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Savantor MarketEye: 17 – 30 November 2014 2011 Savantor Limited 68 Lombard St London EC3V 9LJ This is a high-level industry news and business intelligence update Tel: 0870 734 6250 Fax: 0870 734 6251 bulletin. For further information on any of the items contained within the email: [email protected] bulletin or to discuss the potential impact of these items on your www.savantor.com business, please contact Savantor on [email protected] . Items in this issue: Savantor’s View ....................................................... 1 Monitise gets £49.2 million boost from Santander, Bank fines for IT failings .................................................. 1 Telefonica and IBM ......................................................... 3 Discover fires lawsuit alleging anti-competitive practices Products & Initiatives .............................................. 2 at Visa ............................................................................. 4 Twitter lets users add coupons to cards for in-store Danish telcos sell m-payments venture to bank-owned redemption ...................................................................... 2 rival ................................................................................. 4 Crédit Agricole joins French bank-run e-payments Bank of England appoints Deloitte to probe Chaps service ............................................................................ 2 breakdown ...................................................................... 4 HSBC rolls out Paym for business customers ................. 2 Visa Inc frets over $10 billion price tag on European Square takes Register worldwide .................................... 2 brand .............................................................................. 4 Coinbase partners RewardsPay to bring bitcoin RBS and Ulster Bank hit with £56 million fine over IT payments to iTunes and Facebook ................................. 3 meltdown ........................................................................ 4 Barclays Pingit is just the ticket for First Bus ................... 3 Contactless payments in UK head for mainstream - Post Office launches Twitter donation service for Worldpay ......................................................................... 5 Children in Need ............................................................. 3 Mobile Money ........................................................... 5 Snapchat partners Square on P2P payments.................. 3 Startup taps Indiegogo for BLE-enabled wallet ................ 5 Market News ............................................................ 3 PayPal launches Pebble smartwatch app ........................ 5 Skrill adds scale in pre-paid with plans to acquire Ukash 3 Savantor’s View Bank fines for IT failings In November, RBS were fined £42 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) because of their IT failings in 2012 and the resultant impact on their customers. This formed part of a total £56 million fine issued jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Whilst some will no doubt be saying “good, they need to get their house in order”, others, with an arguably more pragmatic perspective, may well be a little bemused. Anyone who has dealt with IT infrastructure, especially on the scale required in the banking sector with its high level of regulation, ever-changing compliance rules and a dynamic service landscape, knows that its success is driven by investment in both existing and new platforms and hardware. Whilst punitive fines are a necessary weapon in a regulator’s armoury and wholly appropriate in the right circumstances – e.g. the well publicised “dodgy dealings” in the City – choosing to deprive an organisation of cash that could be put to better use specifically addressing the problem in question (in whole or in part), to the benefit of their customers, seems to be a questionable result. The FCA directly refute the Bank’s claim that the issues were caused through a chronic lack of investment for a number of years prior, stating that “The RBS Group spends over £1 billion annually to maintain IT infrastructure”. It’s no secret that escalating maintenance costs due to ageing infrastructure inhibit investment, in this case no doubt contributing to the banks failings relating to Principle 3. Given that this has proven to everyone that more investment is required, why deprive the Bank of £42 million now? FCA enforcement fines for 2014 to date have “raised” nearly £1.5 billion heading straight for the Treasury but here, surely, RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers – the people directly affected by the down-time – would benefit from that £42 million being invested in customer-facing services rather than heading off to the Treasury’s pockets. Fines aren’t always the best solution – and a fiercely regulated industry doesn’t necessarily benefit the customer as best it could. Whilst Savantor Limited (“Savantor”) has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from sources which it believes to be reliable it does not make any representations or give any warranties or guarantees that the information provided or any opinions expressed herein are accurate, reliable or complete and none should be relied upon as statements of fact. In no event, including (without limitation) negligence, and in no circumstances will Savantor be liable for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever, including (without limitation) any d irect, special indirect or consequential damages, caused by the use of or reliance upon information provided or opinions expr essed herein. Savantor 1 Savantor MarketEye: 17 – 30 November 2014 Products & Initiatives Twitter lets users add coupons to cards for in-store redemption In its latest foray into the commerce sphere, Twitter is testing a feature that lets users add discounts from advertisers on the social network to their payment cards. When a user sees a Twitter Offer from a company in their timeline, they can add the coupon to their credit or debit card with a few taps and then redeem it in real time by using the card in-store. After the purchase, the cash back savings appear on their card statement within a few days. Once the first offer is linked to a card, the payment information is encrypted and stored to make it easier to claim future deals. People can remove the information from their account at any time. Twitter is already testing a 'buy' button that merchants can embed in tweets so that shoppers are able to make purchases from within the social network. (Source date: 25 November 2014) Crédit Agricole joins French bank-run e-payments service Paylib, a PayPal-style online payment system set up last year by French banks, is extending its reach thanks to the addition of Crédit Agricole as a member and a deal with MasterCard that will let people use the service abroad. Established by BNP Paribas, Société Générale and La Banque Postale, Paylib lets users link a card and then make payments at participating retailers' websites by entering their email, password and a code generated by a mobile app. In just over a year, the service has been adopted by more than 300,000 of the banks' customers and 700 e-merchants. The addition of Crédit Agricole next year, on the heels of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, means that Paylib will be available to 40 million French cardholders and more than 30,000 retailers. Meanwhile, the banks are tapping MasterCard's MasterPass digital wallet acceptance network to enable users to shop at another 60,000 merchants in 13 countries around the world. The deal will also see Paylib and MasterPass jointly promoted to French e-merchants, who will then be able to accept payments from abroad. (Source date: 25 November 2014) HSBC rolls out Paym for business customers HSBC business customers can now take payments using just a mobile phone number, as the UK bank rolls out the Paym service for Business Internet Banking subscribers. Until now HSBC’s Paym service, which launched in the UK in April this year, has been limited to personal current account holders, but now the bank's 6000,000 online business customers will also be able to sign up to receive payments direct to their accounts. HSBC will offer customers the option of registering up to 50 different mobile numbers to receive payments across their eligible business current accounts. The bank says this will be particularly useful for businesses with larger sales forces. With more banks joining the service in waves, more than 40 million UK bank customers are now able to register for Paym - representing over nine out of ten current accounts. (Source date: 21 November 2014) Square takes Register worldwide Square is looking to expand beyond North America by making its Register point-of-sale software available to businesses worldwide. The free Android and iOS app gives merchants a cloud-based point- of-sale tool to track sales, and manage items and inventory. Users also get a dashboard for analytics, digital receipts, and access to a marketplace of apps from third parties. Already used by "millions" in the US, Register is now available worldwide, in English, Spanish, French and Japanese, and supports 130 internationally recognised currencies. The move is a first step into international waters for Square, which is still not processing payments or selling its Reader and Stand card acceptance hardware outside of North America. (Source date: 20 November 2014) SavantorSavantor Ltd. Confidential Page 2 2 Savantor MarketEye: 17 – 30 November 2014 Coinbase partners RewardsPay to bring