Tag Archives: Faster Payments

Banks, Business, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money

VocaLink Scales Charity Heights

VocaLink, the specialist provider of transaction services to banks, has launched a scheme to help raise money for Bonita Norris in her attempt to become the youngest British female to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in order to raise money for Global Angels.

VocaLink Scales Charity Heights

VocaLink, as the official sponsor of the challenge, is trying to raise funds for Bonita and the Global Angels charity through its network of almost 50,000 Mobile Phone Top-Up (MPTU) ATMs across the UK.

To raise the money, VocaLink has managed to get together some of the major UK banks* who have agreed to donate 5p to Global Angels every time someone tops-up a mobile phone** during March and April using a VocaLink ATM.

Bonita will be climbing Mount Everest to raise money for Global Angels, an international foundation which champions the causes of children around the world to help provide sustainable solutions. Every pound received from public donations goes directly to projects working at grass-roots level to empower children and their communities.

Bonita will be looking to climb Mount Everest’s towering 8,848 meters during May 2010 when conditions are at their best. To complete her climb, Bonita will be putting herself at risk from the dangers of frostbite, hypothermia, snow-blindness, alongside the many other perils associated with extreme altitude climbing.

The MPTU service is available through ATMs bearing the green top-up logo which include Barclays, Bank Machine, Cardpoint, Cashzone, Clydesdale Bank, Cooperative Bank, Coventry Building Society, First Trust Bank, Halifax, Hanco, HSBC, Infocash, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society, Nat West, Note Machine, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury’s Finance and Yorkshire Bank.

In addition to the Mobile Phone Top-Up service, Bonita is also auctioning 3 flags which will feature the highest bidders name or personal message. Bonita will take the flags up Mount Everest on her record breaking journey. The first flag auction will run from the 8th to the 14th March, the second flag 15th-21st and the third flag 22nd -28th.

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Business, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money

VocaLink Take Home Pay Index Slumps To Lowest Level On Record

The VocaLink Take Home Pay Index for February has continued January’s downward spiral to hit an all-time low of 1.0%. The combination of the two recent consecutive falls has nearly halved the index during that period, taking it from 1.9% in December to 1.0% in February, signifying the Index’s lowest level since its inception in September 2004.

A slower than expected recovery in manufacturing production has contributed to the significant decrease in the VocaLink manufacturing index which also fell to its lowest level on record by tumbling from 1.1% in January to 0.4% in February. Services sector pay growth followed the downward trend with the index recording a drop of 0.3 percentage points to reach 1.3% in February. Though the reduction is relatively modest, a fall of this size is still significant given the index’s current low level.

The bleak news reflects the fragile state of the labour market which is showing few signs of recovery.

The latest official labour market statistics show that unemployment rose in January offsetting the falls seen in November and December. Specifically, the claimant count measure of unemployment increased by 23,500 in January from December which represents its biggest monthly increase since July 2009. The current doubts around economic recovery are exacerbated by the uncertainty caused by the impending general election with employers waiting to see what fiscal policies are put in place by the new government before making significant decisions regarding employment and compensation.

Marion King, chief executive officer at VocaLink, said: “The fact that the VocaLink Take Home Pay Index Report has reached the lowest level in its history reflects the gravity of the current economic situation. The Index has now fallen below the previous low of 1.1% reached in May of last year when we were still in the depths of the recession. This continued fall in wage growth rates combined with rising inflation means that household finances are still under great pressure. Either the recovery will have to strengthen significantly or it will take a long period of slow growth before upward pressure on wages begins to build and the spending power of households begins to recover.”

VocaLink processes more than 90% of UK salaries and the VocaLink Take Home Pay Index, established in 2004, provides the most timely and accurate disposable income data available in the UK. It is based on salary payments made to employees on a three-month moving average compared with the same continuation measure a year earlier. It is affected by changes in tax rates, National Insurance and other employer payments or deductions.

About VocaLink
VocaLink’s switching platform connects over 60,000 ATMs, the world’s busiest network, while the euro payments platform processes more than 500 million payments per month.

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Checking & Savings, Financial, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Money, Security

Experian Payments Gateway Achieves Approval Under The Faster Payments Approved Software Scheme, Operated By Bacs

Experian, the global information company, has announced that its payment processing product, Experian Payments Gateway, has achieved approval under the Faster Payments Approved Software Scheme, operated by Bacs. As the first software to receive approval for unattended use with Direct Corporate Access (DCA), it will enable users to fully automate their Faster Payments and participate in the Barclays launch of DCA to Faster Payments in September.

Originally developed to enable payments originators to process Bacs Payments, Experian Payments Gateway has been extended, tested and approved for use with Smartcards and Hardware Security Modules (HSM) in both attended and unattended modes. It supports Faster Payments DCA via Secure-IP, the secure channel for corporates to initiate Faster Payments.

James Hilliard, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Experian Payments, said, “Many of our large customers use automated payments systems to help increase efficiency and reduce their risk and costs. Recognising their need to automate their Faster Payments securely, we have worked closely with the Faster Payments Approved Bacs Software Scheme to ensure they are able to gain maximum benefit from the new Faster Payments Service.”

Gareth Lodge, Regional Research Director, TowerGroup, said, “Automating payments has always been a key priority for corporates as it has multiple benefits, from cost reduction to improved risk management. But in the current economic environment, it probably is even more important than it has ever been, with working capital benefiting in particular. And of course, the deeper that SEPA Payments are integrated into the end-to-end process, the greater the benefits.”

Via EPR Network
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