FST US

FST News in Brief - Madoff Suicide, Apple

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:53:00 +0000

Mark Madoff suicide

Mark Madoff, the eldest son of disgraced financer Bernard, was found hanged in his Manhattan apartment in December.

This latest casualty is another in the saga that sent Bernard Madoff to prison and swindled thousands of their life savings. The suicide took place on Saturday December 11- the second anniversary of his fathers arrest for the worst investment fraud in American history. Mark Madoff, 46, was found dead in the living room of his Soho loft. He was hanging from a black dog leash while his 2-year-old son slept nearby.

Those closest to Mark Madoff said he was despondent over press coverage of his father's case, an ongoing criminal investigation of Madoff family members in the multibillion-dollar scheme and his struggle to rebuild his life.

The convicted Ponzi-schemer Bernard will not attend the funeral of his son out of consideration for his daughter-in-law and grandchildren, attorney Ira Sorkin said. Bernard, 71, is at the Butner Federal Correction Complex, a medium security prison in eastern North Carolina, where he is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

Madoff fooled investors out of their money by masquerading as the head of a legitimate investment firm while using funds from new investors to send payments to his earlier investors, falsely portraying them as proceeds when they were actually stolen money, prosecutors said.

Madoff's criminal activities began a tidal wave of civil actions against Mark Madoff, his mother, siblings and hundreds of other defendants, accused of profiting off the Ponzi scheme by withdrawing more money from Madoff's fund than they invested, money they presumably thought was investment income.

Head to head

Apple is still the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer, as it had been for over a year, but there are signs that the iPhone is approaching saturation in the developer community. In a Millenial survey, Android was the No. 1 platform developers plan to support in 2011, with Microsoft's Window Phone 7 and the iPad tied for second. The iPhone was relegated to fourth place, after the Blackberry.

The extraordinary growth of Google's Android phones can be traced in six months of smartphone advertising data from Millenial Media, the largest independent mobile ad network,

Through a series of pie charts, they show Android overtaking Research in Motion's (RIMM) Blackberry between June and July in ad impressions, gaining rapidly on Apple's iPhone between July and September and finally coming even with Ios in October with a 37 percent share apiece.

However, Millenial's November report shows that Android and iOS tied for the second month in a row, at 38 percent each. After six months of gains, there is now something that looks like equilibrium.

Apple puts sharp focus on camera development

Apple have released a flurry of imaging related patents showcasing the effort it's putting in to improve the camera on the iPhone.

The development came out on top of the iPhone's High Dynamic Range feature that Steve Jobs demoed last September. They indicate, as Patently Apple's Jack Purcher put its, "the importance that Apple is facing on cameras within the context of the greater iOS device revolution."

Purchers highlights three of the patens: One for correcting blurry photos, another for masking skin tones and a third for reducing radically-based chroma noise.

Google is most searched

Apple's iPad lost by a hair to number one Chatrouletee in Google's list of the fastest rising search terms for 2010.

Twitter was number eight and Facebook number ten. Android did not make the list.

In the consumer electronics category, the iPad was number one and the iPhone 4 number two. Android didn't make this list either, but an Android phone- the HTC Evo 4G- did.

Nicoll Curtin Technology Expands Commercial Division

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:18:00 +0000

IT recruitment specialist Nicoll Curtin Technology is expanding its commercial division, the first of a series of planned initiatives to grow its business in 2011 following on from a successful 2010.

The company has hired Gavin Tew as Commercial Division Manager, together with two consultants, to boost the already established division and is planning further experienced hires across the year.

Nicoll Curtin Technology recruits contract and permanent IT experts on a contingency basis for the banking and financial, commercial and public sectors. Lawrence Hargreaves, Managing Director of Nicoll Curtin Technology said: ‘We believe that there is a huge potential to develop our commercial portfolio significantly, we have added a wealth of experience to the division to take full advantage of that opportunity'.

Gavin Tew joins Nicoll Curtin Technology from Venn Group, where he established and headed up their commercial sector team. Gavin commented: ‘I'm joining Nicoll Curtin Technology at a really exciting time. It has just been listed in the Fast Track 100 and has ambitious plans for growth over the next few years. I'm really looking forward to making a positive contribution to help us achieve our goals.'

Nicoll Curtin Technology is part of Nicoll Curtin Limited, which also comprises of Kavanagh Brown Executive Search. For more information about Nicoll Curtin Technology please visit www.nicollcurtin.co.uk or call 0207 397 0110.

Executive Head-to-Head: Strategic risk management | Data Management Strategy – a requirement for longevity in today's | Issue 6 - Data Management

PayPal Scammers Targeted by US Authorities

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:53:00 +0000

According to several sources, US officials have raided a house in Minnesota of two exchange students suspected of card-based fraud, along with conning millions of dollars from retailers on sites like eBay and PayPal. The students are supposedly part of a Vietnam-based crime ring.

According to an affidavit filed supporting a search warrant request, Winona State University students Tram Vo and Khoi Van are suspected of participation in the scam that has hit Amazon, Apple and Rosetta Stone among others.

Both Tram Vo and Khoi Van are thought to have set up over 180 eBay, and over 360 PayPal accounts using stolen identities, which they would utilize to sell stolen goods like video games and iTunes gift cards. The pair are suspected to have raised $1.2 million through their endeavours.

Including those affected were online merchants including PayPal, Amazon, Apple, Dell, Verizon Wireless and translation software firm Rosetta Stone.

The accusations are part of a larger investigation, Operation eMule, by the DHS into cybercrime scams masterminded from Vietnam. The operation began in September 2009 to investigate online commerce and express mail courier operations, according to the Minnesota's Star Tribune. Investigators estimate that the rings contribute "hundreds of millions of dollars" to an underground economy in Vietnam, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit, filed by Daniel Schwarz, an agent with Homeland Security Investigations in Minnesota, also said in his affidavit that the rings involve an "elaborate network" of specialists, including computer hackers, vendors of stolen identities and financial information, fraud managers and facilitators, money mules and shippers.

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Electronic Payments Overtaking Checks

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:54:00 +0000

A new study by the Federal Reserve has revealed that Americans are using electronic payment methods like credit cards far more often than checks.

In the three-year period from 2006 - 2009, noncash payments in the US increased 4.6 percent per year. Among the noncash payments, 20 billion more e-payments were made in 2009 as opposed to 2006, a 9.3 percent annual increase.

The most dominant form of e-payment is debit card, which represents approximately 35 percent of total noncash transactions. The annual use of debit cards increased by over 12.8 billion payments, the largest increase by any type during the survey period, reaching 37.9 billion in 2009, a 14.8 percent annual growth rate. In comparison, the number of checks used fell by six billion, or 7.2 percent, over the same period, while the number written fell by about 5.7 billion, an average of 6.1 percent per year.

Not only does this study show the continued move from checks to electronic means of making payments, but we also see the extraordinary progress the industry has made in electronifying the clearing process for the 27.5 billion checks still being written," said Richard Oliver, EVP, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

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Hackers Crash Mastercard Site, Claim Cyberwar

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:59:00 +0000

WikiLeaks has hailed a ‘cyberwar' after hackers have illegally brought down Mastercard's official website mastercard.com, after the credit card company stopped donations going to the whistle-blowing website.

The hackers, dubbing themselves Anonymous, launched ‘Operation: Payback' following Mastercard's halting of donations by overloading the Mastercard website, making it unavailable at around lunchtime (and still unavailable at the time of writing).

A message on Twitter from @Anon_Operation, read: 'WE ARE GLAD TO TELL YOU THAT http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN AND IT'S CONFIRMED! '#ddos #wikileaks Operation:Payback(is a b****!) #PAYBACK'

Another, from AnonyWatcher, added - in a play on MasterCard's advertising: 'There are some things Wikileaks can't do. For everything else, there's Operation Payback.'

WikiLeaks Europe - also on Twitter - declared it was 'cyberwar'. The organisation said: 'Group That Took Down Swiss Bank Site Have Now Taken Down Mastercard.com.'

Mastercard said Monday that it was blocking payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in illegal activity, and soon after Visa followed suit as did other US organisations embarrassed by the site continues to embarrass the US political elite by publishing leaked diplomatic cables.

In a statement today, Mastercard confirmed it is "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but claims it "remains accessible" and that "there is no impact whatsoever on our cardholders' ability to use their card for secure transactions."

The boycott has angered DataCell, the Iceland-based firm that enables Wikileaks to accept card payments. In a statement, DataCell CEO Andreas Fink confirmed that DataCell has "decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again."

Fink goes on: "The suspension of payments towards Wikileaks is a violation of the agreements with their customers. Visa users have explicitly expressed their will to send their donations to Wikileaks and Visa is not fulfilling this wish. It will probably hurt their brand much much more to block payments towards Wikileaks than to have them occur. Visa customers are contacting us in masses to confirm that they really donate and they are not happy about Visa rejecting them. It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."

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JPMorgan Staff to Trial iPad

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:53:00 +0000

According to Bloomberg, JP Morgan is to issue its investment banking staff with iPad tablets as part of a six-month trial.

"We believe there are real benefits in our working environment that can be realised using this device - as well as the personal productivity and enjoyment that come as part of the package," two managing directors at New York-based JPMorgan said in an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.

Depending on its success we will evaluate if we should repeat this one time initiative and/or expand it to others," they are quoted as saying.

JPMorgan outlined that the trial will allow associates to access e-mails, contacts, calendar and attachments via the iPad, as well as have the ability to mark-up and annotate confidential documents and make client presentations, says Bloomberg.

"There are a variety of ways to leverage the iPad. Some work off-the-shelf whilst others rely on JPMorgan software/security tools," the managing directors wrote in the e-mail. "Depending on its success we will evaluate if we should repeat this one time initiative and/or expand it to others.

Shift away from RIM

With JPMorgan staff utilizing the iPad, competitors like Research in Motion (RIM) will have its work cut out to reconnect with financial institutions - RIM specifically have been the mobile of choice for Wall Street financiers, according to Finextra. In response, RIM has announced its plans to launch a tablet computer in Q1 of 2011. But it may be too late, as big ticket banks - including JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse - roll out client applications for the iPad.

The shake-up of the corporate smartphone market was demonstrated last month when it emerged that Bank of America and Citi are the latest financial services giants to consider letting their staff use iPhones and Google Android-based handsets as an alternative to BlackBerrys for corporate e-mail, following in the footsteps of JP Morgan Chase and Standard Chartered.

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PayPal to Introduce Online Purchasing on TV?

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:15:00 +0000

PayPal is working with a US cable TV consortium to develop a new 'T-commerce' initiative in which consumers can pay for goods and services on their television.

The prototype service is being created at Canoe Ventures Innovation Lab, according to reports it is a 'test bed' environment created by the cable collective. Canoe's members include Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable.

The consortium has invited Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FourthWall Media, icueTV, and PayPal to address the use of RFI and T-commerce in interactive television.

Osama Bedier, vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures at PayPal explains the concept on the company blog:

"Today, I'm happy to say we're one step closer to equipping every living room in America with T-commerce powered by PayPal. We're working with Canoe Ventures, which was founded by the country's leading cable operators to create interactive products and services, to make this a reality. Other major players that have joined us include Catalina Marketing, Delivery Agent, FourthWall Media and icueTV. Canoe's "test bed" is Canoe Ventures Innovation Lab, where work is already underway.

"Together, we are pushing forward the very future of television as an interactive shopping experience that harnesses the ease and safety of PayPal. Imagine this: lounging on your couch and channel surfing, then finding that perfect birthday present. A few clicks of your remote, and you've purchased the gift via your PayPal account. Pretty cool, right?!

"We at PayPal believe that the wallet should live and will live "in the cloud." Internet-connected devices will be the very fabric of the digital lifestyle. And as televisions increasingly become Internet enabled, they open up whole new avenues for new ways to connect and sell to consumers directly. We are proud to support our developers as they push forward with this vision."

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Google Android to Replace Credit Cards?

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:14:00 +0000

Google's next Android-powered smartphone could eventually replace credit cards according to the search engine giant's CEO Eric Schmidt.

The phone in question was revealed at this year's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, and will contain a Near Field Communication chip that enables mobile payments.

Although the manufacturers label was covered during the display, the phone is thought to be a Nexus device.

Gingerbread, the latest version of Android, due to land in shops within a month, will power this new handset according to Schmidt, and will feature this new mobile payments system as a key too.

"This could replace your credit card," Schmidt said. "The reason this NFC chip is so interesting is because the credit card industry thinks the loss rate is going to be much better, they're just more secure."

For users to use the new device as a credit card, they will require both a phone with an NFC chip and Android's Gingerbread operating system. To complete a transaction, users will need to tap their phones on a symbol or a designated item within the retailer which will make an action - like a payment - happen. Or "tap and pay" according to Schmidt.

Schmidt also outlined that Google has no affiliation with particular retailers and that it would partner with third-party payment processors. He also said that Google would not retain any personal data obtained through credit card transactions via the phone.

Google's Android operating system now has a market share of 25.5 percent worldwide, up from 3.5 percent in the same period a year ago, according to the latest figures from Gartner.

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Security Focus Will Be Key to the Banking Future

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:54:00 +0000

US Stocks reported good growth this week after the tech giant Fortinet approached network security company International Business Machines Corp about a possible takeover. Shares for fellow network security company Sourcefire Inc. also bolstered stock trading on Wall Street. Both mergers indicate that the banking community is keen to seek security for a safer consumer future.

With advancements in technology, public awareness and ease of use, mobile, voice and web-based banking has now become a preferred mode of business rather than previous methods like over-the-counter and postal transactions. A Financial Committee feel security focus will be key to the banking future; they will meet at the FST US Summit at the start of the financial year.

2010 has not only brought high unemployment and slow economic growth but also a large increase in fraud. Today's cyber criminals have adopted more sophisticated methods to commit fraud and are exploiting financial vulnerabilities in the global payments system, often without detection. This is an enormous red flag for banks, as a successful attack on customers' accounts can hinder business, trust and reputation. Therefore it is imperative for banks and financial institutions to implement superior security management programs in order to decrease both external and internal risks and minimize vulnerability of their systems.
The United States has had a continuing reliance on credit and debit cards that store unencrypted information on a magnetic stripe, which has made them a prime target for hackers and cyber criminals.

Representatives from Citigroup - Raymond Lipps, SVP Group Information Security Officer, ING Group - Alan Boehme, SVP and Head of IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture, Bank of America - Brad Mattocks, SVP Global Technology Strategy & Architecture, Nasdaq OMX Group - Mats Andersson, CTO and Guardian Life Insurance - Frank Wander, SVP and CIO were quoted: "Most of the developed world, including China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Canada is switching to bank cards that have embedded smart chips with account data in an encrypted form."

The end goal of all IT projects should be in the customer's best interest. From comprehensive document management, integrating customer data and enacting security policies and measures that assure data protection and privacy, the CIO's role in customer acquisition and retention is crucial.

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PayPal Joins Micropayments System with Facebook, FT

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:03:00 +0100

PayPal has partnered with Facebook and unveiled a new micropayments system for digital goods and services. PayPal unleashed the system at the firm's annual X Innovate conference.

The new system, that launches next year, will allow a two-click purchase of digital goods like games, music or video content from websites, including FarmCash within Zynga on the Facebook platform.

According to Finextra.com, Facebook has agreed to integrate the technology in its site and is joined by Autosport.com, FT.com, GigaOM, Justin.tv, Ooyala, Plimus, Tagged, Tyler Projects and Ustream.

"Our readers want their news on demand, whether they're on a laptop, a mobile phone or a tablet. PayPal helps us provide the experience our customers expect, along with flexibility to experiment with payment mechanisms for subscriptions. This gives our customers the flexibility to pay for what they want, when they want," Mary Beth Christie, head, product management, FT.com said.

Perhaps the whole importance of the micropayments system is to quicken the payment process; slow transactions have been responsible for users paying online to abandon purchases.

PayPal's vice president of global product strategy reiterated this strategy, saying in a statement that as users generally make a purchase on impulse, the system should reflect this with speed.

According to iblogauto.com, "Google was so enamoured of Facebook's success with Credits that it acquired virtual currency startup Jambool to flesh out itsGoogle Me social software strategy.

This healthy rivalry means reliable payment platforms such as PayPal are infine position to build secure software for companies looking to sell virtual goods. PayPal is also expected to provide paying punch to Google's Android Market soon," the blog said.

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FST 20 Meeting in California�s Half Moon Bay

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:18:00 +0100

With anaemic growth and talks of a possible double dip recession the illustrious FST 20 (which consists of the 20 leading figure heads in North American Finance) were called to congress in California this week to discuss how the Financial Community can unify to avoid a repeat of 2008.

The FST 20 meeting was held at Half Moon Bay and was chaired by Laurie Smith, CTO of Morgan Stanley. Notable attendees included Charles Abonnel, MD of BNP Paribas, Mats Anderson CTO of NASDAQ and Bill Chenevish, Vice Chairman Ops for US BANCORP.

"In a previous FST 20 session earlier this year, we explored the key themes impacting financial services including risk management, innovation, relationship management, and restoring trust and confidence. At that time, the backdrop was an economic recovery which was just on the horizon. While there have been a few positive signs since that time, the horizon now is in fact anything but clear," said a spokesman for the FST Committee.

Government officials have seen a series of macroeconomic errors and believe that growth is more fragile than predicted by data specialists. It has also been reported by the committee that productivity and government debt is healthy and although the pace of recovery has slowed it has by no means stopped.

In order to adapt and compete, the financial industry needs to continue to embrace strategies around streamlining processes, cost cutting, and improving customer service. IT is a central component to all these strategies and its role has become more important than ever to ensure success.

One topic concerned traditional RDBMS technologies that have failed to solve the challenges presented by the growing volumes of complex financial instruments since the crash discussions concerned the new class of applications for derivatives, threat analysis, and compliance.

"Traditional relational database technology has solved many of the problems of the past few decades. But a new class of problems has arrived - problems requiring new technology for 21st-century issues." David Kellogg - CEO, MarkLogic

Such a cohesive response from the industry will no doubt help to stable the ship; they clearly fear the embarrassment of further bailouts.

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Bats Launches Second Equities Exchange

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:49:00 +0100

On Oct. 15, BATS Global Markets will launch BATS Y-Exchange (BYX), with plans to offer a unique pricing structure to US equities customers. BATS Global Markets is the holding company for BATS Exchange and BATS Europe.

"As we near our second anniversary in Europe, we're extremely pleased to see continued growth in so many of the markets in which we operate. Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Switzerland, in particular, are all areas where our market share is outpacing our expectations," said Joe Ratterman, CEO of BATS Global Markets and BATS Exchange.

"In the US, we're certainly looking forward to the launch of BYX as we believe this market will attract liquidity removers looking for aggressive pricing," he said.
"As for our existing US exchange, BZX, we are proud to achieve 10% market share in an environment that is increasingly difficult for lit venues such as ours. As internalization continues to increase we are gratified to see our market share remain stable and, in fact, improve, in relation to the major exchanges with whom we compete," he said.

Mr. Ratterman added that BATS Options, which reported significant improvement during the month, continues to expect about 3% market share by year end.

Among global equities market operators in August in terms of value of shares traded, BATS Exchange remained in third place after NYSE and NASDAQ and well ahead of all other US exchanges, as well as those in Tokyo, China, Paris, Germany and London. September data is not yet available.

About BATS

BATS Global Markets (BATS) is an innovative global financial markets technology company headquartered in the Kansas City, Mo., area with additional offices in New York and London. The BATS platform was launched in January 2006 and, operating as BATS Exchange, Inc., is a premier destination among the top ranked equity markets in the United States. BATS serves the European market through its London based, FSA-authorised subsidiary, BATS Europe, which operates a Multilateral Trading Facility for European securities. Most recently, BATS launched a US equity options market, BATS Options, and expects to launch a second US equities exchange, BYX, in 2010. The BATS platform is internally developed by a dedicated core team of market and technology professionals, catering to the needs of the broker-dealer and trading community. BATS ... Making Markets Better.

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Ukrainian police arrest key players within Zeus Trojan

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:43:00 +0100

In an operation named ‘Trident Breach', Ukrainian police have arrested five people in conjunction with the scam to siphon money from small businesses in the US.

Zeus Trojan, the e-banking fraud ring was responsible for extracting £45 million from victims' bank accounts over the space of the past few years. The malware, which captured passwords, account numbers, and other data used to log into online banking accounts, says the FBI.

Ukrainian police, the SBU, and the FBI believe they have arrested a "top-tier group" responsible for organizing the fraud on a wide-spread operation. The arrests come off the back of further work by police in the Netherlands and the UK's Metropolitan Police Service. Those detained are "key subjects responsible for this overarching scheme," the FBI said in a statement.

"We believe we've dismantled the operation" with the recent arrests, said Gordon Snow, assistant director with the FBI's Cyber Division.

The Ukraine arrests are "far more significant" than the earlier actions in the UK and the US, said Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "These are five ringleaders," he said. "All roads lead back to these five guys. The people that were arrested in the UK and the people that were arrested in the US... all were piling their money back to these guys in Ukraine."

FBI Director, Robert Mueller, says: "No one country, no one company, and no one agency can stop cybercrime. The only way to do that is by standing together. For ultimately, we all face the same threat. Together, the FBI and its international partners can and will find better ways to safeguard our systems, minimise these attacks, and stop those who would do us harm."

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Obama�s infra fund backed by UBS Americas

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:18:00 +0100

President Barack Obama will be supported by UBS Americas after announcing plans to create an infrastructure bank to help aid rebuild America's ailing infrastructure after the worst recession in living memory.

Despite backing the President's plan, UBS Americas warned against creating a quasi-government agency like housing finance enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"Creating a national infrastructure bank is an idea whose time has come," Robert Wolf, chief executive of UBS Americas, told at a Senate Banking Committee hearing called to explore alternatives for financing infrastructure projects.

According to Reuters, Wolf said Congress should establish a national grant and lending institution that would leverage private investment to finance transportation and other big-ticket projects like rail, road, water, broadband or airport upgrades.
Wolf also confirmed that the proposed bank should be completely transparent and run alongside other government infrastructure programs.

The announcement by Obama coincides neatly with the November congressional elections, in which voters believe is a legitimate effort by the President to appeal to a faltering electorate. According to the BBC, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll of 1,024 US adults released on Monday suggests 52 percent of people would vote Republican, against 45 percent for the Democrats, up by 4 percent on last month.

Labor secretary Hilda Solis confirmed on the Early Show that Obama's plan would: "put construction workers, welders, electricians back to work [...] folks that have been unemployed for a long time."

The projected plan, which should breath fresh jobs and opportunities into a stagnant economy, will include rebuilding 150000 miles of roads, building and maintaining 4000 miles of railways, repairing 150 miles of runway and implication of a new air navigation system.

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Russian hacker receives suspended sentence for $9m heist

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:05:00 +0100

According to press reports, the Russian hacker who was responsible for stealing $9.4 million from RBS' WorldPay computer network has escaped imprisonment with a six-year suspended sentence.

Viktor Pleshchuk, 29, pleaded guilty for his role in the heist, and received a six-year suspended sentence and four years probation after agreeing to cooperate with authorities regarding other hackers involved in the heist on RBS WorldPay Inc, the U.S. payment-processing division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, and cloning ATM cards, according to his lawyer, Yuriy Novolodsky.

Pleshchuk was ordered to pay back $8.9 million (275 million rubles).
"This is not a regular crime but a cybercrime and Pleshchuk didn't really have a full understanding of the damage he was causing," Novolodsky said today in an interview in St. Petersburg. "He pleaded guilty and is fully collaborating with authorities."

The US Justice Department indicted Pleshchuk and seven other accomplices employed "sophisticated hacking techniques" to compromise the data encryption that was used by RBS WorldPay to protect customer data on payroll debit cards.

2,100 ATMs in 280 cities worldwide were hacked in less than 12 hours, in "perhaps the most sophisticated and organized computer-fraud attack ever conducted."

"Computer hackers who steal from American financial networks must be held accountable for their crimes, whether they operate here or abroad," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. "The Department of Justice, working hand in hand with our international law enforcement partners, is committed to vigorously prosecuting these crimes and to ensuring that these criminals are extradited and brought to justice."

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MasterCard launches MoneySend for BlackBerry Smartphones

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:58:00 +0100

According to a MasterCard announcement, BlackBerry users will now have access to MoneySend, the card company's mobile person-to-person payment system.

MoneySend users will have the ability to accept credit or debit card payments, send money to family members, pay for informal goods, request money from people who owe money, simplify business or non-profit collection effort through the Request Funds feature, manage MoneySend transaction history and invite other users to use MoneySend via email.

"MasterCard MoneySend allows users to ‘Send,' ‘Pay' or ‘Request Funds' for a wide range of reasons including the everyday ‘IOU,' informal services purchased from friends and family, or payments to a personal trainer, roommate, babysitter, gardener, housekeeper or repairman," said Andrew Ong, Group Head, P2P, MasterCard Worldwide. "We are excited to extend MasterCard MoneySend to the Blackberry Smartphone platform so that we can continue to provide consumers with innovative ways to make their lives easier."

"MasterCard MoneySend allows users in the U.S. to send or request money via their BlackBerry through participating banks and credit unions or when they create a virtual prepaid account through Bancorp Bank. Users can then link their existing debit or credit cards or bank checking account to the new virtual prepaid account and begin sending money via their Blackberry Smartphone. The designated account funds the MoneySend transaction, and users can manage and trigger the exchanges through the app. Personal and financial information is never stored on the Blackberry. Certain Bancorp Bank fees will apply," the announcement said.

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BankSimple raise $3.1 before launch

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:57:00 +0100

BankSimple, an online banking start-up, has secured its first funding round and plans to launch a beta version of ‘family and friends' by late October.

The New York based outfit disclosed this week that it raised its first venture funding in a round led by First Round Capital, Roger Ehrenberg's IA Ventures, and Village Ventures, along with seed investors SV Angel (Ron Conway) and Nauiokas Park, and Jerry Neumann.

BankSimple is keeping Mum on the amount it has raised, but TechCrunch is reporting a figure around $2.9 million, with an additional $190,000 raised last year in convertible debt.

"Assuming we can get our cards issued before this blackout period, we'd like to do a "friends and family" test later this year. That test will help us iron out any technical issues with our partner integrations and provide us with essential feedback," says the BankSimple blog. "Once we're satisfied that our initial service is stable and secure, we'll begin bringing on customers who signed up for an invitation."

BankSimple will try and succeed where other banks have failed, both in Europe and in the US, by offering a "better choice," using technology that doesn't impose overdrafts, minimum balances or monthly fees. Transactions using BankSimple will be online or via smartphone.

"We built BankSimple because we were disappointed with our banks and wanted something better. At our previous banks, simple things like paying bills, transferring money and keeping track of balances were a pain. They gave us complicated features to 'help' us manage our money, but they made them hard to use - perhaps because they earn so much from overdraft fees."

Customers have a single account for checking, savings and credit, all from one card. The service also includes financial analysis tools and lets users import historical data from Mint, Wesabe, Quicken and Yodlee.

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Google PayPal to unite for Android?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:02:00 +0100

In order that more customers can use their Android phones to buy more applications, Google has said it is considering adding PayPal functionality to its Android smartphone software.

The news was broken by Bloomberg that cited three sources that said PayPal could be added as an option for the Android Market, alongside credit cards and Google's own Checkout service, later this year.

Despite neither company commenting on the rumours, it is alleged that they've been in unconfirmed talks on the issue. If so, users of phones such as the Motorola's Droid X and HTC's Droid Incredible would be given the ability to pay for apps with PayPal as opposed to the usual credit card and checkout service.

Expanding user base

By adding this functionality to the Android platform, Google will be able to attract more users to their software with the easy-to-pay service. Currently, they faced enormous competition from Apple's App Store that has 225,000 applications compared to 70,000 applications available on the Android Market.

PayPal has 87 million active accounts - a large market for Google to appeal to. By adding PayPal, Google would also give app developers another way to get paid, potentially making them more likely to create software for Android.

The advantage to Google is clear, but for PayPal it gets to solidify its user base and well as increasing its presence on mobile phones. It would also aid the company's ambitious financial goals which were set by John Donahoe, Chief Executive of Ebay, last year.

Then, he said PayPal revenue would nearly double from 2008 to 2011, putting PayPal's revenue at US$4-5 billion next year.

However, while you may be thinking that PayPal is already available for accepting and making mobile payments on the iPhone and Android platforms, the rumoured talks would essentially make PayPal more closely integrated with Android, such as how iTunes works with Apple products.

Of course, now we all have to wait for this speculation to be confirmed.

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Deutsche Bank disciplined over algorithm error

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:13:00 +0100

Deutsche Bank has been reportedly reprimanded by the Osaka Securities Exchange after an ‘error with a trading algorithm' saw orders worth Y16.7 trillion made by accident back in June.

According to the ‘admonition', on the 1 June Deutsche Bank's proprietary trading unit in Japan placed sell orders on the bourse for US$182 billion's worth of Nikkei 225 futures contracts.

Luckily the error was quickly spotted and only 0.3 percent of the orders were executed. Deutsche Bank said that they believed the ‘mis-trades' has been caused by a proprietary automated trading system specially developed for its Asian Quantitative Trading (AQT) unit.

In a statement, the financial institution said it "takes the matter seriously and continues to implement measures to further strengthen its systems-related processes and governance, and to prevent such an incident from reoccurring".

System changes

The error is believed to occurred when system changes saw previously separate data files used to obtain prices integrated from country/product-specific files into one that consolidated all the information in products and markets across Asia.

When the QT unit operated the system with this new integrated data file in the evening session of 31 May on the OSE for the first time, it then issued excessive orders because it failed to obtain a required price.

When this happened, the value of the Nikkei 225 futures index was computed as zero, prompting it to continuously send sell orders. Once the error was noted, the bank promptly suspended the AQT system and discontinued the transaction.

As a result, the Osaka Securities Exchange said the bank had not had "a sufficient degree of control of the electronic information processing system relating to securities dealers".

Deutsche Bank hopes to resolve this in the future. The error echoes a similar one that occurred on the New York Stock Exchange at the beginning of the year, when Credit Suisse Securities failed to control an algorithm that went awry and flooded the Exchange trading system with hundreds of thousands of erroneous orders.

As a result, Credit Suisse was fined US$150,000.

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30 percent of mobile users do m-banking

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:33:00 +0100

It appears that the age of mobile banking has truly arrived as a global survey from vendor Sybase 365 reveals that almost a third of mobile phone users now use their devices to access their banking records and make financial transactions.

The survey questioned over 4100 phone users and of them, 30 percent said they used m-banking with 24 percent using the service on a weekly basis.

According to Sybase, the adoption of the service has "exceeded industry expectations", which predicted usage for the service to level out at 16 percent this year.

Services utilised

Those questioned revealed that of the m-banking services, 88 percent checked accounts through their phone, 54 percent received transaction updates and 56 percent paid a bill or card payments.

The interesting thing was the possibility for growth in the market, with a third of respondents saying they would be prepared to pay for more sophisticated services while 44 percent would consider swapping their financial institution altogether for free m-banking.

When the survey asked what services they would like to see in the future, 75 percent said they'd like reports on potentially fraudulent behaviour, 69 percent were interested in balance enquiries, 65 percent wanted the ability to freeze a card while 59 percent were tempted by the ability to make transactions.

The survey also backed up the belief that more and more mobile phone users also want to be able to use their devices as POS devices. A third of the survey respondents said they would be interested in paying for goods and services with their mobile, saying the convenience would be a major selling point especially with entertainment and utilities services.

There was also interest in over a quarter of those asked about the ability to be able to send money over seas, with a median amount of $18.

Commenting on the survey's results, Matthew Talbot, VP of m-commerce, said to Finextra, "As mobile devices become more sophisticated and mobile banking gains traction, at a far higher rate than industry experts predicted, there is a clear opportunity for mobile to become a primary CRM channel for many services and industries - as the consumer desire highlighted in this report suggests."

M-banking is becoming a growing global service, with Asia leading the way, however the US and Europe are rapidly catching up.

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