ExxonMobil Corp (XOM): Resource nationalism has always been a challenge for international oil companies (IOC's) and their ability to grow production, but now that the majority of the world's remaining resources are government controlled, that challenge is quickly increasing. Large oil providers like ExxonMobil need sizable projects in order to operate at the level they are accustomed, but with oil-rich nations continuing to favor national oil companies (NOC's) over international ones, fewer projects exist. While ExxonMobil would make a great partner for the NOC's, partnerships are less profitable and harder to secure, to the point, some would argue, of being uneconomical. Due to their long development times, investing exclusively in "megaprojects"is risky; therefore, management must make the decision to take on more projects at less favorable terms or pursue frontier locations. Short interest is at 0.56%.
Avon Products Inc. (AVP): Following several years of rapid international expansion, Avon is now working tirelessly to rid itself of all the inefficiencies created by that very same expansion, including a bloated management structure and poor supply chain. Incurring $700 million in restructuring costs in 2010 alone, CEO Andrea Jung must fix these follies fast, as tight consumer spending and execution issues in developing markets continue to stall sales growth as is. Given that about 80% of Avon's consolidated sales are international, the company faces significant exposure to currency fluctuations. Also, key markets in Japan will be hit especially hard due to the crisis following the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Some investors now wonder if the full benefits of Avon's restructuring will take longer than initially forecast. Short interest is 2.00%.
American Express Co (AXP): In stark contrast to their lend-centric competitors like Visa and MasterCard, Amex has always been spend-centric, relying on merchant fees--instead of loan rates--to account for most of their earnings. In order to increase those earnings, they encourage the use of their cards. But while it may sound okay to entice cardholder spending, Amex was doing so pre-2008, at a time when the housing market was booming and cards were in the hands of high-spending clients who were spending beyond their means. Then came the 2008 financial crisis, which rocked Amex so hard it shook the putty from every little crack in their business model. Three years later, the card lender is still patching holes. In an effort to speed up repairs, Amex has recently opened their "closed-loop"model by partnering with banks and third party lenders in an attempt to build their client base, but concerned investors wonder if it is smart for Amex to look for growth outside its core clientele of high-net-worth individuals. Other risks concerning investors: Amex will continue to struggle as long as the unemployment rate remains high; the company still faces regulation. Short interest: 0.78%.
2011年3月31日 星期四
2011年3月30日 星期三
Gold & Silver Higher as Eurozone Downgrades
Gold and, particularly, silver are higher in European trading, especially in Japanese yen, which has come under pressure again today. The initial "repatriation funds" yen rally in the days after the natural and nuclear disaster has abated.
Gold is again close to record nominal highs in yen (119,000/oz) and other currencies. The outlook for the yen is not good due to massive fiscal and demographic challenges, zero percent interest rates and ongoing currency debasement – none of which will be helped by the nuclear disaster.
Risk appetite remains high with investors buying equities and shrugging off considerable geopolitical and sovereign debt risk. The downgrades of Portugal and Greece have led to new record high 10-year bond yields for both – at over 8.02% and 12.73% respectively.
Gold is supported at $1,410/oz and at $1,380/oz and €995/oz. A close above the record nominal high of $1,447.82/oz would likely see gold rise to psychological resistance of $1,500/oz in short order.
Gold in US Dollars - 17 February 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Tick)
Gold commenced 2011 at $1,420.78/oz and with two days of trading left in the first quarter, gold is marginally higher at $1,420/oz. It is therefore flat for the quarter after another quarter of correction and consolidation.
A lower quarterly close would be the first lower quarterly close in nine quarters. This may be beneficial to some of those short the gold market who may be attempting to "paint the tape" and engineer a lower quarterly close – in the forlorn hope that this could lead to momentum selling by trend, following hedge funds and traders.
A lower quarterly close may be achieved but the fundamentals of anemic supply and continuing strong demand both from the investment sector, but also from the jewelry and industrial sectors (dental and electronics primarily) internationally, and particularly in China and Asia in general will likely see gold continue to rise in 2011.
Gold in US Dollar - 1 January 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Daily)
Interestingly, March 2010 and the first quarter last year (see chart above), also saw gold flatline prior to strong gains in April and the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 10). Gold rose by nearly 6% last April and by nearly 12% in the quarter.
The unresolved eurozone debt crisis and the emergence of the Japanese natural and nuclear disasters and geopolitical risk in oil producing nations means that the fundamentals today are as sound as they were in 2010 – if not more sound.
Bearish predictions that higher gold prices would lead to sharp falls in industrial and jewelry demand are being proven wrong as seen in the figures released by the CPM group this morning (see news).
Gold is again close to record nominal highs in yen (119,000/oz) and other currencies. The outlook for the yen is not good due to massive fiscal and demographic challenges, zero percent interest rates and ongoing currency debasement – none of which will be helped by the nuclear disaster.
Risk appetite remains high with investors buying equities and shrugging off considerable geopolitical and sovereign debt risk. The downgrades of Portugal and Greece have led to new record high 10-year bond yields for both – at over 8.02% and 12.73% respectively.
Gold is supported at $1,410/oz and at $1,380/oz and €995/oz. A close above the record nominal high of $1,447.82/oz would likely see gold rise to psychological resistance of $1,500/oz in short order.
Gold in US Dollars - 17 February 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Tick)
Gold commenced 2011 at $1,420.78/oz and with two days of trading left in the first quarter, gold is marginally higher at $1,420/oz. It is therefore flat for the quarter after another quarter of correction and consolidation.
A lower quarterly close would be the first lower quarterly close in nine quarters. This may be beneficial to some of those short the gold market who may be attempting to "paint the tape" and engineer a lower quarterly close – in the forlorn hope that this could lead to momentum selling by trend, following hedge funds and traders.
A lower quarterly close may be achieved but the fundamentals of anemic supply and continuing strong demand both from the investment sector, but also from the jewelry and industrial sectors (dental and electronics primarily) internationally, and particularly in China and Asia in general will likely see gold continue to rise in 2011.
Gold in US Dollar - 1 January 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Daily)
Interestingly, March 2010 and the first quarter last year (see chart above), also saw gold flatline prior to strong gains in April and the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 10). Gold rose by nearly 6% last April and by nearly 12% in the quarter.
The unresolved eurozone debt crisis and the emergence of the Japanese natural and nuclear disasters and geopolitical risk in oil producing nations means that the fundamentals today are as sound as they were in 2010 – if not more sound.
Bearish predictions that higher gold prices would lead to sharp falls in industrial and jewelry demand are being proven wrong as seen in the figures released by the CPM group this morning (see news).
2011年3月29日 星期二
NASA Inspector General Concludes Agency Computers Vulnerable to Cyber-Attacks
There are few large-scale computer systems today that don't – at some point – experience attacks or attempted attacks from hackers. Chances are, if you have a credit card or ATM card, at some point, a merchant has informed you of a breach in their system (and stored personal data) that required you to change your credit card and perhaps take advantage of free credit monitoring service paid for by the merchant.
But let's face it, not all computer networks are created equal. While a breach in T.J. Maxx's network might be inconvenient for many, it's unlikely to get anyone killed. So you'd think critical government agencies, for example, would take better care.
Apparently not.
NASA's inspector general concluded this week that computer servers used by the space agency to control spacecraft were vulnerable to cyber-attack through the Internet, reported AFP.
Sweet, huh?
"We found that computer servers on NASA's agency-wide mission network had high-risk vulnerabilities that were exploitable from the Internet," NASA inspector general Paul Martin said in a report that concluded an audit of NASA's network security. "Specifically, six computer servers associated with IT assets that control spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that would allow a remote attacker to take control of or render them unavailable," said the report.
Apparently, a malicious hacker who managed to penetrate the network could use compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses and "severely degrade or cripple NASA's operations."
The inspector general's audit of NASA's computer security reportedly found system-wide holes such as network servers that revealed encryption keys (oops!) encrypted passwords, and user account information.
"These data are sensitive and provide attackers additional ways to gain unauthorized access to NASA networks," the report said.
The inspector general warned that "until NASA addresses these critical deficiencies and improves its IT security practices, the agency is vulnerable to computer incidents that could have a severe to catastrophic effect on agency assets, operations, and personnel."
You'd think they'd be onto this already. In 2009, hackers infected a computer system that supports one of NASA's mission networks. "Due to the inadequate security configurations on the system, the infection caused the computer system to make over 3,000 unauthorized connections to domestic and international Internet Protocol (IP) addresses including addresses in China, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Estonia," recalled the report.
Also in 2009, hackers stole 22 gigabytes of export-restricted data from a computer system at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a federally funded NASA research and development center in Pasadena, California.
The inspector general recommended that NASA immediately act to mitigate risks on Internet-accessible computers on its mission networks and carry out an agency-wide IT security risk assessment.
But let's face it, not all computer networks are created equal. While a breach in T.J. Maxx's network might be inconvenient for many, it's unlikely to get anyone killed. So you'd think critical government agencies, for example, would take better care.
Apparently not.
NASA's inspector general concluded this week that computer servers used by the space agency to control spacecraft were vulnerable to cyber-attack through the Internet, reported AFP.
Sweet, huh?
"We found that computer servers on NASA's agency-wide mission network had high-risk vulnerabilities that were exploitable from the Internet," NASA inspector general Paul Martin said in a report that concluded an audit of NASA's network security. "Specifically, six computer servers associated with IT assets that control spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that would allow a remote attacker to take control of or render them unavailable," said the report.
Apparently, a malicious hacker who managed to penetrate the network could use compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses and "severely degrade or cripple NASA's operations."
The inspector general's audit of NASA's computer security reportedly found system-wide holes such as network servers that revealed encryption keys (oops!) encrypted passwords, and user account information.
"These data are sensitive and provide attackers additional ways to gain unauthorized access to NASA networks," the report said.
The inspector general warned that "until NASA addresses these critical deficiencies and improves its IT security practices, the agency is vulnerable to computer incidents that could have a severe to catastrophic effect on agency assets, operations, and personnel."
You'd think they'd be onto this already. In 2009, hackers infected a computer system that supports one of NASA's mission networks. "Due to the inadequate security configurations on the system, the infection caused the computer system to make over 3,000 unauthorized connections to domestic and international Internet Protocol (IP) addresses including addresses in China, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Estonia," recalled the report.
Also in 2009, hackers stole 22 gigabytes of export-restricted data from a computer system at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a federally funded NASA research and development center in Pasadena, California.
The inspector general recommended that NASA immediately act to mitigate risks on Internet-accessible computers on its mission networks and carry out an agency-wide IT security risk assessment.
2011年3月28日 星期一
Credit Card Pioneer on Lowering Processing Expense
Credit card processing can be one of the most confusing parts of ecommerce for many merchants. The rates fluctuate widely and the monthly statements are hard to follow. And yet, credit card processing is key to virtually every ecommerce business. To help us understand how merchants can save money on their processing costs, we spoke to credit-card processing pioneer Sloane Bouchever. He's the co-founder of e-onlinedata, the large merchant account provider, and prior to that he was senior vice president of Authorize.Net, the payment gateway. His new firm is Interchange Plus Solutions. We talked with him about credit card payments and how merchants can reduce their processing costs.
Practical eCommerce: What is your view of the credit card processing business, especially from an ecommerce merchant's perspective?
Sloane Bouchever: "Overall, I think the industry has been a great ally of ecommerce merchants. When I started focusing on ecommerce in the 1990s, very few processors would approve Internet accounts because they perceived the risk was too high. Merchant account providers and gateways like Authorize.Net have embraced ecommerce. I think it's helped web merchants to build their businesses for the past 15 years."
PEC: What are some of the most common fee abuses that account providers are imposing on ecommerce merchants?
Bouchever: "There are a number of abuses that particularly stand out and most of them are inherent to the three-tier [i.e. "qualified," "mid-qualified," "non-qualified"] billing system that most small ecommerce merchants are set up on. Number one is downgrading rewards and corporate cards to nonqualified rates. The actual interchange cost for an ecommerce rewards card is just about 2.06 percent, but many merchant account providers are downgrading rewards cards and actually charging over 4 percent.
"Number two, the cost of processing a debit card is much, much lower than processing a credit card because the risk is much lower. But processors are charging debit cards on the Internet at about 2.25 percent where the rates are really much lower. They're not passing through the lower risk on debit card transactions.
"Number three, a lot of processors are taking unfair advantage of the yearly increases in Visa and MasterCard rates and fees. Every April and October, Visa and MasterCard typically adjust their interchange rates. So, suppose Visa raises the interchange fees for, say, corporate cards by three basis points, which is 0.03 percent; many providers will take advantage of this and increase across the board all card types by 5 or 6 basis points. In my opinion, this adding of interchange is a serious violation of trust.
"And don't get me started on termination fees that providers are charging to small merchants. They are really unjust and unfair. If you want to change your processor, you should be allowed to do that."
Practical eCommerce: What is your view of the credit card processing business, especially from an ecommerce merchant's perspective?
Sloane Bouchever: "Overall, I think the industry has been a great ally of ecommerce merchants. When I started focusing on ecommerce in the 1990s, very few processors would approve Internet accounts because they perceived the risk was too high. Merchant account providers and gateways like Authorize.Net have embraced ecommerce. I think it's helped web merchants to build their businesses for the past 15 years."
PEC: What are some of the most common fee abuses that account providers are imposing on ecommerce merchants?
Bouchever: "There are a number of abuses that particularly stand out and most of them are inherent to the three-tier [i.e. "qualified," "mid-qualified," "non-qualified"] billing system that most small ecommerce merchants are set up on. Number one is downgrading rewards and corporate cards to nonqualified rates. The actual interchange cost for an ecommerce rewards card is just about 2.06 percent, but many merchant account providers are downgrading rewards cards and actually charging over 4 percent.
"Number two, the cost of processing a debit card is much, much lower than processing a credit card because the risk is much lower. But processors are charging debit cards on the Internet at about 2.25 percent where the rates are really much lower. They're not passing through the lower risk on debit card transactions.
"Number three, a lot of processors are taking unfair advantage of the yearly increases in Visa and MasterCard rates and fees. Every April and October, Visa and MasterCard typically adjust their interchange rates. So, suppose Visa raises the interchange fees for, say, corporate cards by three basis points, which is 0.03 percent; many providers will take advantage of this and increase across the board all card types by 5 or 6 basis points. In my opinion, this adding of interchange is a serious violation of trust.
"And don't get me started on termination fees that providers are charging to small merchants. They are really unjust and unfair. If you want to change your processor, you should be allowed to do that."
2011年3月27日 星期日
Ship Rejected in China Port on ‘Abnormal’ Radiation Heading Back to Japan
A ship that had “abnormal” amounts of radiation after passing 67 nautical miles (124 kilometers) off Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, site of a crippled nuclear-power station, was heading back to the country after being rejected by authorities in China.
The MOL Presence is due to arrive in Kobe on March 30 from Xiamen, according to AISLive Ltd. ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. A Xiamen port official, who declined to give their name in a telephone call today, confirmed that the vessel had left and declined to elaborate.
An inspection detected “abnormal” amounts of radiation on the deck and the surface of containers on the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. vessel after it arrived in Xiamen on March 21, according to a March 25 notice on the website of the Xiamen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. There were normal levels in crew areas, it said.
Kazumi Nakamura, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K., said today she couldn’t comment as she was traveling. Calls to the City of Kobe’s port general affairs office and to the Port of Kobe’s general affairs office went unanswered.
Radiation Concerns
Concerns about radiation leaking from the Dai-Ichi power station have disrupted shipping from Japan with Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd AG halting Tokyo calls, the Japan Coast Guard advising ships to keep at least 30 kilometers from the plant and overseas ports scanning cargos. Tokyo port has tried to ease fears through steps including posting information about radiation levels online.
“Radiation is not at a level where we should be concerned,” Junko Tashiro, a port spokeswoman, said today by phone. The nuclear-power plant, damaged following a magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11, is about 220 kilometers north of Tokyo.
Companies including Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. have curtailed production since the quake and a subsequent tsunami because of damaged factories or parts shortages. The nuclear- power plant crisis has also caused electricity shortages.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned 355 boxes at the Port of Los Angeles onboard the first container ship to arrive in the country from Japan following the quake, according to operator APL Ltd., a unit of Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. All boxes on the vessel, the APL Korea, were cleared for delivery.
Container Volumes
Japan accounts for about 3 percent of global container volumes, compared with about 30 percent for China, according to Barclays Plc. It is the third-largest container shipper to the U.S. behind China and South Korea, with auto parts being the largest component of cargos, according to Piers, a shipping data unit of United Business Media Ltd.
The MOL Presence used a berth in Xiamen before leaving and anchoring offshore on March 23, according to the port bureau. There was contamination at the berth, the bureau said. China is Japan biggest export and import market, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.
Hapag-Lloyd has omitted port stops in Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama because of “the current situation,” it said in a statement on its website dated March 22. A March 25 update showed that it was continuing to avoid these ports. A Hapag- Lloyd spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached to comment.
Other lines are continuing business in Japan as usual. Seoul-base Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. is operating its usual services, Lee Jun Ki, a spokesman, said by phone today. STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, is also operating its vessels normally at Japanese ports, said Lim Wang Joo, a spokesman.
APL is continuing its regular calls to Kobe and Yokohama, Mike Zampa, a spokesman said today by phone. The shipping line has directed vessels to stay 200 nautical kilometers from the Fukushima area, he said.
The company has also stopped taking bookings for cargos to be hauled by land or barge into “high risk merchant account” areas near the nuclear plant, he said.
--Henry Sanderson. With assistance from Seonjin Cha in Seoul, Anand Menon and Patricia Lui in Singapore, Chris Cooper in Tokyo, Makiko Kitamura and Takehiko Kumakura in Osaka and Alaric Nightingale in London, as well as Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf. Editors: Neil Denslow, Hellmuth Tromm.
The MOL Presence is due to arrive in Kobe on March 30 from Xiamen, according to AISLive Ltd. ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. A Xiamen port official, who declined to give their name in a telephone call today, confirmed that the vessel had left and declined to elaborate.
An inspection detected “abnormal” amounts of radiation on the deck and the surface of containers on the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. vessel after it arrived in Xiamen on March 21, according to a March 25 notice on the website of the Xiamen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. There were normal levels in crew areas, it said.
Kazumi Nakamura, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K., said today she couldn’t comment as she was traveling. Calls to the City of Kobe’s port general affairs office and to the Port of Kobe’s general affairs office went unanswered.
Radiation Concerns
Concerns about radiation leaking from the Dai-Ichi power station have disrupted shipping from Japan with Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd AG halting Tokyo calls, the Japan Coast Guard advising ships to keep at least 30 kilometers from the plant and overseas ports scanning cargos. Tokyo port has tried to ease fears through steps including posting information about radiation levels online.
“Radiation is not at a level where we should be concerned,” Junko Tashiro, a port spokeswoman, said today by phone. The nuclear-power plant, damaged following a magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11, is about 220 kilometers north of Tokyo.
Companies including Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. have curtailed production since the quake and a subsequent tsunami because of damaged factories or parts shortages. The nuclear- power plant crisis has also caused electricity shortages.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned 355 boxes at the Port of Los Angeles onboard the first container ship to arrive in the country from Japan following the quake, according to operator APL Ltd., a unit of Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. All boxes on the vessel, the APL Korea, were cleared for delivery.
Container Volumes
Japan accounts for about 3 percent of global container volumes, compared with about 30 percent for China, according to Barclays Plc. It is the third-largest container shipper to the U.S. behind China and South Korea, with auto parts being the largest component of cargos, according to Piers, a shipping data unit of United Business Media Ltd.
The MOL Presence used a berth in Xiamen before leaving and anchoring offshore on March 23, according to the port bureau. There was contamination at the berth, the bureau said. China is Japan biggest export and import market, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.
Hapag-Lloyd has omitted port stops in Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama because of “the current situation,” it said in a statement on its website dated March 22. A March 25 update showed that it was continuing to avoid these ports. A Hapag- Lloyd spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached to comment.
Other lines are continuing business in Japan as usual. Seoul-base Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. is operating its usual services, Lee Jun Ki, a spokesman, said by phone today. STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, is also operating its vessels normally at Japanese ports, said Lim Wang Joo, a spokesman.
APL is continuing its regular calls to Kobe and Yokohama, Mike Zampa, a spokesman said today by phone. The shipping line has directed vessels to stay 200 nautical kilometers from the Fukushima area, he said.
The company has also stopped taking bookings for cargos to be hauled by land or barge into “high risk merchant account” areas near the nuclear plant, he said.
--Henry Sanderson. With assistance from Seonjin Cha in Seoul, Anand Menon and Patricia Lui in Singapore, Chris Cooper in Tokyo, Makiko Kitamura and Takehiko Kumakura in Osaka and Alaric Nightingale in London, as well as Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf. Editors: Neil Denslow, Hellmuth Tromm.
2011年3月22日 星期二
Fraud costs airlines USD1.4 billion a year. Regional airlines the fraudste
The aviation industry is inherently exposed to numerous external influences, such as fuel costs, the economy, exchange rate fluctuations, natural disasters and political instability, as recent world events highlight. Fraud is another external challenge facing the aviation industry, with major cost implications - although this can at least to some degree be controlled and monitored by aviation companies.
In an exclusive Q&A with CAPA, David Britton, VP of industry solutions at risk management/fraud prevention company 41st Parameter, explains how online fraud is affecting the aviation industry.
1. In 2008, airlines lost around USD1.4 billion to fraud, representing around 1.3% of the world total. Where does this figure stand today?
Overall, the airline industry continues to experience an "attack rate" of 1% - 1.5% of revenue, although some geographies, including the Middle East and Latin America, are subject to rates as high as 3 – 4% of revenue.
2. Given the increasing proportion of business conducted online, are airlines particularly susceptible to fraud compared to other industries?
The attack rate for airlines is comparable to the overall rate for e-commerce merchants selling physical goods online. Two areas where airlines are more sensitive to fraud losses are 1) the perishability of seat inventory, and 2) margins that make the loss of even a single seat to fraud painful to recover from. Ideally, airlines either prevent a fraudster from completing a booking, or are able to discover a fraudulent booking in sufficient time to cancel the reservation and resell the seats.
3. Is it primarily larger carriers that have taken steps against fraud? Are the smaller carriers more susceptible to this type of crime?
All carriers are susceptible to fraud, but it was the largest carriers that pioneered aggressive countermeasures to fight fraud. With fairly strong protections now in place at the majors, fraudsters are shifting their focus to airlines they have an easier time booking with – and the least chance of being stopped at the gate and asked for an alternate form of payment before they can board.
Who is at a disadvantage today? Airlines that fly routes competitive with carriers that have superior fraud prevention capabilities will naturally absorb a disproportionate share of fraudulent booking attempts. At the same time, mid-tier or regional carriers are now becoming the "carriers of choice" for fraudsters.
4. Are particular airline models targetted in fraudulent activities (LCCs? FSCs? Charters?). LCCs, for example, tend to have a higher proportion of bookings made online. Does this expose them to greater risk?
Fraudsters attack based on where and how they have the greatest likelihood of successfully booking and flying, so carriers which have marginal protections in place vis-o-vis competitors will naturally be at a disadvantage. Likewise a carrier that does not have consistently strong protections across booking channels will see fraud migrate to the least-protected channel. 41st witnessed this during an implementation where the carrier chose to deploy enhanced fraud protection against its online channel first, to be followed by the call centre and kiosks. Within a month of the tougher fraud protection being put in place for web-based bookings, fraud in call centre reservations had surged 40%. The following month, both the call centre and kiosk channels were placed under the umbrella of the fraud detection solution and the trend was reversed.
Both full-service and low-cost carriers suffer fraud attacks. Exposure varies by routes (certain cities have a higher preponderance of fraudulent bookings) and on long-haul flights premium cabins are often preferred.
5. Which carrier types manage fraud well?
Managing fraud well means minimising fraud losses while simultaneously not offending or inconveniencing customers. Said another way, maximising passenger revenue by not rejecting valid bookings or cutting off sales too far in advance of a flight to allow time to process manual review queues. Both of these objectives must be met within the constraint of an operating budget for fraud detection and prevention that is appropriate given the size of the problem.
With airlines experiencing fraud attack rates in the 1–3% range, there are carriers that actually reject 8%-25% of good orders because their automated fraud screening methods can’t examine bookings with sufficient granularity to accurately interpret whether a booking request is fraudulent or not.
6. What percentage of airlines would have fraud prevention departments in place?
The Deloitte Airline Fraud Report 2010 states that 52% of the respondents to its survey of IAAIA member airlines (copy available from Schwartz Communications) had "no system to formally detect and track fraudulent attempts to obtain tickets, and only half of respondents had a formal system to pick up unusual transactions or suspicious activities."
Virtually all of the major carriers have systems in place today.
In an exclusive Q&A with CAPA, David Britton, VP of industry solutions at risk management/fraud prevention company 41st Parameter, explains how online fraud is affecting the aviation industry.
1. In 2008, airlines lost around USD1.4 billion to fraud, representing around 1.3% of the world total. Where does this figure stand today?
Overall, the airline industry continues to experience an "attack rate" of 1% - 1.5% of revenue, although some geographies, including the Middle East and Latin America, are subject to rates as high as 3 – 4% of revenue.
2. Given the increasing proportion of business conducted online, are airlines particularly susceptible to fraud compared to other industries?
The attack rate for airlines is comparable to the overall rate for e-commerce merchants selling physical goods online. Two areas where airlines are more sensitive to fraud losses are 1) the perishability of seat inventory, and 2) margins that make the loss of even a single seat to fraud painful to recover from. Ideally, airlines either prevent a fraudster from completing a booking, or are able to discover a fraudulent booking in sufficient time to cancel the reservation and resell the seats.
3. Is it primarily larger carriers that have taken steps against fraud? Are the smaller carriers more susceptible to this type of crime?
All carriers are susceptible to fraud, but it was the largest carriers that pioneered aggressive countermeasures to fight fraud. With fairly strong protections now in place at the majors, fraudsters are shifting their focus to airlines they have an easier time booking with – and the least chance of being stopped at the gate and asked for an alternate form of payment before they can board.
Who is at a disadvantage today? Airlines that fly routes competitive with carriers that have superior fraud prevention capabilities will naturally absorb a disproportionate share of fraudulent booking attempts. At the same time, mid-tier or regional carriers are now becoming the "carriers of choice" for fraudsters.
4. Are particular airline models targetted in fraudulent activities (LCCs? FSCs? Charters?). LCCs, for example, tend to have a higher proportion of bookings made online. Does this expose them to greater risk?
Fraudsters attack based on where and how they have the greatest likelihood of successfully booking and flying, so carriers which have marginal protections in place vis-o-vis competitors will naturally be at a disadvantage. Likewise a carrier that does not have consistently strong protections across booking channels will see fraud migrate to the least-protected channel. 41st witnessed this during an implementation where the carrier chose to deploy enhanced fraud protection against its online channel first, to be followed by the call centre and kiosks. Within a month of the tougher fraud protection being put in place for web-based bookings, fraud in call centre reservations had surged 40%. The following month, both the call centre and kiosk channels were placed under the umbrella of the fraud detection solution and the trend was reversed.
Both full-service and low-cost carriers suffer fraud attacks. Exposure varies by routes (certain cities have a higher preponderance of fraudulent bookings) and on long-haul flights premium cabins are often preferred.
5. Which carrier types manage fraud well?
Managing fraud well means minimising fraud losses while simultaneously not offending or inconveniencing customers. Said another way, maximising passenger revenue by not rejecting valid bookings or cutting off sales too far in advance of a flight to allow time to process manual review queues. Both of these objectives must be met within the constraint of an operating budget for fraud detection and prevention that is appropriate given the size of the problem.
With airlines experiencing fraud attack rates in the 1–3% range, there are carriers that actually reject 8%-25% of good orders because their automated fraud screening methods can’t examine bookings with sufficient granularity to accurately interpret whether a booking request is fraudulent or not.
6. What percentage of airlines would have fraud prevention departments in place?
The Deloitte Airline Fraud Report 2010 states that 52% of the respondents to its survey of IAAIA member airlines (copy available from Schwartz Communications) had "no system to formally detect and track fraudulent attempts to obtain tickets, and only half of respondents had a formal system to pick up unusual transactions or suspicious activities."
Virtually all of the major carriers have systems in place today.
2011年3月20日 星期日
It boils down to securing coal
Coal availability has become a major issue for thermal power projects. Earlier, the delays in
projects would neutralise the delay in coal production. However, coal production in recent
times has been lagging behind capacity addition as execution delays are shrinking, especially
in the case of private sector projects.
While the Ministry of Power is desperately trying to reduce the demand-supply gap in
electricity, this is contingent on the availability of coal supply, given that two-thirds of
the power projects to be commissioned during the current Plan are coal-based.
Hence, JSW Energy in the December 2010 quarter saw its fuel expenses double year-on-year,
even as power generation and revenues only went up by 45 per cent and 39 per cent
respectively. This has been the case with most other utilities which did not have the
flexibility to pass on the rising fuel cost by way of regulated tariff. Sharp rise in fuel
cost was a function of international spot coal prices shooting up due to the Australian
floods stalling coal production.
WIDENING GAP
The coal demand this fiscal is estimated to grow by 43 per cent more than the 2006-07 demand
levels while the production may rise by only 32 per cent, widening the gap.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, another 20,000 MW of coal projects or (21 per
cent of the current capacity) are expected to be added over the next 14 months while the coal
production will only grow at historic rates of 6-7 per cent. This coupled with huge capacity
-addition targets for 12th Plan aggravate the problem of fuel availability over the next five
years.
In 12th Plan (FY13-FY17), around 74,000 MW of thermal power capacity is expected to be
commissioned, with a majority of it being coal-based. Lack of definitive fuel supply may also
hamper the financial closure of the projects in the 12th Plan, as financial institutions
insist on coal availability.
In 2011-12, according to the Annual Plan Document, the import of coal is estimated to be 137
million tonnes as against 83 million tonnes in the current fiscal. The eleventh plan
projections at 51 million tonne were revised higher due to slippages in production of Coal
India (CIL).
The import gap takes into account non-power sector demand also. Such high levels of imports
are exposing the coal-dependent sectors to volatile international prices, which have risen
significantly over the past few months.
In the medium term, power players with their own captive blocks, if developed, will be better
placed to tide over the widening demand-supply gap, followed by those with coal linkages.
This category is followed by the companies which own mines abroad. These high quality mines
are expensive compared with domestic mines, which would mean higher power tariffs to make the
same returns. The last category, which sources coal in the e-auction market of CIL or global
spot market, are most vulnerable to both fuel price and procurement risk. These projects
typically sell in the short-term merchant market to improve their profitability.
COAL BLOCKS AND LINKAGES
Of the 208 captive coal blocks, around 113 have been allocated to private companies. The
reserves of these projects are huge (49 billion tonnes of reserves), however, only 26 blocks
are operational. These coal blocks, in 2009-10, cornered a modest 6.5 per cent of the total
coal production. Of the 74,000 MW capacities to come up in 12th Plan, 44,000 MW capacity
would have access to captive blocks.
However, the Ministry of Power is concerned about the delays in developing these mines, on
account of environmental clearances, obtaining mining lease and land acquisition.
Most of the coal supply for the power sector is however through coal linkages. . More than 90
per cent of the non-coking coal mined by CIL is supplied to the power sector through this
route. The ones with coal linkages would be subject to procurement risk while price risk is
mitigated. But lack of adequate infrastructure for speedy movement of coal produced is a
concern due to remote location of the mines and coal wagon shortage.
projects would neutralise the delay in coal production. However, coal production in recent
times has been lagging behind capacity addition as execution delays are shrinking, especially
in the case of private sector projects.
While the Ministry of Power is desperately trying to reduce the demand-supply gap in
electricity, this is contingent on the availability of coal supply, given that two-thirds of
the power projects to be commissioned during the current Plan are coal-based.
Hence, JSW Energy in the December 2010 quarter saw its fuel expenses double year-on-year,
even as power generation and revenues only went up by 45 per cent and 39 per cent
respectively. This has been the case with most other utilities which did not have the
flexibility to pass on the rising fuel cost by way of regulated tariff. Sharp rise in fuel
cost was a function of international spot coal prices shooting up due to the Australian
floods stalling coal production.
WIDENING GAP
The coal demand this fiscal is estimated to grow by 43 per cent more than the 2006-07 demand
levels while the production may rise by only 32 per cent, widening the gap.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, another 20,000 MW of coal projects or (21 per
cent of the current capacity) are expected to be added over the next 14 months while the coal
production will only grow at historic rates of 6-7 per cent. This coupled with huge capacity
-addition targets for 12th Plan aggravate the problem of fuel availability over the next five
years.
In 12th Plan (FY13-FY17), around 74,000 MW of thermal power capacity is expected to be
commissioned, with a majority of it being coal-based. Lack of definitive fuel supply may also
hamper the financial closure of the projects in the 12th Plan, as financial institutions
insist on coal availability.
In 2011-12, according to the Annual Plan Document, the import of coal is estimated to be 137
million tonnes as against 83 million tonnes in the current fiscal. The eleventh plan
projections at 51 million tonne were revised higher due to slippages in production of Coal
India (CIL).
The import gap takes into account non-power sector demand also. Such high levels of imports
are exposing the coal-dependent sectors to volatile international prices, which have risen
significantly over the past few months.
In the medium term, power players with their own captive blocks, if developed, will be better
placed to tide over the widening demand-supply gap, followed by those with coal linkages.
This category is followed by the companies which own mines abroad. These high quality mines
are expensive compared with domestic mines, which would mean higher power tariffs to make the
same returns. The last category, which sources coal in the e-auction market of CIL or global
spot market, are most vulnerable to both fuel price and procurement risk. These projects
typically sell in the short-term merchant market to improve their profitability.
COAL BLOCKS AND LINKAGES
Of the 208 captive coal blocks, around 113 have been allocated to private companies. The
reserves of these projects are huge (49 billion tonnes of reserves), however, only 26 blocks
are operational. These coal blocks, in 2009-10, cornered a modest 6.5 per cent of the total
coal production. Of the 74,000 MW capacities to come up in 12th Plan, 44,000 MW capacity
would have access to captive blocks.
However, the Ministry of Power is concerned about the delays in developing these mines, on
account of environmental clearances, obtaining mining lease and land acquisition.
Most of the coal supply for the power sector is however through coal linkages. . More than 90
per cent of the non-coking coal mined by CIL is supplied to the power sector through this
route. The ones with coal linkages would be subject to procurement risk while price risk is
mitigated. But lack of adequate infrastructure for speedy movement of coal produced is a
concern due to remote location of the mines and coal wagon shortage.
2011年3月14日 星期一
FNB United Corp. Announces Fourth Quarter Results; Reports $29.6 Million Net Loss
FNB United Corp. (Nasdaq:FNBN), the holding company for CommunityONE Bank, N.A., and its
wholly owned subsidiary, Dover Mortgage Company, today reported financial results for the
fourth quarter of 2010. During the quarter, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $29.6
million, due largely to its recognition of provisions for loan losses of $22.4 million in the
quarter. Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred stock issued
in the Capital Purchase Program, the fourth quarter 2010 loss attributable to common
shareholders was $30.4 million, or $2.67 per diluted share. During the fourth quarter of
2009, FNB United recognized a provision for loan losses of $24.7 million and incurred a net
loss of $28.9 million, or $2.53 per diluted share.
"We continue to expend considerable effort toward the management of non-performing assets,"
said R. Larry Campbell, Interim President and CEO. "Since the end of 2009 we have seen non-
performing assets increase to $393.7 million at December 31, 2010. Because of these levels,
we have been aggressively making provisions for loan loss reserves as well as charging off
loans deemed to be uncollectible. Our allowance for loan losses as a percentage of loans held
for investment is now 5.84% compared to 3.16% a year ago. We expect these levels to begin
declining over the coming months as the economy improves and we aggressively work out of
these credits." Mr. Campbell continued, "During this time we have also maintained high levels
of liquidity. This has allowed us to manage our other borrowed money to lower levels."
During 2010, FNB United recognized provisions for loan losses totaling $115.2 million. The
company also recognized net gains of $10.6 million from the sale of investment securities. As
a result, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $112.9 million for the year ended
December 31, 2010. Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred
stock issued in the Capital Purchase Program, the resulting 2010 loss attributable to common
shareholders was $116.2 million, or $10.17 per diluted share.
In 2009, FNB United recognized provisions for loan losses totaling $61.7 million, charged off
goodwill of $52.4 million, established a valuation reserve of $22.3 million for deferred tax
assets, and recorded a $5.0 million Other Than Temporary Impairment (OTTI) write-down on a
specific investment security. As a result, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $101.7
million, while losses attributable to common shareholders, taking into account preferred
dividends, were $104.6 million, or $9.16 per diluted share.
Regulatory Actions
CommunityONE Bank consented to the issuance of a Consent Order by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency on July 22, 2010, which mandates specific actions by the Bank to
address certain findings from the OCC's examination and the Bank's current financial
condition. The Consent Order contains various requirements, including a capital directive,
more controls on future extensions of credit, and the Bank's development of various programs
and procedures to improve its asset quality. The capital directive requires the Bank to
achieve and maintain minimum regulatory capital levels in excess of the statutory minimums to
be well-capitalized. In connection with the Consent Order, the Bank has developed a three-
year strategic plan that establishes specific objectives, as outlined in the Consent Order,
and is awaiting OCC approval of the plan.
In addition, on October 21, 2010, FNB United Corp. entered into a written agreement with the
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Pursuant to the agreement, FNB United's board of directors
agreed to take appropriate steps to utilize fully FNB United's financial and managerial
resources to serve as a source of strength to CommunityONE Bank, including causing the Bank
to comply with the Consent Order issued by the OCC.
Campbell stated, "We have submitted a strategic capital plan that is designed to restore the
capital levels at both the holding company and the bank. Further, FNB United is actively
working with financial advisors, third party advisors and a team of management consultants to
achieve this objective. We are regularly communicating with the OCC and Federal Reserve Bank
on the plans and actions being taken to comply with capital ratios in the agreements."
Asset Quality and Provision for Loan Losses
Nonperforming loans increased during the fourth quarter to $329.9 million, or 25.30% of total
loans, at December 31, 2010 compared to $174.4 million, or 11.16 % of total loans, at
December 31, 2009. Construction and development loans were 41.82% of nonperforming loans at
December 31, 2010. Nonperforming loans were $291.9 million at the end of the preceding
quarter.
Provisions for loan losses were $22.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2010,
compared to $24.7 million in the same period in 2009, with total net charge-offs of $12.3
million in the fourth quarter of 2010 versus $17.5 million for the same period a year ago.
For the year ended December 31, 2010, provision for loan losses totaled $115.2 million
compared to $61.7 million for the prior-year period, with 2010 net charges-offs of $88.5
million, increasing from $47.0 million for 2009. FNB United's real estate owned and
repossessed loan collateral was $63.8 million at December 31, 2010, compared to $48.9 million
at September 30, 2010, and $35.2 million at December 31, 2009.
Nonperforming assets were $393.7 million, or 20.5% of total assets at December 31, 2010,
compared to $340.9 million, or 17.0% at the end of the preceding quarter, and $209.7 million,
or 10.0% a year ago. Nonperforming assets include all nonaccrual loans, all loans over 90
days delinquent and still accruing, other real estate owned, and other repossessed loan
collateral. The total allowance for loan losses was $76.2 million at December 31, 2010, equal
to 5.84% of loans held for investment, compared to 4.66% at September 30, 2010 and 3.16% at
December 31, 2009.
Loans that were delinquent 30-89 days totaled $78.1 million, or 5.99% of total loans at
December 31, 2010, compared to $121.3 million, or 8.54% of total loans at September 30, 2010,
and $40.1 million, or 2.57% of total loans at December 31, 2009. The Bank had loans 90 days
or more past due and still accruing, totaling $4.8 million at December 31, 2010, $997,000 at
September 30, 2010 and $6.9 million at December 31, 2009.
During the past year, the Bank has increased staff and engaged third-party contractors in its
special assets division to manage impaired loans and real estate owned, all of whom are
experienced in loan restorations and resolutions and well equipped to resolve credit problems
through forbearance, restructuring and modification agreements as well as note sales. FNB
United believes adding resources in this way will help stabilize the increase in
nonperforming assets and provide additional options for resolution.
wholly owned subsidiary, Dover Mortgage Company, today reported financial results for the
fourth quarter of 2010. During the quarter, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $29.6
million, due largely to its recognition of provisions for loan losses of $22.4 million in the
quarter. Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred stock issued
in the Capital Purchase Program, the fourth quarter 2010 loss attributable to common
shareholders was $30.4 million, or $2.67 per diluted share. During the fourth quarter of
2009, FNB United recognized a provision for loan losses of $24.7 million and incurred a net
loss of $28.9 million, or $2.53 per diluted share.
"We continue to expend considerable effort toward the management of non-performing assets,"
said R. Larry Campbell, Interim President and CEO. "Since the end of 2009 we have seen non-
performing assets increase to $393.7 million at December 31, 2010. Because of these levels,
we have been aggressively making provisions for loan loss reserves as well as charging off
loans deemed to be uncollectible. Our allowance for loan losses as a percentage of loans held
for investment is now 5.84% compared to 3.16% a year ago. We expect these levels to begin
declining over the coming months as the economy improves and we aggressively work out of
these credits." Mr. Campbell continued, "During this time we have also maintained high levels
of liquidity. This has allowed us to manage our other borrowed money to lower levels."
During 2010, FNB United recognized provisions for loan losses totaling $115.2 million. The
company also recognized net gains of $10.6 million from the sale of investment securities. As
a result, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $112.9 million for the year ended
December 31, 2010. Adjusting for dividends payable to the U.S. Treasury on the preferred
stock issued in the Capital Purchase Program, the resulting 2010 loss attributable to common
shareholders was $116.2 million, or $10.17 per diluted share.
In 2009, FNB United recognized provisions for loan losses totaling $61.7 million, charged off
goodwill of $52.4 million, established a valuation reserve of $22.3 million for deferred tax
assets, and recorded a $5.0 million Other Than Temporary Impairment (OTTI) write-down on a
specific investment security. As a result, FNB United reported a net operating loss of $101.7
million, while losses attributable to common shareholders, taking into account preferred
dividends, were $104.6 million, or $9.16 per diluted share.
Regulatory Actions
CommunityONE Bank consented to the issuance of a Consent Order by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency on July 22, 2010, which mandates specific actions by the Bank to
address certain findings from the OCC's examination and the Bank's current financial
condition. The Consent Order contains various requirements, including a capital directive,
more controls on future extensions of credit, and the Bank's development of various programs
and procedures to improve its asset quality. The capital directive requires the Bank to
achieve and maintain minimum regulatory capital levels in excess of the statutory minimums to
be well-capitalized. In connection with the Consent Order, the Bank has developed a three-
year strategic plan that establishes specific objectives, as outlined in the Consent Order,
and is awaiting OCC approval of the plan.
In addition, on October 21, 2010, FNB United Corp. entered into a written agreement with the
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Pursuant to the agreement, FNB United's board of directors
agreed to take appropriate steps to utilize fully FNB United's financial and managerial
resources to serve as a source of strength to CommunityONE Bank, including causing the Bank
to comply with the Consent Order issued by the OCC.
Campbell stated, "We have submitted a strategic capital plan that is designed to restore the
capital levels at both the holding company and the bank. Further, FNB United is actively
working with financial advisors, third party advisors and a team of management consultants to
achieve this objective. We are regularly communicating with the OCC and Federal Reserve Bank
on the plans and actions being taken to comply with capital ratios in the agreements."
Asset Quality and Provision for Loan Losses
Nonperforming loans increased during the fourth quarter to $329.9 million, or 25.30% of total
loans, at December 31, 2010 compared to $174.4 million, or 11.16 % of total loans, at
December 31, 2009. Construction and development loans were 41.82% of nonperforming loans at
December 31, 2010. Nonperforming loans were $291.9 million at the end of the preceding
quarter.
Provisions for loan losses were $22.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2010,
compared to $24.7 million in the same period in 2009, with total net charge-offs of $12.3
million in the fourth quarter of 2010 versus $17.5 million for the same period a year ago.
For the year ended December 31, 2010, provision for loan losses totaled $115.2 million
compared to $61.7 million for the prior-year period, with 2010 net charges-offs of $88.5
million, increasing from $47.0 million for 2009. FNB United's real estate owned and
repossessed loan collateral was $63.8 million at December 31, 2010, compared to $48.9 million
at September 30, 2010, and $35.2 million at December 31, 2009.
Nonperforming assets were $393.7 million, or 20.5% of total assets at December 31, 2010,
compared to $340.9 million, or 17.0% at the end of the preceding quarter, and $209.7 million,
or 10.0% a year ago. Nonperforming assets include all nonaccrual loans, all loans over 90
days delinquent and still accruing, other real estate owned, and other repossessed loan
collateral. The total allowance for loan losses was $76.2 million at December 31, 2010, equal
to 5.84% of loans held for investment, compared to 4.66% at September 30, 2010 and 3.16% at
December 31, 2009.
Loans that were delinquent 30-89 days totaled $78.1 million, or 5.99% of total loans at
December 31, 2010, compared to $121.3 million, or 8.54% of total loans at September 30, 2010,
and $40.1 million, or 2.57% of total loans at December 31, 2009. The Bank had loans 90 days
or more past due and still accruing, totaling $4.8 million at December 31, 2010, $997,000 at
September 30, 2010 and $6.9 million at December 31, 2009.
During the past year, the Bank has increased staff and engaged third-party contractors in its
special assets division to manage impaired loans and real estate owned, all of whom are
experienced in loan restorations and resolutions and well equipped to resolve credit problems
through forbearance, restructuring and modification agreements as well as note sales. FNB
United believes adding resources in this way will help stabilize the increase in
nonperforming assets and provide additional options for resolution.
2011年3月13日 星期日
Merchant e-Solutions Selected to Provide Robust, Secure Payment Transactions Solutions to TheStreet
Merchant e-Solutions (MeS) announced today that TheStreet, a leading digital financial media
company, has selected MeS as its new payment platform. As one of the fastest growing
processors in the e-commerce space MeS is uniquely positioned because of its complete in-
house e-commerce technology, inclusive of a payment gateway, authorizations, clearing and
settlement processing as well as tokenization. MeS' payment technology will help assure
quick, secure payment processing for TheStreet's subscribers.
TheStreet has implemented MeS' cutting edge services including recurring billing
functionality, tokenization of card data and Visa and MasterCard's Account Updater service.
In addition, TheStreet can employ pre-paid and gift card identification during authorization,
enabling informed decisions on whether to use a card for a future recurring payment. All of
these features combine to reduce the burden of PCI compliance and maintain the latest card
holder data, helping to maximize profitability of TheStreet's recurring revenue stream.
"When measured by the value of our responsive service, robust technology platform and real-
time web-based reporting platform, we were able to come out ahead of our competitors," said
Kevin Gallagher, General Manager of e-Commerce for Merchant e-Solutions.
TheStreet is a leader in subscription-based premium services that provide investors with
insightful commentary, actionable trading ideas and market screeners across a broad spectrum
of asset classes. In addition, it delivers a deep offering of financial and business
editorial content and videos on ad-supported properties.
Daniel Flax, TheStreet's Chief Information Officer, said, "We place a great deal of emphasis
on providing our subscribers with seamless, high quality financial information through the
safest, most efficient and reliable digital mediums available. We evaluated a number of
options and after careful consideration and a high degree of scrutiny we are confident that
Merchant e-Solutions is the best provider of payment processing solutions available."
About Merchant e-Solutions (MeS)
Merchant e-Solutions, founded in 1999, provides Internet-based payment processing solutions
for merchants and banks. Merchant e-Solutions currently processes more than $14 billion
dollars in payments for more than 65,000 merchants, supporting 150 global currencies and all
major credit, debit and alternative payment solutions. The company specializes in services
for e-commerce and card-not-present merchants and provides a comprehensive suite of payment
solutions that are PCI compliant and designed to reduce merchant risk exposure. Merchant e-
Solutions is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with operations in Spokane, WA, and satellite
offices in Minneapolis, MN, and Columbus, GA.
company, has selected MeS as its new payment platform. As one of the fastest growing
processors in the e-commerce space MeS is uniquely positioned because of its complete in-
house e-commerce technology, inclusive of a payment gateway, authorizations, clearing and
settlement processing as well as tokenization. MeS' payment technology will help assure
quick, secure payment processing for TheStreet's subscribers.
TheStreet has implemented MeS' cutting edge services including recurring billing
functionality, tokenization of card data and Visa and MasterCard's Account Updater service.
In addition, TheStreet can employ pre-paid and gift card identification during authorization,
enabling informed decisions on whether to use a card for a future recurring payment. All of
these features combine to reduce the burden of PCI compliance and maintain the latest card
holder data, helping to maximize profitability of TheStreet's recurring revenue stream.
"When measured by the value of our responsive service, robust technology platform and real-
time web-based reporting platform, we were able to come out ahead of our competitors," said
Kevin Gallagher, General Manager of e-Commerce for Merchant e-Solutions.
TheStreet is a leader in subscription-based premium services that provide investors with
insightful commentary, actionable trading ideas and market screeners across a broad spectrum
of asset classes. In addition, it delivers a deep offering of financial and business
editorial content and videos on ad-supported properties.
Daniel Flax, TheStreet's Chief Information Officer, said, "We place a great deal of emphasis
on providing our subscribers with seamless, high quality financial information through the
safest, most efficient and reliable digital mediums available. We evaluated a number of
options and after careful consideration and a high degree of scrutiny we are confident that
Merchant e-Solutions is the best provider of payment processing solutions available."
About Merchant e-Solutions (MeS)
Merchant e-Solutions, founded in 1999, provides Internet-based payment processing solutions
for merchants and banks. Merchant e-Solutions currently processes more than $14 billion
dollars in payments for more than 65,000 merchants, supporting 150 global currencies and all
major credit, debit and alternative payment solutions. The company specializes in services
for e-commerce and card-not-present merchants and provides a comprehensive suite of payment
solutions that are PCI compliant and designed to reduce merchant risk exposure. Merchant e-
Solutions is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with operations in Spokane, WA, and satellite
offices in Minneapolis, MN, and Columbus, GA.
2011年3月9日 星期三
I enjoy the fact that every day is different
Jolynn Dobson Cook, RN, COE (Laurel Eye Clinic and Laurel Laser & Surgery Centers in Brookville, Pa.). Ms. Cook is the administrator of the Laurel Eye Clinic and the Laurel Laser & Surgery Centers, a position she has held for 13 years. As administrator, she oversaw the development and construction for both ophthalmic ASCs owned by the practice. A certified ophthalmic executive, Ms. Cook is a registered nurse and also holds a degree in healthcare administration. She is an annual presenter at the national ASOA Congress and the Hawaiian Eye meetings. In 2010, she completed her second term as the president of the National Board of Certified Ophthalmic Executives. In addition, she has authored articles for Administrative Eyecare and BSM Connection, a publication associated with business management and training company BSM Consulting. Ms. Cook is a member of the BSM Advisory Board, which provides guidance into BSM Consulting's distant learning and practice management content and development, and has authored two ophthalmic educational courses.
Lynda Dowman Simon (St. John's Clinic: Head & Neck Surgery in Springfield, Mo.). Ms. Simon is the administrator at St. John's Clinic: Head & Neck Surgery. Ms. Simon has been at her center since 1994. Prior to coming to St. John's, she worked for 13 years at a local hospital in the open heart center and urology. According to Ms. Dowman Simon, St. John's is the only ASC in Missouri dedicated solely to ENT procedures, and the center's patient satisfaction rating currently sits at 98.17 percent. "Coworkers [who are] hired, stay," she says. "I have not hired a new person in over 3.5 years." The center, which is part of Mercy Health systems, performed its 30,000th case on July 5, 2010.
Vicki Edelman, RN, CASC (Blue Bell Surgery Center in Blue Bell, Pa.). Ms. Edelman is the administrator of Blue Bell Surgery Center, a four-room, multi-specialty ASC that opened in Sept. 2008. Surgeons specialize in orthopedics, ENT, pain management, plastic surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. Blue Bell sees around 225 patients monthly and is managed by Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America. Ms. Edelman has been with Blue Bell since May 2008, during the center's construction phase. Ms. Edelman credits her center's success to the energy, resourcefulness and dedication of her team. "My job would not be possible without their tireless efforts to maintain our high standards, and their support in providing quality patient care to the community we serve," she says. She has been a nurse for 32 years and began her career in medical surgical nursing and high-risk obstetrics. Her first management role was as assistant nurse manager at Philadelphia's Albert Einstein Medical Center's short procedure unit and admission discharge unit.
Carolyn Evec, RN, CNOR (The Surgery Center at Beaufort in South Carolina). Ms. Evec opened a surgery center in Mississippi and served as its nurse manager prior to joining The Surgery Center at Beaufort. She has 30 years of nursing experience and has held various management positions including director of surgery, director of medical and surgical services, vice president of patient services and director of rural health clinics. Ms. Evec has helped improve efficiency at her center in many ways. "With the help of the staff, we developed an ordering system for supplies that now involves all of the staff and eliminated a part-time staff position," she says. "We now order supplies two days a week, and it takes only about an hour to complete the process." Ms. Evec says, "I love the privilege and challenge of being involved in all aspects of the operations of the center. Coming from a clinical background, I have really enjoyed learning and being responsible for the business side of operations as well. I enjoy the fact that every day is different and that I have the ability and support of the medical staff to affect change when needed."
Andrea Fann (Orthopaedic South Surgical Center). Ms. Fann serves as the administrator of Orthopaedic South Surgical Center, a United Surgical Partners International facility. She has served in the position — her first administrator role — since 2005, before which she worked as business office manager for Buckhead Ambulatory Surgery Center and as director of front office operations for Atlanta Outpatient Surgery Center (both HCA facilities). She prides herself on providing an honest, warm and caring atmosphere for everyone who enters her center: employees, physicians, visitors and patients. "When we take care of our employees and provide strong leadership, they are more productive, and their happiness is seen by our patients and physicians," she says. Ms. Fann doesn't take her role for granted. She firmly believes that a manager does not automatically become a leader and that installing the right team is essential for ASC success. In 2010, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center was recognized as a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Finalist.
Lynda Dowman Simon (St. John's Clinic: Head & Neck Surgery in Springfield, Mo.). Ms. Simon is the administrator at St. John's Clinic: Head & Neck Surgery. Ms. Simon has been at her center since 1994. Prior to coming to St. John's, she worked for 13 years at a local hospital in the open heart center and urology. According to Ms. Dowman Simon, St. John's is the only ASC in Missouri dedicated solely to ENT procedures, and the center's patient satisfaction rating currently sits at 98.17 percent. "Coworkers [who are] hired, stay," she says. "I have not hired a new person in over 3.5 years." The center, which is part of Mercy Health systems, performed its 30,000th case on July 5, 2010.
Vicki Edelman, RN, CASC (Blue Bell Surgery Center in Blue Bell, Pa.). Ms. Edelman is the administrator of Blue Bell Surgery Center, a four-room, multi-specialty ASC that opened in Sept. 2008. Surgeons specialize in orthopedics, ENT, pain management, plastic surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. Blue Bell sees around 225 patients monthly and is managed by Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America. Ms. Edelman has been with Blue Bell since May 2008, during the center's construction phase. Ms. Edelman credits her center's success to the energy, resourcefulness and dedication of her team. "My job would not be possible without their tireless efforts to maintain our high standards, and their support in providing quality patient care to the community we serve," she says. She has been a nurse for 32 years and began her career in medical surgical nursing and high-risk obstetrics. Her first management role was as assistant nurse manager at Philadelphia's Albert Einstein Medical Center's short procedure unit and admission discharge unit.
Carolyn Evec, RN, CNOR (The Surgery Center at Beaufort in South Carolina). Ms. Evec opened a surgery center in Mississippi and served as its nurse manager prior to joining The Surgery Center at Beaufort. She has 30 years of nursing experience and has held various management positions including director of surgery, director of medical and surgical services, vice president of patient services and director of rural health clinics. Ms. Evec has helped improve efficiency at her center in many ways. "With the help of the staff, we developed an ordering system for supplies that now involves all of the staff and eliminated a part-time staff position," she says. "We now order supplies two days a week, and it takes only about an hour to complete the process." Ms. Evec says, "I love the privilege and challenge of being involved in all aspects of the operations of the center. Coming from a clinical background, I have really enjoyed learning and being responsible for the business side of operations as well. I enjoy the fact that every day is different and that I have the ability and support of the medical staff to affect change when needed."
Andrea Fann (Orthopaedic South Surgical Center). Ms. Fann serves as the administrator of Orthopaedic South Surgical Center, a United Surgical Partners International facility. She has served in the position — her first administrator role — since 2005, before which she worked as business office manager for Buckhead Ambulatory Surgery Center and as director of front office operations for Atlanta Outpatient Surgery Center (both HCA facilities). She prides herself on providing an honest, warm and caring atmosphere for everyone who enters her center: employees, physicians, visitors and patients. "When we take care of our employees and provide strong leadership, they are more productive, and their happiness is seen by our patients and physicians," she says. Ms. Fann doesn't take her role for granted. She firmly believes that a manager does not automatically become a leader and that installing the right team is essential for ASC success. In 2010, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center was recognized as a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Finalist.
2011年3月7日 星期一
Tips to Choose the Best Merchant Account Services
Tips to Choose the Best Merchant Account Services is a post from: Everything Finance
When you are looking for a merchant account to grow your business, there are many things that you are required to keep in mind. One of the most important and foremost things that you must consider while selecting a merchant account is that it must be a reliable merchant account that is also cost effective so that you are able to get the best value for your money. NAB merchant accounts are a popular choice among merchant account providers that offer almost everything ranging from credit and debit card processing to offering help and guidance for getting the right credit card processing equipment. But take heed in choosing one without adequate research. A provider should be chosen carefully only after careful research is conducted.
There are various types of merchant accounts that are designed to meet requirements of different types of businesses. There are different processors that provide the customers with different accounts. For example, there are some processors that allow the trading of only digital goods such as the e-books or there are some other processors that allow only the businesses from the United States to have their merchant accounts. There is a special category of merchant account for selling digital goods and other low risk products such as furniture and home decoration products. These merchant accounts may not allow their vendors to trade in some high risk ventures such as gambling. To be able to sell high risk goods such as casino or other gambling products, one must have a merchant account for that purpose. These merchant accounts are called specialist accounts and they charge higher than the normal merchant accounts that are usually considered to be safe. If someone tries to use such merchant accounts for selling safer products, there are chances that the person will end up in some loss or an average profit. Similarly, there are some specialist accounts for adult websites. Therefore it is very important that you select the merchant account on the basis of your business type.
Another important thing that you must consider while selecting your merchant account is the payment structure. North American Bancard merchant services is a good option for those who are looking to get the best rates for their business development through merchant accounts. This is a service provider that offers traditional but innovative merchant account services to its customers. The teams working for the holders of NAB internet merchant accounts are the people who also provide round the clock support to their customers to ensure the best merchant account services.
When you are looking for a merchant account to grow your business, there are many things that you are required to keep in mind. One of the most important and foremost things that you must consider while selecting a merchant account is that it must be a reliable merchant account that is also cost effective so that you are able to get the best value for your money. NAB merchant accounts are a popular choice among merchant account providers that offer almost everything ranging from credit and debit card processing to offering help and guidance for getting the right credit card processing equipment. But take heed in choosing one without adequate research. A provider should be chosen carefully only after careful research is conducted.
There are various types of merchant accounts that are designed to meet requirements of different types of businesses. There are different processors that provide the customers with different accounts. For example, there are some processors that allow the trading of only digital goods such as the e-books or there are some other processors that allow only the businesses from the United States to have their merchant accounts. There is a special category of merchant account for selling digital goods and other low risk products such as furniture and home decoration products. These merchant accounts may not allow their vendors to trade in some high risk ventures such as gambling. To be able to sell high risk goods such as casino or other gambling products, one must have a merchant account for that purpose. These merchant accounts are called specialist accounts and they charge higher than the normal merchant accounts that are usually considered to be safe. If someone tries to use such merchant accounts for selling safer products, there are chances that the person will end up in some loss or an average profit. Similarly, there are some specialist accounts for adult websites. Therefore it is very important that you select the merchant account on the basis of your business type.
Another important thing that you must consider while selecting your merchant account is the payment structure. North American Bancard merchant services is a good option for those who are looking to get the best rates for their business development through merchant accounts. This is a service provider that offers traditional but innovative merchant account services to its customers. The teams working for the holders of NAB internet merchant accounts are the people who also provide round the clock support to their customers to ensure the best merchant account services.
2011年3月2日 星期三
Helping Consumers with Data from Twenty Million Credit Cards
This allows them to build consumer tools in the same vein as Mint, but with a deep foundation of information to compare to right from the first user. Last week I sat down with CEO Jaidev Shergill, CTO Phil Kim and data scientist Alex Hasha to learn more about what they're doing with such a powerful data set.
The first question they wanted to address was the obvious one of how do they ensure privacy and security when dealing with such sensitive information? Everything is held in a secure data center, and no direct personally identifiable information is included in the histories - everything's anonymized. The team also takes further steps, like identifying and removing healthcare-related payments. I asked them though, doesn't it still make people a bit uncomfortable? Their response was that their whole business was based around helping consumers, and their investor Citi only shares the data on very strict conditions because they believe Bundle's work will make customers lives better.
CTO Phil Kim laid out their philosophy:
Bundle takes great pains to protect the privacy of users. First, we hold ourselves to strict, bank-level information security standards, which means that sensitive data is held in a secure data center and access is heavily restricted, and that the Bundle application is heavily scrutinized for vulnerabilities on a regular basis, to prevent accidental or malicious leakage of user data. Second, much of the data analysis and synthesis work we do relies on data that has been sampled, modeled, flattened, or otherwise transformed -- we rarely work with raw transaction data, and we never work with data that has a direct linkage back to a named customer. Last but not least, Bundle is very much focused on building tools to help consumers -- remember that this data is not new... large companies use data just like this to market products and make business decisions -- Bundle is simply trying to share this data with consumers.
Alex Hasha described how he'd worked in the finance industry as a quant, working in a team of over two hundred PhDs to analyze financial instruments. The attraction of Bundle.com for him was the chance to work on something that offered direct benefits to ordinary users, a refreshing change from the abstract world of high finance.
Users upload information from their own bank and credit card accounts onto the site, and in return they get back a score card showing how their spending compares to people like themselves. For example, you might discover that you're spending a lot more on groceries than other people in your neighborhood, and you'd be better off switching to a cheaper supermarket.
The key to all of their work is the value that they're able to extract from aggregate information, things like how much people in a particular zip code spend on particular categories such as eating out, groceries and transportation. Because this is the result of blending and averaging large numbers of different accounts, it helps reduce the risk that any sensitive information will leak out.
What's really impressive about the data they possess is its broad coverage. Almost every merchant in the U.S. will be represented, and it has the potential to offer the deep customer analytics that website publishers are used to. I could imagine it being used by restaurant owners to spot when they're losing previously loyal customers for example. Bundle.com won't speculate on where they will take their product in the future, but did want to emphasize how everything was driven by their mission to help consumers.
I spent a bit of time talking with them about the technical challenges of their work, too. Credit card systems are often 30 or 40 years old, and so the data they get back is often very messy. You know how you look at your statements and try to decipher what "MCDON 94117" could be? That's one of their biggest obstacles, the names of the merchants are often incomplete and unclear, so they have a whole system devoted to making sense of this unstructured data. "MCDON", "MCD" and "MCDONALDS" all likely to refer to the restaurant, which allows them to categorize any transactions as food purchases.
A large amount of their code is written in Perl, since they're big fans of CPAN's rich repository of libraries, and runs in-memory, so it's not a classic big data problem. They also rely on R for some of their analysis, thanks to its rich toolkit of statistical functions.
The data mining of billions of credit card transactions is bound to raise a lot of questions, but it was clear to me that Bundle.com is serious in its mission to help consumers. Its product certainly seems to offer a lot more value to the wider world than anything that Wall Street's quants have produced.
The first question they wanted to address was the obvious one of how do they ensure privacy and security when dealing with such sensitive information? Everything is held in a secure data center, and no direct personally identifiable information is included in the histories - everything's anonymized. The team also takes further steps, like identifying and removing healthcare-related payments. I asked them though, doesn't it still make people a bit uncomfortable? Their response was that their whole business was based around helping consumers, and their investor Citi only shares the data on very strict conditions because they believe Bundle's work will make customers lives better.
CTO Phil Kim laid out their philosophy:
Bundle takes great pains to protect the privacy of users. First, we hold ourselves to strict, bank-level information security standards, which means that sensitive data is held in a secure data center and access is heavily restricted, and that the Bundle application is heavily scrutinized for vulnerabilities on a regular basis, to prevent accidental or malicious leakage of user data. Second, much of the data analysis and synthesis work we do relies on data that has been sampled, modeled, flattened, or otherwise transformed -- we rarely work with raw transaction data, and we never work with data that has a direct linkage back to a named customer. Last but not least, Bundle is very much focused on building tools to help consumers -- remember that this data is not new... large companies use data just like this to market products and make business decisions -- Bundle is simply trying to share this data with consumers.
Alex Hasha described how he'd worked in the finance industry as a quant, working in a team of over two hundred PhDs to analyze financial instruments. The attraction of Bundle.com for him was the chance to work on something that offered direct benefits to ordinary users, a refreshing change from the abstract world of high finance.
Users upload information from their own bank and credit card accounts onto the site, and in return they get back a score card showing how their spending compares to people like themselves. For example, you might discover that you're spending a lot more on groceries than other people in your neighborhood, and you'd be better off switching to a cheaper supermarket.
The key to all of their work is the value that they're able to extract from aggregate information, things like how much people in a particular zip code spend on particular categories such as eating out, groceries and transportation. Because this is the result of blending and averaging large numbers of different accounts, it helps reduce the risk that any sensitive information will leak out.
What's really impressive about the data they possess is its broad coverage. Almost every merchant in the U.S. will be represented, and it has the potential to offer the deep customer analytics that website publishers are used to. I could imagine it being used by restaurant owners to spot when they're losing previously loyal customers for example. Bundle.com won't speculate on where they will take their product in the future, but did want to emphasize how everything was driven by their mission to help consumers.
I spent a bit of time talking with them about the technical challenges of their work, too. Credit card systems are often 30 or 40 years old, and so the data they get back is often very messy. You know how you look at your statements and try to decipher what "MCDON 94117" could be? That's one of their biggest obstacles, the names of the merchants are often incomplete and unclear, so they have a whole system devoted to making sense of this unstructured data. "MCDON", "MCD" and "MCDONALDS" all likely to refer to the restaurant, which allows them to categorize any transactions as food purchases.
A large amount of their code is written in Perl, since they're big fans of CPAN's rich repository of libraries, and runs in-memory, so it's not a classic big data problem. They also rely on R for some of their analysis, thanks to its rich toolkit of statistical functions.
The data mining of billions of credit card transactions is bound to raise a lot of questions, but it was clear to me that Bundle.com is serious in its mission to help consumers. Its product certainly seems to offer a lot more value to the wider world than anything that Wall Street's quants have produced.
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