Amex unveils digital payments platform

Based on the Revolution Money P2P payments platform Amex acquired for around $300 million last year, Serve is already available in the US and will spread to other markets over the next year.

Once signed up, users can an access accounts at the Serve Web site, via Apple iOS and Android applications and through Facebook. Funds are added from bank accounts, debit, credit and charge cards or other Serve accounts.

Money in the account can be used to send and receive funds to friends, pay bills and make purchases online. In addition, to "bridge" online and offline, users are issued with reloadable pre-paid cards linked to their Serve accounts that can be used at merchants and ATMs that accepts American Express.

Customers also have the ability to create, manage, and specify sub-accounts for their friends, family members or colleagues. Sub-accounts are linked to the master and allow users to set spending profiles.

The company has signed up Ticketmaster, Concur and Flipswap as initial commercial partners who will use the platform to deliver offers and is also teaming with five charities on a "giving back" widget.

Amex is waiving fees for the first six months, after which it will cost 2.9% plus 30 cents per load to put money into accounts (discounted to zero per cent for cash, debit and ACH) and $2 for ATM cash withdrawals.

Dan Schulman, group president, enterprise growth, American Express, says: "Serve is a new type of payment platform that isn't tied to a single card or mobile operating system. It's a flexible, easy to use platform, which from day one brings tremendous assets to the alternative payments space and gives consumers an option to shop on-line and off-line at millions of merchants who accept American Express."

The platform sees Amex join fellow card outfits Visa and MasterCard in taking on PayPal in the fast growing electronic and mobile commerce market. The P2P payments space is becoming increasingly competitive, with Visa launching a service last month that lets consumers transfer funds in near real-time to other cards over the VisaNet network.

Discover, by contrast, has aligned with PayPal, tapping its Adaptive Payments APIs to offer card members person-to-person payments. The Money Messenger system lets customers send money to another person via Discover.com or a smart phone using only the recipient's e-mail address or mobile number.

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RBA calls for Australian payments innovation

In a speech, ABA assistant governor Malcolm Edey says the bank understands it cannot "regulate innovation into being" but wants to work with the industry to foster co-ordination.

Edey used the speech - which comes in the midst of an ongoing strategic review into the issue begun in July - to provide the preliminary findings of a study into the payments habits of 1200 households conducted last year.

The research demonstrates the growing popularity of debit cards at the expense of cash since a similar survey in 2007 and also records the demise of cheques.

Edey says "any decision to move away from cheques (and I'm not pre-judging the issue) will be dependent on the industry's capacity to develop suitable and equally convenient electronic alternatives".

Meanwhile, of the 90% of respondents with access to the Internet, 80% have made online purchases and nearly 60% have transferred funds. Of those with Web access, 60% pay most of their bills online.

Asked what would improve online bill payments, over a quarter of respondents say nothing would, the most popular response. Lower risk of fraud was the next most popular answer, followed by the removal of surcharges. There is less satisfaction for online purchases than bill payment, with around half of respondents concerned about fraud.

Meanwhile, Edey says the ongoing innovation review will also examine mobile payments, electronic, contactless purse systems for public transport, better co-ordination on security and the application of international standards.

According to recent research commissioned by PayPal from Nielsen, 68% of Aussies plan to use mobile devices for transactions and payments in the near future.

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National Bank of Greece unveils concept i-branch

The i-bank store gives "e-banking true physical form" claims NBG, with staff providing information and assistance relating to online and mobile services.

The screen-filled branch includes a lounge area with a virtual sky and vertical garden, while an interactive zone is equipped with augmented reality applications and electronic games.

Customers can also take part in education workshops, watch presentations, use video conferencing and tap the free WiFi. A free i-bank store club card gives members access to sweepstakes, discounts and invitations to various events NBG is planning at the branch.

NBG is following in the footsteps of BNP Paribas, CBA and Citi who have all recently turned to old fashioned, bricks and mortar branches to showcase their electronic channels.

Meanwhile, the bank is also teaming with six universities to run an innovation and technology competition calling for ideas in electronic commerce, Web applications, environment-related tech and alternative channels. The winner will receive EUR20,000 with another nine finalists also getting cash prizes.

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Visa and Samsung bring NFC m-payments to London Olympics

Members of the public will be able to make low value payments by selecting a Visa mobile contactless application and then waving their handset against equipped terminals.

The firms say they will give out the handsets to sponsored athletes while members of the public can buy them from network operators and get a Visa-enabled SIM card for making payments.

Peter Ayliffe, CEO, Visa Europe, says: "We are not only breaking new ground for Olympic partnerships, we are committed to enabling consumers to connect with mobile and contactless payments technology for 2012 and beyond. We look forward to working with financial institutions and mobile operators alongside Samsung to make this initiative a success."
Meanwhile, Samsung is also working with Telefónica on a pilot that will see staff at the wireless operator's Madrid headquarters test NFC-enabled mobile phones.

The trial will initially involve 1000 employees, rising to 12,500, who will be able to make contactless payments at retail outlets on the local business campus. They can also use their handsets to access work buildings and load their 'meal cheques' into the phone to pay for their food and drink at staff catering facilities.

Samsung and payments specialists Giesecke & Devrient and Oberthur are all providing technology for the project while Visa and banks Bankinter, BBVA, La Caixa are also involved.

Telefónica has developed a 'Movistar Wallet' for the project which allows users to choose which bank card they use for purchases, gain access to company facilities and download information by bringing the mobile up to items such as posters or brochures.

The mobile terminal saves a secure digital version in the SIM of any cards users may have, and they can use NFC technology to pay directly at the POS terminals and adapted readers at sales outlets.

The pilot comes after another trial carried out by Telefónica, La Caixa and Visa in Sitges in the province of Barcelona. The six month experiment involving 1500 people and 500 businesses saw customers carry out 30% more e-transactions, with a 23% increase in average purchase per user.

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7April: Thumb insurance for Twitter addicts and NFC chip implants

 Online price comparison site Confused.com is apparently introducing thumb insurance for social media addicts. If you get Tweeter's cramp the policy offers a free emergency kit including Savlon cream and fast healing plasters.

Saffron Building Society, meanwhile, has announced the launch of an account that pays interest in chocolate every month. The 'safe, secure but definitely not boring' mutual, serving the East of England, unveiled this innovative savings concept as part of a new initiative to 'make saving a little sweeter'.

Over at Mobile Industry News, a breathless report tells us that banking giant HSBC has acquired mobile network operator 3UK to help it build a "true mobile wallet service".

The bank's chief executive 'Nigel Smith' says the new HSBC Mobile-branded Google Nexus S device is "simply unbelievable!"

Finextra blogger Brett King informs us that the IOC will trial RFID bio-chips implanted under athletes skin. This will be used for "everything from entry to secure venues, payment for meals and beverages in the Olympic village, and even linked to personal bank accounts for payments".

The IOC isn't the only organisation looking into implanted NFC chips according to blogger Dave Birch. He reports on rumours that Google will start offering people free injectable NFC chips "in return for special offers, coupons, additional loyalty points and a variety of value-added services around Android NFC phones".

Google has apparently been busy on the innovation front. It has also developed 'GMail Motion', a system that uses computers' built-in webcams to let you control it by moving your body.
Social Networking site LinkedIn seems to think its members may know some interesting people, offering this reporter the chance to connect with Groucho Marx and activist/chief fundraiser for Nottingham, Robin Hood.

Fresh from the success of its mobile payment app, coffee chain Starbucks has lifted the bar once more with a new 'mobile pour' feature: "We've even made ordering easy with our Mobile Pour app for your smartphone. Simply download it, allow it to pinpoint your location, select your coffee order and keep walking. Your fresh, hot Starbucks brew will be in your hands before you can say abra-arabica."

Finally, the Guardian, unable to contain its excitement, has begun a live blog on the Royal Wedding, just 29 days before Prince William and Kate Middleton are due to tie the knot.

Feel free to add your favourite hoaxes below.

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Twitter analysis boosts trading results

In a study, the Technical University of Munich economists analysed 250,000 Twitter messages written in a six-month period related to S&P 500 listed companies.

They found the sentiment of tweets to be associated with abnormal stock returns and message volume to predict next-day trading volume.

The analysis shows that if an investor had used Twitter sentiment to guide share purchases in the first half of 2010, they would have achieved an average rate of return of up to 15%.

Timm Sprenger, economist, TUM, says: "If a Twitter user often gives good stock recommendations, he will, as a rule, have more followers and will be 'retweeted' (ie quoted) more often by other users. Hereby, tweets with good recommendations are affirmed and receive greater weight in the overall analysis."

Sprenger has now set up a Web site to exploit the findings. Currently operating in Beta, TweetTrader.net acts as as a real-time iinformation aggregator for stock-related social media content.

London-based Derwent Capital Markets has already launched a £25 million hedge fund using Twitter to predict the market after separate research published in October found that analysing the content of daily Twitter feeds using two mood tracking tools enabled the team to predict with an 87.6% accuracy the daily ups and downs in the closing value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

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Virgin Media schedule Q1 results

Virgin Media will be announcing its first quarter results on 20 April. At 1:02pm: (LON:VMED) share price was -15.5p at 1714.5p Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

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