Electronic Payment Systems Observatory (ePSO). Newsletter Issues 9-15

Abstract not availableJRC.J-Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (Seville

Policy Issues in Implementing Smart Cards in Urban Public Transit Systems

Many public transportation institutions have been discarding their magnetic strip payment cards or traditional cash-based fee collection systems in favor of automated fare collection systems with smart card technology. Smart cards look like traditional credit cards or ID cards; however, using RFID technology, they allow for contactless payment and identification. Smart cards are becoming increasingly popular among transit agencies primarily because they are convenient for customers, reduce administrative costs for transit agencies, and have the potential of improving the performance of complex transit systems overall. The increased availability and affordability of contactless cards has also contributed to this trend in adoption

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Bitcoin (and other virtual currencies) have the potential to revolutionize the way that payments are processed, but only if they become ubiquitous. This Article argues that if virtual currencies are used at that scale, it would pose threats to the stability of the financial system—threats that have been largely unexplored to date. Such threats will arise because the ability of a virtual currency to function as money is very fragile—Bitcoin can remain money only for so long as people have confidence that bitcoins will be readily accepted by others as a means of payment. Unlike the U.S. dollar, which is backed by both a national government and a central bank, and the euro, which is at least backed by a central bank, there is no institution that can shore up confidence in Bitcoin (or any other virtual currency) in the event of a panic. This Article explores some regulatory measures that could help address the systemic risks posed by virtual currencies, but argues that the best way to contain those risks is for regulated institutions to out-compete virtual currencies by offering better payment services, thus consigning virtual currencies to a niche role in the economy. This Article therefore concludes by exploring how the distributed ledger technology pioneered by Bitcoin could be adapted to allow regulated entities to provide vastly more efficient payment services for sovereign currency-denominated transactions, while at the same time seeking to avoid concentrating the provision of those payment services within “too big to fail” banks

Deficiencies in regulations for anti-money laundering in a cyberlaundering age including COMET: Central Online AML Merchant Enforcement Tool

Money laundering, an act of illegal cash washing, accounts for two to five percent of the world\u27s gross domestic product. This alarming amount of illegal financial activity has brought national and international laws, regulations on banks, and procedures to deter money launderers. With the rise of cyber banking, digital cash, anonymous stored value cards, and advanced personal identifiable information theft, money laundering laws and regulations fail to account for the movement of illegal money in the digital world. Discussed in this thesis is an overview of the current money laundering techniques and regulations. The objectives of this research are twofold; first, to broadly identify deficiencies within the banking and regulatory institutions regarding cyberlaundering including hypothetical cyberlaundering methods and second, to suggest a specific feasible approach to minimize and deter online laundering of illicit revenue through the application of COMET: a Central Online AML Merchant Enforcement Tool. COMET is a central database system which makes use of data mining techniques to mitigate a cyberlaundering return merchandise scheme

Mobile payments : what we can learn from the past

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 74).Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of mobile payments systems (MPS). Close to 150 MPS currently exist in the world according to the Bank for International Settlement records (BIS). Mobile payments (MP) markets are at different stages of development depending on countries. However, most of them are going through their embryonic or early phases. According to the theory, at this fluid stage, where no dominant design has emerged, it is nearly impossible to predict industry evolution. This paper tests the hypothesis that (i) because the MP industry is a path dependent system rather than a hysteresis system whose state depends on their immediate history, (ii) we can actually rely on accumulated experiences (success and failures) to narrow markets options in terms of dominant players and speed of adoption. In this paper, we elaborate a classification matrix of payment services and using the Weil-Utterback system dynamic model of the diffusion of innovation we analyze the main loops at play in US, Europe and Japan. In the process we provide numerous examples of MPS and several case studies. The key take aways of our analysis are that (i) incumbents are likely to dominate the offering of mobile payments services. (ii) in the next three to five years, US rate of adoption is likely to be faster than the European one.by Gladys Priso.M.B.A

Customer Acceptance is the Key to Success of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment

This thesis focuses on issue of broaden Customer Acceptance in Electronic Bill Presentation andPayment (EBPP). Following the overview of EBPP’s concept, benefit, snapshot of the overall marketplace, the thesis studies the current existing models with it’s entity, process, and relationship. The important part of the thesis is to explore the main elements to one of the key barriers of EBPP, Customer acceptance according to TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) and Diffusion of Innovation Model, and provides the several key solutions to broaden Customer acceptance of EBPP. The thesis concludes with pointing out the limitation of this thesis and the suggestion of possible future research and looking forward to the future market of EBPP. Thesis contains five chapters. The CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION defines the EBPP is the delivery of bills from Billers to Customers mainly through Internet; reviews the benefits to the both Biller and Customer; realizes the EBPP’s potential market growth with current low’adoption rate tepid the EBPP deployment. The CHAPTER II. ENTITY, PROCESS, AND RELATIONSHIP OF EBPP MODELS studies the six entities of EBPP, included Biller, Biller Service Provider, Biller Payment Provider, Customer, Customer Service Provider, Customer Payment Provider, and process of EBPP with Service Initiation, Bill Presentment, and Payment and Remittance. The complex process with a range of models, which include direct, consolidator, and syndicator is discussed. CHAPTER III. EXPLORE THE ELEMENTS TO AFFECT CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE TO DEPLOY EBPP points out that low Customer acceptance impedes EBPP growth, studies the EBPP literature and user acceptance model in MIS, and explores the four factors (usefulness, ease of use, observability, and risk) and related elements affect the Customer acceptance, which are Customer low awareness, lack of a compelling reason, lack of incentive, trust and risk, uncertainty about security and privacy, inaccuracy and unreliable, difficult to use, bank slow react, legal issue, standard, and poor Customer service. CHAPTER IV. SOLUTION ANDSTRATEGY TO BROADEN CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE OF EBPP suggests six solutions to broaden the Customer acceptance, which are chose right model, build solid EBPP system, chose a right vendor, and provide good Customer service, make aggressive marketing approach, and be proactive bank and Biller. CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION provides the overall of future market of EBPP

Crypto-currency and blockchain: the revolution of the world economic system and digital identities

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