Maria Korolov » Archive
Russian Payment Kiosk Firm To Target U.S., Brazil
Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has acquired 14.9% stake in Qiwi Ltd., a Russian company registered in Cyprus that specializes in instant-payment kiosks, the two companies announced Jan. 18. Read full article at PaymentsSource (paid subscription required). … Read more »
Russian Holiday Spending To Grow 10% Compared With Last Year, Citi Says
Russian credit cardholders will spend 10% more this month on their holiday spending compared with what they spent last December, ZAO Citibank predicts in a Dec. 13 report. Read full article at PaymentsSource (paid subscription required). … Read more »
Indian Credit Card Market Predicted To Reach 28 Million Cards By 2014
Financial institutions in India by 2014 will issue a combined 28 million credit cards, which would represent a 13% increase from the 24.7 million cards they issued as of March 30 this year, according to a new research report released Dec. 13. Read full article at PaymentsSource (paid subscription required). … Read more »
Russian McDonald’s Restaurants Complete Card-Terminal Deployments
The 258 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia now accept bankcards, the fast-food provider’s acquirer Russian Standard Bank announced Dec. 13. Read full article at PaymentsSource (paid subscription required). … Read more »
MasterCard, Russian Standard Bank Strike MoneySend Deal
Russian Standard Bank has become the first European bank to offer person-to-person funds transfers through MasterCard Worldwide’s MoneySend platform, the companies announced Dec. 6. Read full article at PaymentsSource (paid subscription required). … Read more »
The Great Risk Race
As Asia’s dynamic markets demand risk management attention and expertise, financial firms rush to fill a talent gap, with particular urgency in China. Three years ago, when Yang Haitao, an experienced financial risk manager, moved to Shanghai to join Nanyang Commercial Bank (China), he knew it was going to be more than a routine job change. As senior risk manager for the subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Nanyang, Yang was to take … Read more »
Citi Launches Banking Portal Extreme Makeover
Citi has begun rolling out its CitiDirect BE institutional online banking platform. CitiDirect BE–short for “Banking Evolution”–is a wholesale rebuild of its existing CitiDirect platform, which was launched in 1999. The upgrade includes more analytics, more customization, automated account opening, user-generated content, a video channel and mobile access. Read full article at Treasury & Risk. … Read more »
Bank of America Rolls Out New Cash Portal
Bank of America’s new cash management portal, CashPro Online, will provide corporate treasury customers with better administrative tools and security, as well as access to more services, including foreign exchange and supply chain financing, and customizable dashboards. “It’s a benchmark industry product,” says Matt Greenough, director of cash management at Detroit-based pizza chain Little Caesar Enterprises. Little Caesar has used the bank’s predecessor products, like CashPro Web, for years and Greenough, as a member of the CashPro Online advisory board, has gotten a preview of the new portal. Read full article at Treasury & Risk. … Read more »
SunGard Cloud Offering Set to Launch
SunGard is set to launch on Sept. 22 a cloud-based, treasury-on-demand product for companies with up to $2 billion in revenue. The new AvantGard Treasury XE aims to deliver support for cash management, foreign exchange, in-house banking, money markets and other transactions to middle-market companies, a new market segment for the treasury software provider. Read full article at Treasury & Risk. … Read more »
Manual AR Slows Cash Forecasting
Treasury departments where manual processes are still prevalent are struggling with getting timely information on accounts receivable, according to a recent report from Boston consultancy Aite Group. That slow stream of data on payments impedes a company’s ability to accurately forecast cash flows, which has become critical in uncertain economic times. For example, paper checks that are not accompanied by remittance stubs must be handled individually to match them up with their invoices, says analyst Judson Murchie, one of the report’s authors. “Until that’s applied, companies can’t count this income as liquidity,” says Murchie. “Someone may have underpaid or overpaid, and they need to figure this out.” Read full article at Treasury & Risk. … Read more »