0700

Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop, commonly known as Cebuana, is a Philippine-based pawnshop that gives pawnbrokering, money remittance, insurance, bills payment, collections, and e-loading services. Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop has over 1,500 branches all over the Philippines. The Guinness World Records awarded Cebuana Lhuillier the title “Largest Chain of Pawnshops in the World” in 2000. Its official brand endorser is Sarah Geronimo.

Corporate Profile

Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop is the flagship company of the PJ Lhuillier, Inc. Jean Henri Lhuillier is the current President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier, which gives pawnbrokering, money remittance, insurance, bills payment, collections, and e-loading services. He succeeded Ambassador Philippe Jones Lhuillier, the former Philippine Ambassador to Italy. Under PJ Lhuillier, Inc., Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop is affiliated with Cebuana Lhuillier Services Corporation (commonly known as Cebuana Pera Padala), Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions (doing business as Allcare Insurance), Cebuana Lhuillier Bank, Just Jewels, Le Soleil de Boracay, Phiten Philippines, PJ Lhuillier Foundation, Inc., and Palm Rock Residences. Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions is the proponent behind the Nationwide Search for the Happiest Pinoy 2010 and 2012.

History

Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop began with four pawnshop outlets in Metro Manila in the mid-1980s.

In 1968, Henry Lhuillier's son, Philippe Jones Lhuillier went forth and opened the first Lhuillier pawnshop at Libertad Street in Pasay under the trade name Agencia Cebuana. It traces its roots in Cebu, where then French Consul to the Philippines, Henry Lhuillier established his first chain of Agencias in 1935. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, Philippe Jones Lhuillier opened more agencias in Metro Manila. The company pursued further nationwide expansion in 1987 and adopted the trade name, “Cebuana Lhuillier,” which it still carries to this day.

In 1998, Philippe Jones Lhuillier was appointed the Philippine Ambassador to Italy. Philippe Jones Lhuillier’s son, Jean Henri Lhuillier, took the helm and became Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop’s President and Chief Executive Officer in the same year. Jean Henri Lhuillier introduced in Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop’s auxiliary services remittance, insurance, bills payment, e-load, and collections service. Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop introduced 24K Cebuana Card loyalty program in 2009-2012.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop, through its President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier, is involved in sports development particularly basketball, softball, and tennis. Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop owns a team in the PBA D-League, theCebuana Lhuillier Gems. Jean Henri Lhuillier is the manager of the Philippine Davis Cup Team and is the president of Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (governed by the International Softball Federation). Cebuana Lhuillier also has its own foundation, the PJ Lhuillier Foundation Inc, which conducts medical missions, relief operations for disaster-stricken areas, and feedings programs. It also has a nationwide scholarship program.

Money Gram

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:30:00 -0700

MoneyGram History

The story of MoneyGram International Inc. is really the story about two businesses, coming together to create one of the world’s largest companies in the money transfer industry. Minneapolis-based Travelers Express Co. Inc. was founded in 1940 and became the world’s largest processor of money orders and a major player in the electronic payments industry. In early incarnations, Travelers Express had ties with bus company Greyhound Corp. and later consumer products company The Dial Corp., maker of Dial soap.

The other company that helped create MoneyGram International was Denver-based MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc., which entered the international money transfer business in 1988. MoneyGram Payment Systems interestingly enough, for one year, was a subsidiary of a company that owned Western Union.

Travelers Express and MoneyGram Payment Systems joined forces in 1998 when Travelers Express’ parent, Viad Corp., purchased MoneyGram Payment Systems. In 2004, Viad spun off the Travelers/MoneyGram group into a new publicly traded company - MoneyGram International Inc.

Commitment to Our Customers and Agents

For our customers, we offer an affordable, reliable and convenient way to send money and pay bills. Any where. Any time. For our agents, MoneyGram is a significant avenue for growth, delivering opportunities to drive incremental revenue while providing a critical service for their loyal customers. For billers and financial institutions, MoneyGram provides a valuable tool to enable efficiencies and improve profitability.

World Headquarters

MoneyGram International
2828 N. Harwood, Floor 15
Dallas, Texas 75201

www.moneygram.com

MoneyGram is the second-largest money transfer company in the world with business operations in two categories: Global Fund Transfer and Financial Paper Products. MoneyGram is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MGI.

Follow us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/moneygram

Fast Facts

The company, which was founded in Minneapolis as Travelers Express, started as a small money order operation in 1940

MoneyGram is the second largest money transfer business in the world.

The company first passed the billion dollar mark in revenue in 2006

MoneyGram has 293,000 agent locations in 197 countries and territories

MoneyGram has more than twice the locations of McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and Walmart combined

MoneyGram has as 2,350 employees around the world

The company’s contact centers and website supports 23 languages

MoneyGram’s money transfer business generated growth in revenue and transaction volume last year and the global agent network increased by 18 percent

In 2011, the company made revenues of $1.25 billion; Adjusted EBITDA of $264 million

Company Owned Retail

Most of MoneyGram’s money transfer services are provided through our worldwide network of third-party agents. However, we also offer services in MoneyGram-owned and operated outlets in key countries. In the U.S., we operate 14 retail locations in New York city and one in Miami. In Western Europe, we offer retail services in approximately 71 owned and operated locations in Belgium, France and Germany

International money transfers is MoneyGram's primary business. The company's money transfer service allows consumers to send and receive money worldwide, through a global network of third-party agents that use our money transfer system. In many locations, consumers can collect funds in local currency, U.S. dollar or euro. In some markets, customers also have the option to send and receive money through alternative channels such as online, mobile, ATMs, kiosks, call center and home delivery, from and into cash, bank accounts, payment cards and mobile wallets.

Cash

Customers can walk into one of our 300,000 agent locations around the world to send or receive cash. Customers send cash at an agent location and within 10 minutes it is available for pick up by the recipient at a MoneyGram agent anywhere in the world. In some locations an "Overnight" service gives senders the option to delay receive of their transaction for a lower fee.

Cash to Bank Account

MoneyGram offers customers the opportunity, where available, to send funds to their chosen recipient's bank account. With this service receivers can receive money from their loved ones without having to physically go to an agent location. In some countries we offer the option for receivers to redirect their cash pick up into a bank account.

Cash to Card

Customers can send funds directly to a recipient's card in some markets. In some countries we also offer receivers the option to redirect a cash pick up transaction onto a card via a call centre. Cards can provide a safer alternative to carrying cash and as well as being able to withdraw cash at ATMs, cards can be used directly as a payment instrument.

Online

In the U.S., MoneyGram directly offers online transfer services, an easy and convenient way to send funds using a credit card, debit card or bank account to fund the transaction. Online sends are also available for customers of some select agents around the world.

Mobile

Money transfers can also be made from mobile phones in some markets. In Italy, we have partnered with Poste Italiane and in UAE with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi for mobile sends that can reach any of our global agent locations. Forty million SMART phone users in the Philippines are also able to receive funds from a growing list of countries and territories, including the U.S. and Hong Kong. We are currently working with mobile phone operators in regions around the world to offer more services via mobile.

ATM/Kiosk

In certain markets where customers require out of hours service, money transfers via ATMs are an excellent way to meet customer and partner needs. In Saudi Arabia, we partner with National Commercial Bank, where customers can send funds 24 hours a day at any of their 1,400 ATMs.

In retail locations, customers can shorten transaction time by using a kiosk to make a money transfer. For example, 7-Eleven Australia operates dedicated MoneyGram kiosks in their locations, allowing customers to set up their money transfers at a kiosk before paying for their transaction at the cashier.

Home Delivery

Customers can choose to have their money transfer delivered directly to their home address. Home delivery is available to customers of selected agents around the world.

Reference: MoneyGram Website

M Lhuiller

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 18:01:00 -0800

M. Lhuillier commemorates legacy in milestone store

MANILA, Philippines - M. Lhuillier continues its remarkable expansion and marks another milestone as it recently opened its 1,400th branch in Labucay, Cebu. A touching aspect of this achievement is that it is M. Lhuillier’s return to its roots in the E. Labucay Building, the same building where its legacy began 58 years ago.

The history of the Lhuillier Group can be traced back to its grand patriarch, Henry Lhuillier, a French national who came to the Philippines in the 1930s as a jewelry sales executive for Levy and Bloom Oceanic Commercial Department Stores. He decided to stay when he married a Filipina named Angelita Escaño Jones. After World War II, he ventured into various businesses, which included chocolate candy manufacturing, as well as an enterprising jewelry manufacturing and money lending company.

Tracing Roots in Labucay

Labucay was and remains one of the first flourishing commercial and trading hubs in Cebu. In 1948, the Labucays chose this location on which to have the E. Labucay Building constructed, a commercial building that catered primarily to jewelry stores. After a fire a few years later, owners Estanislao and Anacleta Labucay rebuilt the building in 1953; they later passed ownership on to their children, including Esperanza Labucay-Cabahug.

According to Angelina Labucay-Escaño, third-generation manager and co-owner of the E. Labucay Building who inherited the building from their aunt Esperanza, the opening of M. Lhuillier’s 1,400th branch is what she considers a homecoming for one of their valued pioneer tenants, the Lhuilliers.

The second floor housed the first Lhuillier branch, initially a jewelry store, which was personally managed by the Lhuillier patriarch, Henry. The store was eventually moved to the busy ground floor and transitioned its business operations to include and address the community’s evolving needs — financial services.

Henry proved to be a formidable businessman as his store gained popularity and loyal patronage among the locals. Escaño recalls, “My relatives told me that Henry was well-loved by the community because of his friendly stance, and was often addressed with endearment as Tatay.” His business steadily grew throughout the years and expanded out of Labucay.

The birth of the M. Lhuillier Empire

As Henry passed on the torch to his children, his eldest son, Michel Lhuillier started M. Lhuillier, which was born in the early 1980s as an offshoot of Henry’s financial service business. The company grew leaps and bounds with the opening of branches nationwide to service Filipinos’ need for finances and jewelry.

To date, the M. Lhuillier Group of Companies is actively managed by two generations of Lhuilliers, assisted by professional managers and consultants. The chairman of the group is Michel Lhuillier while his wife, Amparito Lhuillier, actively manages the fine jewelry stores and departments. Sons Charles and Michael hold the EVP positions and manage the day-to-day operations of the branches.

Their range of services has grown throughout the years. The company has diversified its business portfolio, which now includes quick cash loans, remittance services, jewelry stores, real estate holdings, construction projects, poultry farms, tropical fruit processing, bulk water supply, and deli and wine exclusively distributed at The Gustavian (branches in Banilad and Ayala Center in Cebu), one of the restaurants owned by the Lhuilliers that specializes in European cuisine and houses a British pub called the Tap Room.

Tulay ng Pilipino’

M. Lhuillier’s commitment to serving the Filipino remains as steadfast as it was 58 years ago. The company helps “bridge” the way to Filipino dreams and aspirations, primarily through reliable community financial services. Aiming to reach Filipinos wherever they may be, M. Lhuillier will number 1,475 branches nationwide within the year. This same commitment is also reflected in its goal to have a stronger presence in the international market through strategic partnerships and alliances.

Michel Lhuillier, founder and chairman of M. Lhuillier, one of the leading financial service institutions in the Philippines.

To give back to the various communities where M. Lhuillier is present, the company is actively engaged in corporate social responsibility through various projects aimed at uplifting the lives of their beneficiaries. Their initiatives, implemented by a dedicated arm called the Organizational Productivity Enhancement Committee (OPEC), cover a wide range of community services such as educational and livelihood programs.

For more information on M. Lhuillier, visit www.mlhuillier.com.

PayPal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:30:00 -0700

PayPal is a global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders.

PayPal is an acquirer, performing payment processing for online vendors, auction sites, and other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. It may also charge a fee for receiving money, proportional to the amount received. The fees depend on the currency used, the payment option used, the country of the sender, the country of the recipient, the amount sent and the recipient's account type. In addition, eBay purchases made by credit card through PayPal may incur extra fees if the buyer and seller use different currencies.

On October 3, 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay. Its corporate headquarters are in San Jose, California, United States at eBay's North First Street satellite office campus. The company also has significant operations in Omaha, Nebraska, Scottsdale, Arizona, Charlotte, North Carolina and Austin, Texas in the United States; Chennai in India; Dublin inIreland; Kleinmachnow in Germany; and Tel Aviv in Israel. From July 2007, PayPal has operated across the European Union as a Luxembourg-based bank.

On March 17, 2010, PayPal entered into an agreement with China UnionPay (CUP), China's bankcard association, to allow Chinese consumers to use PayPal to shop online. PayPal is planning to expand its workforce in Asia to 2,000 by the end of the year 2010.

Between December 4–9, 2010, PayPal services were attacked in a series of denial-of-service attacks organized by Anonymous in retaliation for PayPal's decision to freeze the account of WikiLeaks citing terms of use violations over the publication of leaked US diplomatic cables.

Beginnings

The current incarnation of PayPal is the result of a March 2000 merger between Confinity and X.com. Confinity was founded in December 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery, initially as a Palm Pilot payments and cryptography company. X.com was founded by Elon Musk in March 1999, initially as an Internet financial services company. Both Confinity and X.com launched their websites in late 1999. Both companies were located on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Confinity's website was initially focused on reconciling beamed payments from Palm Pilots and X.com's website initially featured financial services. Both services offered email payments as a feature.

At Confinity, many of the initial recruits were alumni of the Stanford Review, also founded by Peter Thiel, and most early engineers hailed from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, recruited by Max Levchin. On the X.com side, Elon Musk recruited a wide range of technical and business personnel, including many that were critical to the combined company's success, such as Amy Klement, Sal Giambanco, Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital, Sanjay Bhargava and Jeremy Stoppelman.

To block potentially fraudulent access by automated systems, PayPal used a system (see CAPTCHA) of making the user enter numbers from a blurry picture, which they dubbed the Gausebeck-Levchin test.

eBay watched the rise in volume of its online payments and realized the fit of an online payment system with online auctions. eBay purchased Billpoint in May 1999, prior to the existence of PayPal. eBay made Billpoint its official payment system, dubbing it "eBay Payments", but cut the functionality of Billpoint by narrowing it to only payments made for eBay auctions. For this reason, PayPal was listed in many more auctions than Billpoint. In February 2000, the PayPal service had an average of approximately 200,000 daily auctions while Billpoint (in beta) had only 4,000 auctions. By April 2000, more than 1,000,000 auctions promoted the PayPal service. 70% of all eBay auctions accepted PayPal payments, and roughly 1 in 4 closed auction listings were transacted via PayPal. PayPal was able to turn the corner and become the first dot-com to IPO after the September 11 attacks.

As of 2008, PayPal's total payment volume, the total value of transactions, was US$60 billion, an increase of 27 percent over the previous year, and US$ 71 billion in 2009, an increase of 19 percent over the previous year. As of 2012, PayPal's total payment volume processed was US$145 billion. The company continues to focus on international growth and growth of its Merchant Services division, providing e-payments for retailers on eBay.

In 2011, PayPal announced that it would begin moving its business offline so that customers can make payments via PayPal in stores.

Acquisition by eBay

In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion. PayPal had previously been the payment method of choice by more than fifty percent of eBay users, and the service competed with eBay's subsidiary Billpoint,Citibank's c2it, whose service was closed in late 2003, and Yahoo!'s PayDirect, whose service was closed in late 2004. Western Union announced the December 2005 shut down of their BidPay service but subsequently sold it in 2006 to CyberSource Corporation. BidPay subsequently ceased operations on December 31, 2007. Some competitors that offer some of PayPal's services, such as Google Checkout, Wirecard, and Moneybookers remain in business, despite the fact that eBay now requires everyone on its Australian and United Kingdom sites to offer PayPal. eBay Australia was subsequently forced to moderate its position by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, mandating that sellers on eBay Australia offer PayPal as one of the (but not necessarily the only) payment methods. These accepted payment methods include bank deposit, cheques and money orders, escrow, and credit cards (processed by other than PayPal).

In January 2008, PayPal agreed to acquire Fraud Sciences, a privately held Israeli start-up company with expertise in online risk tools, for $169 million, in order to enhance eBay and PayPal's proprietary fraud management systems and accelerate the development of improved fraud detection tools. In November 2008, the company acquired Bill Me Later, an online payments company offering transactional credit at over 9000 online merchants in the US.

As of 2012, PayPal accounted for 40% of eBay's revenue, amounting to US$1.37 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2012.

Corporate governance

As of April 2012, PayPal's president is David Marcus; Marcus joined PayPal in August 2011 after its acquisition of Zong, of which he was the founder and CEO. David Marcus succeeded Scott Thompson as president, who left the role suddenly to join Yahoo.

Services

As of 2011, PayPal operates in 190 markets and manages more than 232 million accounts, more than 100 million of them active. PayPal allows customers to send, receive, and hold funds in 26 currencies worldwide. These currencies are the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Chinese renminbi yuan (only available for some Chinese accounts, see below), euro, pound sterling, Japanese yen, Czech koruna, Danish krone, Hong Kong dollar,Hungarian forint, Israeli new sheqel, Malaysian ringgit, Mexican peso, New Zealand dollar, Norwegian krone, Philippine peso, Polish zloty, Singapore dollar, Swedish krona, Swiss franc, New Taiwan dollar, Thai baht, Turkish lira and US dollar. PayPal operates locally in 21 countries.

Residents in 194 markets [clarification needed] can use PayPal in their local markets to send money online.

PayPal revenues for Q1 2009 were $643 million, up 11 percent year over year. 42 percent of revenues in Q1 2009 were from international markets. PayPal's Total Payment Volume (TPV), the total value of transactions in Q1 2009 was nearly $16 billion, up 10 percent year over year.

In 2008, PayPal's TPV off eBay exceeded volume on eBay for the first time. PayPal's Total Payment Volume in 2008 was $60 billion, representing nearly 9 percent of global e-commerce and 15 percent of US e-commerce.

At an analyst day on March 11, 2009, eBay CEO John Donahoe announced that PayPal could be a larger driver of revenue than the eBay marketplaces business. RIM (now BlackBerry) announced that PayPal will be the only payment mechanism for its BlackBerry App World (now BlackBerry World), which launched on April 1, 2009. However, by April 2011 RIM started offering two other options: credit card payment and mobile carrier billing (using theBango Payment system).

PayPal launched Student Accounts for teens in August 2009, allowing parents to set up a student account, transfer money into it, and obtain a debit card for student use. The program provides tools to teach teens how to spend money wisely and take responsibility for their actions.

In November 2009, PayPal opened its platform, allowing other services to get access to its code and to use its infrastructure in order to enable peer-to-peer online transactions.

PayPal Operations Center and main office located in Omaha, NE

Although PayPal's corporate headquarters are located in San Jose, PayPal's operations center is located in Omaha, Nebraska, where the company employed more than 2,000 people as of 2007. PayPal's European headquarters are in Luxembourg and international headquarters are in Singapore. In October 2007, PayPal opened a data service office on the north side of Austin, Texas. Previously, the company opened a technology center in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Chennai, India.

On November 28, 2011, PayPal reported Black Friday brought record mobile engagement including a 538 percent increase in global mobile payment volume when compared to Black Friday 2010.

PayPal business model evolution

PayPal’s success in terms of users and volumes was the product of a three-phase strategy described by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman: “First, PayPal focused on expanding its service among eBay users in the US. Second, we began expanding PayPal to eBay’s international sites. And third, we started to build PayPal’s business off eBay”.

Phase-1

In the first phase, payment volumes were coming mostly from the eBay auction web-site. The system was very attractive to auction sellers, most of which were individuals or small businesses that were unable to accept credit cards, and for consumers as well. In fact, many sellers could not qualify for a credit card “merchant account” because they lacked a commercial credit history. The service also appealed to auction buyers because they could fund PayPal accounts using credit cards or bank account balances, without divulging credit card numbers to unknown sellers. PayPal employed an aggressive marketing campaign to accelerate its growth, depositing $10 in new users’ PayPal accounts (+$10 for each new user they referred).[citation needed]

Phase-2

The biggest challenge in 2000 remained PayPal’s unsustainable business model. Initially, PayPal offered its service with lower cost, planning to earn interest on funds in users’ PayPal accounts (i.e., the “float”). However, most recipients withdrew their funds immediately. Furthermore, a large majority of senders funded their payments using credit cards, which cost PayPal roughly 2% of payment value, rather than relying on much less with business accounts qualified for seller protection against losses due to chargebacks, provided that they complied with reimbursement policies (e.g., retaining traceable proof of shipping to a confirmed address or requiring a signature receipt for items valued over $250).

Phase-3

After fine-tuning PayPal’s business model and increasing its domestic and international penetration on eBay, PayPal started its off-eBay strategy. This was based on developing stronger growth in active users by adding users across multiple platforms, despite the slowdown in on-eBay growth and low-single-digit user growth on the eBay site. A late 2003 reorganization created a new business unit within PayPal—Merchant Services—to provide payment solutions to small and large e-commerce merchants outside the eBay auction community. Starting in the second half of 2004, PayPal Merchant Services unveiled several initiatives to enroll online merchants outside the eBay auction community, including:
Lowering its transaction fee for high-volume merchants from 2.2% to 1.9% (while increasing the monthly transaction volume required to qualify for the lowest fee to $100,000)
Encouraging its users to recruit non-eBay merchants by increasing its referral bonus to a maximum of $1,000 (versus the previous $100 cap)
Persuading credit card gateway providers, including CyberSource and Retail Decisions USA, to include PayPal among their offerings to online merchants.
Hiring a new sales force to acquire large merchants such as Dell, Apple's iTunes, and Yahoo! Stores, which hosted thousands of online merchants
Reducing fees for online music purchases and other “micropayments”
Launching PayPal Mobile, which allowed users to make payments using text messaging on their cell phones

Local restrictions

Countries not supported by PayPal include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Montenegro, in addition to the countries on the US economic sanction list.

Japan

In late March 2010, new Japanese banking regulations forced PayPal Japan to suspend the ability of personal account holders registered in Japan from sending or receiving money between individuals and as a result are now subject to PayPal's business fees on all transactions.

Taiwan

As of mid July 2010, users in Taiwan have noticed that the "Personal" tab for sending money has been omitted without notice. There is no longer an option to send personal payments, thus forcing all recipients to pay a fee.[citation needed]

Brazil

As of mid-November 2010, users in Brazil also have noticed that the "Personal" tab for sending money has been omitted without notice. There is no longer an option to send personal payments, thus forcing all recipients to pay a fee. Balance transfers between PayPal accounts of the same account holder incur an additional 6.4% fee.

As of beginning January 2011, Brazilian users are no longer allowed to withdraw money using credit/debit cards.[citation needed]

India

As of March 2011,[citation needed] PayPal made changes to the User Agreement for Indian users to comply with Reserve Bank of India regulations. Notable changes to the agreement were:
Any balance or future payments must not be used to buy goods or services but transferred to a bank account within 15 days of the receipt of payment.
Credit/Debit cards must be used to pay through PayPal.[citation needed]

The per transaction limit just been changed to USD 3000, since October 14, 2011.

PayPal wants to make India an incubation center for the company's employee engagement policies. In 2012, PayPal hired 120 people for its offices in Chennai and Bangalore. PayPal plans to recruit 1000 candidates for its Bangalore Development center.

PayPal Labs

PayPal's innovation environment, PayPal-Labs.com, hosts several outreach and experimental projects such as the storefront application, the Myspace and Facebook donations widgets, and the PayPal blog.

Payment sources and destinations

Originally, a PayPal account could be funded with an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card at the payer's choice. But some time in 2010 or early 2011, PayPal began to require a verified bank account after the account holder exceeded a predetermined spending limit. After that point, PayPal will attempt to take funds for a purchase from funding sources according to a specified funding hierarchy. If you set one of the funding sources as Primary, it will default to that, within that level of the hierarchy (for example, if your credit card ending in 4567 is set as the Primary over 1234, it will still attempt to pay money out of your PayPal balance, before it attempts to charge your credit card). The funding hierarchy is (1) a balance in the PayPal account; (2) a PayPal credit account, PayPal Extras, PayPal SmartConnect, PayPal Extras MasterCard or Bill Me Later (if selected as primary funding source) (It can bypass the Balance); (3) a verified bank account; (4) other funding sources, such as non-PayPal credit cards.

The recipient of a PayPal transfer can either request a check from PayPal, establish their own PayPal deposit account or request a transfer to their bank account.

Regulatory status

Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, has stated that PayPal is not a bank because it does not engage in fractional-reserve banking. Rather, PayPal's funds that have not been disbursed are kept in commercial interest-bearing checking accounts.

In the United States, PayPal is licensed as a money transmitter on a state-by-state basis. PayPal is not classified as a bank in the United States, though the company is subject to some of the rules and regulations governing the financial industry including Regulation E consumer protections and the USA PATRIOT Act.

In 2007, PayPal Europe was granted a Luxembourg banking license, which, under European Union law, allows it to conduct banking business throughout the EU. It is therefore regulated as a bank by Luxembourg's banking supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF).

In Australia, PayPal is licensed as an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI) and is thus subject to Australian banking laws and regulations.

Safety and protection policies

The PayPal Buyer Protection Policy states that the customer may file a buyer complaint within 45 days if they did not receive an item or if the item they purchased was significantly not as described. If the buyer used a credit card, they might get a refund via chargeback from their credit-card company. However, in the UK, where such a purchaser is entitled to specific statutory protections (that the credit card company is a second party to the purchase and is therefore equally liable in law if the other party defaults or goes into liquidation) under Section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1979, the purchaser loses this legal protection if the card payment is processed via PayPal.

According to PayPal, it protects sellers in a limited fashion via the Seller Protection Policy. In general the Seller Protection Policy is intended to protect the seller from certain kinds of chargebacks or complaints if seller meets certain conditions including proof of delivery to the buyer. PayPal states the Seller Protection Policy is "designed to protect sellers against claims by buyers of unauthorized payments and against claims of non-receipt of any merchandise". The policy includes a list of "Exclusions" which itself includes "Intangible goods", "Claims for receipt of goods 'not as described'" and "Total reversals over the annual limit". There are also other restrictions in terms of the sale itself, the payment method and the destination country the item is shipped to (simply having a tracking mechanism is not sufficient to guarantee the Seller Protection Policy is in effect). The PayPal Seller Protection Policy does not provide the additional consumer protection afforded by UK consumer legislation (e.g., Sale of Goods Act) and in addition it cannot be enforced in the Courts because PayPal operates from Luxembourg, outside all three of the UK legal jurisdictions.

Security
Main article: Security token

In early 2006, PayPal introduced an optional security key as an additional precaution against fraud. A user account tied to a security key has a modified login process. The account holder enters his or her login ID and password as normal, but is then prompted to press the button on the security key and enter the six-digit number generated by it. For convenience, the user may append the six-digit number to his or her password in the login screen. This way he or she is not prompted for it on another page. This method is required for some services, such as when using PayPal through the eBay application on iPhone.

This two-factor authentication is intended to make it difficult for an account to be compromised by a malicious third party without access to the physical security key, although it does not prevent so-called Man in the Browser (MITB) attacks. However, the user (or malicious third party) can alternatively authenticate by providing the credit card or bank account number listed on his or her account. Thus the PayPal implementation does not offer the security of true two-factor authentication.

The key currently costs US$29.95 for all users with no ongoing fees.The option of using a security key with one's account is currently available only to users registered in Australia, Germany, Canada, the United

Kingdom, and the United States.

MTAN

It is also possible to use a mobile phone to receive an MTAN (Mobile Transaction Authentication Number) via SMS. Like all security measures, there have been reports of vulnerabilities to older mobile handsets.

Regulation

In Europe, PayPal is registered as a bank in Luxembourg under the legal name PayPal (Europe) Sàrl et Cie SCA, a company regulated centrally by the Luxembourg bank authority, theCommission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) (note that all of the company's European accounts were transferred to PayPal's bank in Luxembourg on July 2, 2007.) Prior to this move, PayPal had been registered in the UK as PayPal (Europe) Ltd, an entity which was licensed as an Electronic Money Issuer with the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) from 2004. This ceased in 2007, when the company moved to Luxembourg.

In the US, although PayPal has an extensive User Agreement, PayPal is not directly regulated by the US federal government, because it serves as a payment intermediary. PayPal is regulated as a money transmitter, 31 C.F.R. 1010.100(ff)(5). PayPal is also subject to state regulation, but state laws vary, as do their definitions of banks, narrow banks, money services businesses and money transmitters. The most analogous regulatory source of law for PayPal transactions comes from P2P payments using credit and debit cards. Ordinarily, a credit card transaction, specifically the relationship between the issuing bank and the cardholder, is governed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601-1667f as implemented by Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. 226, (TILA/Z). TILA/Z requires specific procedures for billing errors, dispute resolution and limits cardholder liability for unauthorized charges. Similarly, the legal relationship between a debit cardholder and the issuing bank is regulated by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) 15 U.S.C. §§ 1693-1693r, as implemented by Regulation E, 12 C.F.R. 205, (EFTA/E). EFTA/E is directed at consumer protection and provides strict error resolution procedures. However, because PayPal is a payment intermediary and not otherwise regulated directly, TILA/Z and EFTA/E do not operate exactly as written once the credit/debit card transaction occurs via PayPal. Basically, unless a PayPal transaction is funded with a credit card, the consumer has no recourse in the event of fraud by the seller.[citation needed]

In India, as of January 27, 2010, PayPal has no cross-border money transfer authorization. In The New York Times article "India’s Central Bank Stops Some PayPal Services", Reserve Bank of India spokesman Alpana Killawalla stated: "Providers of cross-border money transfer service need prior authorization from the Reserve Bank under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, PayPal does not have our authorization." PayPal is not listed in the "Certificates of Authorisation issued by the Reserve Bank of India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 for Setting up and Operating Payment System in India".

Fraud

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.(January 2011)

As early as 2001, PayPal had substantial problems with online fraud, especially international hackers who were hacking into PayPal accounts and transferring small amounts of money out of multiple accounts. Standard solutions for merchant and banking fraud might use government criminal sanctions to pursue the fraudsters. But with PayPal losing millions of dollars each month to fraud, while experiencing difficulties with using the FBI to pursue cases of international fraud, PayPal developed a private solution: a "fraud monitoring system that used artificial intelligence to detect potentially fraudulent transactions. ... Rather than treating the problem of fraud as a legal problem, the company treated it as a risk management one."

If an unauthorized third party obtains and uses someone's PayPal login information and completes a transaction using the accountholder's debit or credit card, EFTA/E and TILA/Z[clarification needed] make PayPal responsible for the breach. There are some specific exceptions to this rule. One is if funds are illicitly withdrawn from a PayPal deposit account. In that situation, neither PayPal nor the bank is required to return the funds, because the agreement between a consumer and PayPal makes those types of transactions authorized.

In the United States, PayPal account holders' private information is marginally protected under one US federal law. Since PayPal is a financial institution under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), it cannot disclose its account holders' non-public personal information to third parties unless account holders opt into those disclosures.

If an account is subject to fraud or unauthorized use,[when?] PayPal puts the "Limited Access" designation on the account. At this point, the account holder must:[citation needed]
Log in
Reset their password
Develop a set of security questions (based on the subjective and not fact — e.g., "What is your favorite ice cream?" not "What is your mother's maiden name?")
Verify location by phone or by mail
Provide a set of documents, including but not limited to, a copy of the user's social security card and state ID, home utility bills, business licenses, and proof of original purchase of recently sold good

Phishing

PayPal presents anti-phishing advice on their website for identifying and reporting phishing. PayPal encourages consumers to report all phishing emails to them.
Shop-for-free bugs

Source:Wikipedia

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Western Union

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Cebuana Lhuiller

Money Gram

MoneyGram History

Commitment to Our Customers and Agents

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Cash

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Online

In the U.S., MoneyGram directly offers online transfer services, an easy and convenient way to send funds using a credit card, debit card or bank account to fund the transaction. Online sends are also available for customers of some select agents around the world.

Mobile

Home Delivery

Customers can choose to have their money transfer delivered directly to their home address. Home delivery is available to customers of selected agents around the world. Reference: MoneyGram Website

M Lhuiller

PayPal

Customers can choose to have their money transfer delivered directly to their home address. Home delivery is available to customers of selected agents around the world.

Reference: MoneyGram Website