Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
The sky might be falling, but IT companies are protected
February 5, 2008
Acopia Capital Group Utilizes OpenClose as Backbone for New Company | www.businesswire.com
Three conditions affecting the banking business seem quite real and have already become visible in the form of poor earnings reports from the giants - losses in investment banking, the credit crunch and subprime mortgages. So it’s natural to look to the left and right for other industries that might be affected. Of course, IT is a likely candidate for losses because as bank profitability goes, so goes IT investment. Maybe.
Mobile Banking: Enhance Consumer Financial Transactions
January 24, 2008
Credit unions join mobile banking bandwagon | news.moneycentral.msn.com
Implications: 1.Major thrust in building customer membership. 2.It is expected that the service will provide real-time savings and credit card information. 3.Security of access is a major challenge. 4.The development of a financial platform for delivery of payment services. 5.Customerization will be required for the application for each credit union. 6.This business effort may likely transform itself into a nation - wide effort.
2008 - The Year of the Sales Rep
January 17, 2008
IBM Wins Series Of Bank Technology Deals | www.informationweek.com
have completed 154 consultations for 67 investment firms in the past two years. The analysts asked a lot of good questions, and none that I didn’t expect, about the performance of bank tech companies. However, no one ever asked me about the competence of the sales force. Not one - nada, nyet, rien, niente, keine, tipote. So I feel the need to speak out about the condition of the bank tech vendor community. Most of it is good.
Metavante Expands Its International Group With the Acquisition of Nomad Payments For $58 Million
January 11, 2008
Metavante buys European debit, prepaid processor for $58 million | www.atmmarketplace.com
Metavante's purchase of Nomad Payments for $58 million shores up its plans for a big international push through its Prepaid Solutions Division, with an international push in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the U.K. and other countries to go after its share of the prepaid cards transaction volumes growth. Metavante will attempt to capture market share of global prepaid cards transaction volumes, which could reach two trillion by 2010. The acquisition provides Metavante significant market opportunities with financial institutions, retailers, government agencies, open loop gift cards, professional organizations and affinity groups in Europe and the U.K. As payments convergence and market conditions continue to drive consolidation in the payments space, few companies appear to be as well positioned as Metavante to profit from the strong growth in e-payments and banking overall, in addition to the ability to create unique products and services for their bank and corporate customers.
Virtual reality becomes all too real...
January 11, 2008
Second Life bans unregulated banks | www.ft.com
Banks and payment processors need to develop expertise to identify and support virtual world transactions. Banks need to manage virtual risk because it involved real growth and real losses.
ATM and Self-Serve Banking Kiosk Market Opportunities
January 8, 2008
ATM withdrawals to hit record levels | www.talkingretail.com
Overall ATM and "advanced function" self-serve banking kiosks, capabilities, and transactions will continue to grow rapidly worldwide, albeit more slowly in developed markets such as the United States. Major under-developed markets including China, Russia, and India are adding devices rapidly. While overall ATM transactions and machine placements will grow, deployers of ATMs will continue to see declines in average transactions per device, the result of the proliferation of ATMs as a ratio of local population. Nevertheless, transaction growth opportunities will occur in all markets as new users are driven to the devices. A major factor in the continued growth of usage globally is the increasing market shift towards payment and cash-access cards of all types, the proliferation of locations, consumer reliance on the added functionality, speed and convenience of the devices, and the profitable strategic shift away from "human-delivered" service to "self-serve".
January 7, 2008
Diebold’s Bulk-Cash Recycler Gets Thumbs Up in China | www.atmmarketplace.com
Some of China's largest banks and its largest oil company Sinopec, has placed orders for 6,000 of Diebold's Opteva ATMs for installation at local banks and fuel stations in Beijing, in an effort to provide greater access to cash and financial services at the ATM. The banks sought out Sinopec because its fuel stations are located in Beijing's busiest commercial areas and around primary business districts, which should attribute to higher transaction volumes at ATMs installed at these locations. Between 1993 and 2006, China's number of ATMs grew by a CAGR of 43% to 102,000 ATMs and ATM installations are expected to increase by a CAGR of 20% to 233,000 ATMs by 2010. ATM transaction volumes and profitability are slowing in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Japan and the U.K., due to market saturation, however, in markets such as China, India, Russia and others, explosive growth has occurred in the last five years and over the next few years that growth is expected to be even greater.
BOC (Back Office Conversion) Is Posied to Take e-Payments Share In 2008
January 7, 2008
Solutran Reports a 34 Percent Market Share Back Office Conversion Volume | biz.yahoo.com
The introduction of Check 21 in 2004, has dramatically changed the payments landscape. Check 21 eliminated the legal barrier that had required the paper check for clearing and settlement and brought the capability for a digital image copy of the check to be the legal equivalent of the original check. Check 21 also paved the way for BOC (Back Office Conversion), which allows retailers to scan paper checks in the back office for conversion into ACH debits, which removes the need to submit checks into the banking system for clearing and settlement. Growth in BOC which officially launched in March 2007, outpaced growth of all other automated clearing house (ACH) transaction categories in 3Q07 with 840,743 transactions, a 238% increase from 2Q07 BOC transactions at 248,919. As retailers adopt BOC and integrate BOC we will potentially see more significant jumps in BOC volumes in 3Q08 and 4Q08. Soultran has emerged as the leader in the BOC market with over one-third of market share in 3Q07.
January 7, 2008
Purchase positions Fiserv tops in tech | www.jsonline.com
In my view, 2007 was not a Boston-Sports-Teams year for the banktech business. There were some losers in our arena, as well as lots of worries; a large number of lower stock prices for banks and techs; a ninth inning attitude among bankers who achieved a good-enough system to get the job done, and then took a rest; certainly nothing new and exciting showed up to compete with the likes of Apple Computer. But one has to recognize the good things. For example, U.S. banking transactions got posted accurately and on time during 4,308,198 posting runs in 2007. Presumably 112 million households were pleased with the processing of their accounts. And I believe business customers got the same accuracy and timeliness. The press had far more compelling events to write about than to look for banking glitches. I was interviewed for only two failures in 2007 and both were ATM related, and both were corrected within 24 hours.
January 4, 2008
ATM withdrawals to hit record levels | www.talkingretail.com
In theory, this means shorter queues in banks. The reality is that, cashiers are now having to deal with a lot more issues than one would normally expect.
$300 Million for Revolution is Perplexing
November 18, 2009
Network challenger uses handsets not cards, focuses on an underserved niche
November 16, 2009
Star ventures online, PayPal seeks growth through Star licensees
November 12, 2009
Nothing is Risk Free: Reaction to Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) earnings reports
November 7, 2009
Helping retailers earn more profit on their most profitable transactions?
October 19, 2009