Merchant online services

Andy Grove, co-founder and former CEO of Intel Corp., once described a strategic inflection point as an event that changes the way we think and act. It is, according to him, a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change and that change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. For Nagesh Devata, general manager, Southeast Asia cross border markets for PayPal, the Philippines has reached an inflection point in the sense that it must grab the opportunities that the digital economy has to offer to create new economic opportunities and advance financial inclusion if it wants to catch up or be at par with its regional neighbors. What are the indications that the Philippines has indeed reached that turning point? Nagesh, in an interview, said that aside from the fact that more and more Filipinos own smartphones and are making mobile online purchases, the number of Filipinos that are banked is increasing, and more banks are issuing prepaid credit cards which … [Read more...] about Helping Philippines economy grow

BRUSSELS: Europe's antitrust chief said on Wednesday she did not see any problems with the way Google was complying with her order to boost competition in online shopping, brushing aside complaints from some of the U.S. company's rivals.Hit with a 2.4-billion-euro (US$2.7 billion) EU fine two years ago for unfairly promoting its own comparison shopping service, Google has since offered to allow competitors to bid for advertising space at the top of a search page, giving them the chance to compete on equal terms.European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the measure appeared to be working."Now we are in a situation where in 75 percent of queries there would be at least one rival to Google in the shopping box and 40 percent of clicks would go to a merchant hosted by one of the rivals," Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of a Centre for European Reform event."This means we do not have a non-compliance case but at the same time also means that we keep monitoring … [Read more...] about EU sees no compliance issues in Google shopping, rivals disagree

If you think your one-time password (OTP) is foolproof, think again. Apparently, the evil side of digital finance has come up with several ways to intercept OTPs that banks send to a mobile device as a secondary protection for their customers against scammers. Actually, an OTP is truly an ingenious way to protect online transactions through the internet, as long as the user strictly follows security protocols, i.e., never divulging personal banking details like passwords, credit or debit card numbers, security codes, and yes, OTPs. OTPs, also regarded as mobile transaction authentication numbers, are the latest security innovations sent by banks through text messaging or SMS. They can, as implied, be used once only, and are time-bound, meaning if not used within a certain number of minutes, will become invalid. When an online transaction is made by a person, many banks now send a randomized, sometimes alpha-numeric, OTP via text message which needs to be keyed in within a few minutes … [Read more...] about OTP’s and card scams