On-line payment systems and trends

No faith in mobile phone security: poll
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=597301
An overwhelming majority of Australians would not trust a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) for online transactions such as banking and shopping, research by computer firm Unisys has found.

The data revealed 78 per cent of Australian adults say they will not use a mobile phone or PDA to pay a bill, shop or bank online.

Unisys Asia-Pacific spokeswoman Jane Evans said the results showed Australians wanted greater assurance that mobile transactions were secure.

"This is not surprising in light of the increasing concern about financial security expressed in the May 2008 Unisys Security Index," Ms Evans said.

The index examines the attitudes of Australians toward mobile devices and the means by which they can be used for payments 'on the run'.

"The survey figures released show that there is a high degree of caution held by Australians in regard to mobile transactions," Ms Evans said.

"Like all new or emerging technologies, there is bound to be a settling-in period during which people become more familiar and, consequently, more confident in the transaction's security and convenience."

One in two Australians said that the transactions on mobile devices were either not very or not at all secure, the survey found.

Only seven per cent of those surveyed use a mobile phone to pay bills, shop or bank online and 12 per cent would consider it.

In terms of the types of transactions that might be made on a mobile device, Australians believe banks but not online retailers, provided the best security.

Unisys mobile payments expert Leon Oelofse said Australians were lagging the rest of the world with their uptake of the extra services provided by mobile phones.

He said that despite this payments made from mobile phone would account for between five and seven per cent of revenue for Australian banks over the next three years.

"(Overall) payments constitute 35 to 45 per cent of total bank revenues and 30 to 40 percent of operating profits," Mr Oelofse said.

"Banks must therefore respond to customer expectations for more convenient payment services or risk losing customers and revenue."

About 1,200 consumers were surveyed on behalf of Unisys.

Online Payments
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/sandra-hanchard/2008/07/putting_the_dominance_of_ebay.html The crunch of the ACCC's proposal however was not about the dominance of eBay; it was about the competitiveness of online payment systems in Australia. In a Hitwise custom category of 20 alternative payment services, that excludes major financial institutions, PayPal is by far the dominant player accounting for 82.24% share of visits week ending 28 June 2008. Google Checkout and Paymate Australia accounted for 1.85% and 0.88% share of visits respectively.

Online banking just got easier
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/Trends/20080604-Online-banking-just-got-easier.html?source=cmailer
Wednesday, 4 June 2008

Online banking has taken off in recent years, but until now an inconvenient off-line feature has impeded its growth – consumers still had to lodge a signed paper application by post or fax. That impediment now looks set to become a thing of the past. A firm called FCS Online has developed an electronic identity verification process that replaces the humble signature with checks on personal information ranging from birth date to passport and visa details.

The process has already been adopted by one bank with an online focus, ING Direct, in the hope of cutting back on the number of customers who express interest in an account but don’t meet the paper requirements, which reportedly could be as high as 40%.

The shift to online verification has partly been made possible by legislative changes that were introduced late last year that changed the security focus away from the traditional 100-point paper check to electronic verification.

Impact of on-line payment (in Credit cards most vulnerable to fraud)
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/Trends/20080604-Credit-cards-most-vulnerable-to-fraud.html?source=cmailer
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
The total amount of payment fraud committed in Australia dropped over the past year, but credit cards remain by far the form of payments most commonly exploited by fraudsters.
According to the Australian Payments Clearing Association, the proportion of all transactions by cheque, debit card and credit card lost to fraud in 2007 fell from 6.3c to 6.2c per $1000 in 2007.
Cheques were the least defrauded payment option, with fraud falling from 1.9c to 0.8c per every $1000 worth of cheques written. The rate of debit card fraud also fell, from 7.7c per $1000 to 7.2c.

The only payment option to experience a worsening level of fraud was the credit card, with the rate of fraud increasing from 36.9c to 44.5c for every $1000.According to the Australian Bankers’ Association, the poorer credit card fraud result reflects the trend towards using credit cards for online transactions, particularly where purchases are made overseas. “Banks tell us that customers are increasingly shopping online with retailers located overseas, and unfortunately some of these outlets may not have strong customer protections in place,” ABA chief executive David Bell says. “It is very important for businesses and individuals to know with whom they are dealing before transferring or sending any money.”