RBI has issued a set of new Guidelines for Online Credit Card payment processing.

Effective 1st August 2009 all online transactions will be done with an extra level of safety and security as per the new guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in which all online payments are required to go through an extra level of authentication.

As per the guidelines issued, when you will make an online transaction with your credit card, you will need to enter a password as an extra level of authentication after entering your credit /debit card details. This technology for safe online transactions is called VBV – Verified by Visa or MSC -MasterCard Secure Code.

Why this new process?

To make the online payment process free from credit card scams. This new process is an extra layer of security is to protect you even if your credit card details are hacked.

To get the ‘Extra Password’:

Log on to your bank’s website
Register your card for Verified by Visa (or MasterCard Secure Code)
Get your password
(Different banks have different kinds of processes for registration so contact your bank)

To make online payments:

Choose online payment transaction.
Enter your credit card details on the payment page
You will be redirected to your bank’s website
Enter your VBV/MSC password
You will be redirected to the Merchant Site for completing the entire payment process

The above process is different for American Express Card holders. For AMEX Cards, you will be asked to enter your billing address on the payment page, which will be passed on to the bank. The billing address is the one that you provide while registering the Card. This technology is called AVS – Address Verification System. When you provide the address the bank will verify the billing address against the address that the bank has in its records. So be careful while giving your billing address as your payment will be rejected if the billing address doesn’t match.

MMT09 is the rightfully being recognized already as the world’s largest independent mobile money transfer conference and exhibition.

This year’s event is scheduled to take place at the JW Marriott, Dubai on the 26-27 October. Highlights include keynote speeches from mobile microfinance innovators.

As well as project management guidance, MMT09 also offers unsurpassed networking opportunities and a private exhibition featuring all the leading mobile money technology developers.

The program features over 45 leading mobile money pioneers including the banks who have practical experience of MMT programme deployment. Some of them are as follows:

* Karim Khoja, CEO, Roshan
* Jan Chipchase, Principal Scientist, Nokia
* Chris Gabriel, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Africa
* Jojo Malolos, Group Head of Financial Services, SMART Communications
* Zouhair Khaliq, CEO, Orascom International Investment Holdings
* Claire Featherstone, Head of M-Commerce, Maxis
* Aran Hamilton, VP – Strategic Partnerships, Zoompass
* Staffan Ljung, Director of Payments and Consumer Information Management, Ericsson
* Rashed Alabbar, Senior Manager, e-Business, Etisalat
* Mitch Roda, Senior Payments Manager, du

MMT09 is not only about visionary case studies. It also brings you panel debates and roundtable discussions led by the product managers who have got their ‘hands dirty’ deploying MMT programmes. Get to the heart of the issues that really matter:

* How to establish and manage an effective agent network
* How to structure strategic partnerships and provide profitability for all parties
* The benefits of partnering with MFIs
* How to launch a successful marketing campaign that will have resonance with your target market
* How to talk to the regulators
* The impact of MMT on existing back office processes and cultures
* ..and much more!

Booking by the 21st of August entitles you to receive your £300 discount!

Online registration is open now at www.mobile-money-transfer.com/global-summit. Alternatively register by telephone: +44 (0)20 7067 1831; fax: +44 (0)20 7067 1807; or email: mmt@clarionevents.com. Quote MTE3G when registering.

Following card frauds experienced by consumers and the various degrees of support and reassurance received from their respective banks, a poll conducted shows that 50% of consumers support chip and PIN move in UAE.

Almost half of all responders to a poll have said they think the new chip and PIN idea that is to be rolled out across the UAE is a great idea that will have a major impact on fraud.

Last week’s announcement by the UAE Central Bank that all banks in the country will be required to move to chip and PIN technology called widespread debate, with some experts citing the move as useless against the type of fraud residents suffered last summer at the hands of international gangs.

However, Arabian Business’s online survey showed that 48.6 percent strongly welcomed the move, with just 10.4 percent thinking it would be a better to invest in more advanced biometric tests, such as eye scans, to stop fraud.

A quarter of responders (26.3 percent) said the plan was a good idea but would have limited impact on fraud and 14.7 percent said the plan would be ineffective and only incur costs for banks and retailers.

The bank’s decision to introduce chip and PIN follows a review of the UAESWITCH cash machine network and comes amid a growing problem with credit card fraud in the country.

The bank said that after the excercise it decided to amend some of its protocols and introduce new ones following the recommendation of consultants brought in to oversee it.

It added that it will adopt global payment card industry standards for the network.

Chip and PIN is the name of an initiative backed by the UK government aimed at combating credit/debit card fraud.

Under the Chip and PIN system credit/debit cards containing an embedded microchip are authenticated automatically using a PIN.

So, when a customer wishes to pay for goods using this system, the card is placed into a PIN pad terminal or a modified swipe-card reader, which accesses the chip on the card.

Once the card has been verified as authentic, the customer enters a 4-digit PIN, which is checked against the PIN stored on the card. If the two match, the transaction will be completed.

The UAE Central Bank has given no further details of how or when the plan will be rolled out.

Source Courtesy: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/546294-half-of-people-support-chip-and-pin-move-in-uae as reported by Joanna Hartley

Computer Viruses are not the only ones that are in constant race with the Anti-Virus – or vice versa!

Bankers are forced to adopt new technologies to protect their consumers from various types of frauds.

Reportedly, Chip and PIN technology may cut fraud cases in Bahrain as reported by Andy Sambidge in Arabian Business.

Cases of card fraud are set to drop in Bahrain following the rollout of chip and PIN technology, it was reported on Sunday.

Following an order from the Central Bank of Bahrain, all new credit and debit cards issued from July by banks must come equipped with a microchip, which stores all of the cardholder’s data.

The Central Bank of Bahrain ordered all banking institutions to adopt the technology from June 30 or risk penalties.

“The new cards are much better than the old system because of the cryptography used in the chip itself,” Bahrain Society of Bankers chief executive officer Robert Ainey said in comments published by Gulf Daily News.

“Although it can be broken under extreme laboratory conditions, this is the sort of technology that the common counterfeiter doesn’t have.”

Ainey told the paper that although the vulnerability of the magnetic strip would still be present in the new generation of cards, consumers in Bahrain would be better protected if their cards were used fraudulently.

“The slight downside to the current implementation of chip and PIN is for those retailers who are not enabled. They can still fall back to the magnetic strip,” he said.

“So if someone got your card, they could still copy the strip and a fraud could occur.

“But in this case, the issuing bank would have the absolute right to charge-back the fraudulent transaction from the merchant’s bank.”

Source Courtesy: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/561676-chip-and-pin-to-cut-case-of-fraud-in-bahrain—banker

Most UAE residents will remember the scores of consumers who were hit by card frauds, including ATM frauds, in the recent months.

Here is a report on a survey conducted on the subject which revealed that 73% of Dubai consumers worried about card fraud.

Seven percent of consumers in Dubai had been the victim of bank card fraud in the past five years, according to the results of a survey released on Tuesday.

Dubai was found to have a low rate of card fraud compared to the US and UK, where 27 percent of respondents to the survey had been hit by card fraud, and Australia, China and Singapore, where 15 percent had been affected, the research by ACI Worldwide found.

However, Dubai consumers affected by fraud were found to be among the most unforgiving of their banks in the international survey, with 35 percent of respondents saying they were very unhappy with the treatment from their bank following an incident.

Thirty six percent of respondents said they would change their financial institution or credit card company following a card fraud, with 38 percent saying they would opt to use cash over card following a card fraud incident.

A total of seventy three percent of Dubai respondents said they were somewhat more worried about being a victim of card fraud during the economic slowdown.

More than 2,400 consumers across seven countries and the emirate of Dubai were surveyed by US electronic payment security firm ACI for the research. Around 10 percent of those surveyed were from Dubai.

Source Courtesy: As reported by Tom Arnold at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/563176-73-of-dubai-consumers-worried-about-card-fraud

I had the pleasure of participating at MMT-08. Doubtless, it was a great learning experience with the likes of CEOs of mPesa and Obopay sharing their insights – not to forget the local players like Etisalat and NBAD.

Here are the details along with the message from Steve Clarke on MMT-09

[Quote]

The total value of international mobile p2p payments is expected to reach $202 billion by 2015*. With the likes of Orange, Zain, Orascom, Globe, Smart, Etisalat, Vodafone, MTN and Safaricom all at advanced stages of MMT programme deployment, you need to finalise your mobile money strategy so as not to be left behind.

(* Source: Edgar, Dunn and Co.)

Attend the 2nd Global Mobile Money Transfer Conference and Exhibition, (26 – 27 October, JW Marriott, Dubai) to hear inspiring keynotes from the world’s leading MMT pioneers and actionable advice on how to make your mobile money programme a success from over 45 expert practitioner speakers, all with market-proven experience of devising and launching MMT services.

As well as project management guidance, MMT 09 also offers you a definitive networking opportunity and a private exhibition featuring all the leading mobile money technology developers.

The world’s most comprehensive line up of international MMT pioneers includes:

* Karim Khoja, CEO, Roshan
* Jan Chipchase, Principal Scientist, Nokia
* Chris Gabriel, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Africa
* Jojo Malolos, Group Head of Financial Services, SMART Communications
* Brad Jones, Managing Director, Wing Cambodia
* Gautam Ivatury, Strategic Advisor, CGAP
* Zouhair Khaliq, CEO, Orascom International Investment Holdings
* Sanket Mohapatra, Economist – Migration and Remittances, World Bank
* Claire Featherstone, Head of M-Commerce, Maxis
* Brian Richardson, CEO, WIZZIT

MMT 09 is not only about visionary case studies, we also bring you panel debates and roundtable discussions led by the product managers who have got their ‘hands dirty’ deploying MMT programmes. Get to the heart of the issues that really matter: how to establish and manage an effective agent network, how to partner with MFIs; how to launch a successful marketing campaign that will have resonance with your target market; how to talk to the regulators; the impact of MMT on existing back office processes and cultures… and much, much more!

Mobile money transfer may be the title of this conference, but our audience are interested in the entire m-payments suite. Domestic money transfers, airtime top-ups and mobile microfinance may have been the killer applications in driving adoption of m-payment in emerging markets, but merchant payments, cross border remittances, corporate, utility bill and school fee payments are all coming soon.

Our MMT conferences provide practical, ‘how to do it’ advice, delivered by practitioners with market-proven experience. Don’t miss the ‘Mobile Money Academy’ – a comprehensive programme of workshops helping you overcome the key challenges in MMT project management: defining your business model, interacting with regulators, selecting technology partners, engaging with the unbanked, and launching and marketing your service.

MMT expert Olga Moraczynski and mobile visionary Jan Chipchase, Principal Scientist at Nokia, will jointly deliver a groundbreaking Mobile Money academy session exploring the key enablers that will encourage illiterate and semi-literate consumers to embrace mobile money services.

Online registration is open now at www.mobile-money-transfer.com/global-summit. Alternatively register by telephone: +44 (0)20 7067 1831; fax: +44 (0)20 7067 1807; or email: mmt@clarionevents.com. Please quote MTE1G when registering.

Book by Friday 21st of August to receive your £300 discount!

I look forward to welcoming you to MMT09.

Warmest Regards,

Steve Clarke
Host, MMT Group & Conference Director, MMT09
Email: mmt@clarionevents.com
www.mobile-money-transfer.com

[Unquote]

Foreign workers in the UAE send home more than $10 billion (Dh36.7bn) every year – making the country the second highest fund remittance performer in the GCC, said global trade association Money Transfer International (MTI).

And the UAE is the third largest sender of remittances worldwide. MTI says the region has the potential to drive growth in the sector though the global economy is slowing down.

“The GCC is one of the top five performers in the global remittance industry, which was worth $550bn in 2008,” said MTI’s Regional Director, Premal Patel. He said recent estimates from the International Monetary Fund indicated that the remittance volume in the UAE would lead the increase and would rise by five per cent this year.

“The UAE is set to play a crucial role in remittance sector growth,” he added. “During March 2009 alone the volume of remittances from the UAE to Pakistan topped $174 million.

“More than 40 per cent of all overseas Filipino workers are based in the Middle East and 10.5 per cent live and work in the UAE. Remittances to the Philippines from the UAE reached more than $584m in 2008.”

According to MTI statistics, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait are the GCC’s best performers. On the back of the anticipated growth in the region MTI recently launched a Gulf chapter in Bahrain.

Lady Olga Maitland, MTI CEO, said: “The decision to launch MTI Middle East is a direct response to the remittance sector’s call for a voice to represent its interests.

“Our global network will expand this year to include four more chapters, including ones in the Philippines and Pakistan both high volume destinations for receiving remittances.

And Patel added: “MTI’s Middle East chapter is geared to facilitate and safeguard the interests of the industry as a whole, be it the consumer, service providers and partners.”

Source Courtesy: Emirates Business 24/7 2009

Using the Web 2.0 write up in Wikipedia this video educates about Web 2.0 tools.

www.globalchange.com Banks will become phone companies and telecom companies will become banks. Mobile payment systems, micropayments, mobile phone credit card transactions and loans. Economic impact of remittances from foreign workers using SMS credit to avoid foreign exchange transaction costs. How biometrics fingerprint technology will allow large mobile phone payments. Commissions and interest charges on loans. Impact of revenues from American Express, Visa, Delta, Access, Mastercard …

Bahrain residents will soon enjoy the comfort of paying their utility bills from their mobile phones. This is the latest among the series of eGovernment initiatives.

The services, reportedly, will be launched by the beginning of September 2009.

“We will launch the service before the end of August,” Mohamed Ali Al Qaed, CEO of Bahrain’s eGovernment Authority (eGA), told Arabian Business in an interview. “We wanted to make sure that we had the right security in place before we allowed people to pay on their mobiles,” he continued. “Now we have a new model that will be totally secure.”

Apart from utilities bill payment, mobile users will be granted 23 other services before the end of August including detailed searches for hotels and restaurants, Daily Price Index etc. The eGA already offers customers 17 services on their mobile phones, including real-time flight arrival and departure information, specialist medical services searches, and postal tracking.

Bahrain’s eGovernment initiatives have attracted widespread acclaim, and the UN recently selected Al Qaed to represent Arab countries and West Asia on the Strategic Council for Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), part of the United Nations Dept. for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). It is notable that Al Qaed is the first Gulf national to hold such a position.

Source Courtesy: http://www.itp.net/news/561494-bahrain-set-to-launch-bill-payments-by-mobile-phone#continueArticle