UK finance minister Philip Hammond has approved $128.5 mn to explore a post-Brexit satellite system. The official announcement will be made this week, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy declined to comment on the matter.

The European Commission has started to exclude Britain and its companies from sensitive future work on Galileo ahead of the country’s exit from the EU in seven months time.

Galileo was commissioned in 2003 and is due for completion by 2020. According to one expert, it could cost Britain about $3.85 bn build a system to rival it.

The EU has stated that Britain will be able to continue using Galileo’s open signal. However, Britain’s military could be denied access to the encrypted version when the satellite becomes operational.

Britain has said it plans to press ahead with the development of its own satellite navigation system if the EU continues to insist that it will be barred from the secure elements of the project.

It will demand a repayment of up to $1.28 bn for the work it has carried out on the project.

The post UK to start work on satellite system to rival EU’s Galileo appeared first on International Finance.

October 24, 2016: In an era where connected commerce technologies are transforming consumer behavior, research shows that the next several years will see small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) increasing adoption of new commerce software and technologies. To help SMBs keep pace and win in the face of this transformation, Verifone (NYSE: PAY) and Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV) have announced an agreement to bring the Verifone Carbon Commerce Platform to market in the United States as a key feature of the Vantiv SmartFit Solutions™.

“We found that businesses want smarter, more secure technology to provide advanced payments, create loyalty and grow their business. Verifone Carbon with Vantiv SmartFit Solutions is designed to do that, fitting the needs of small and medium-sized businesses,” said Patty Walters, senior leader of Security, PCI, EMV and Terminals at Vantiv.

The Vantiv SmartFit Solutions is a flexible, proprietary approach to providing SMBs with a customised solution for payment processing and adaptable applications that meet their unique needs as their business grows. Verifone Carbon will be loaded with Vantiv’s tablet-based payments system for retailers and restaurants. Working with partner iMobile3, a leading provider in point of sale and commerce software, Verifone Carbon includes order and inventory management, tools for online analytics and reporting, and a gift card program, all features that most SMBs desire but often can’t afford.

“SMBs are in need of open, agile and intelligent solutions that can help them adapt to change,” said Jordan McKee, senior analyst, 451 Research. “These solutions must address key organisational challenges, such as controlling costs and generating customer loyalty, while accommodating the influx of new consumer technologies such as digital wallets.”

Later this year, dozens of businesses across the US will begin piloting their own customised Verifone Carbon. Each business will receive a system designed for their unique needs, with security, support, versatile payment acceptance, and tailored value-added solutions, including the freedom to choose applications to manage their business and increase customer engagement.

Designed as a portable countertop with dedicated merchant and consumer facing tablets for optimal business management and consumer engagement, Verifone Carbon is powered by Intel’s high-speed chipset for fast processing to run Vantiv’s proprietary software and third party applications. Verifone’s Commerce Platform enables open, cloud-based and secure solutions. Merchants will be able to access a variety of applications from the worldwide developer community, to manage and grow their business, and reward their best customers.

In this pilot, pre-loaded apps will include TruRating, an innovative solution that takes the pulse of consumer sentiment via the Carbon device, asking customers to anonymously rate an aspect of their consumer experience on the touch screen, and Verifone Media App for displaying promos and branded content on the consumer-facing tablet, all in real time.

“Which point of sale to buy is a critically important decision for merchants and their service providers to meet changing consumer expectations,” said Jennifer Miles, president, Verifone North America. “By offering Vantiv’s SmartFit solutions on Verifone’s Commerce Platform, Vantiv will enable merchants to drive more stickiness and loyalty, and provide consumers with experiences that are engaging, efficient and relevant to their connected world.”

The post Vantiv to offer Verifone Carbon with commerce platform appeared first on International Finance.

Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya

November 7, 2014: James Rickards, American lawyer, economist, investment banker and author of books of like Currency Wars and Death of Money, is one of the speakers at the ICA Conference in Dubai. He discussed factors that could lead to collapse of the International monetary system with IFM. Excerpts:

You have said that the collapse of the International monetary system does not really mean end of the world. One has to devise new rules.  What exactly do you mean by new rules?

The international monetary system has collapsed three times in the past 100 years — in 1914, 1939 and 1971. Each collapse was followed by a new system devised by the leading trading and financial powers of the time. These new “rules of the game” are arrived at in one or more international monetary conference. Famous examples include the Genoa Conference of 1922, the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, and the Smithsonian Agreement of 1971, but there have been many others. A new international conference today would probably include the US, EU, Japan, China and Russia as its major players. It would likely be held under the auspices of the G-20 and the IMF. Other important participants would include Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia and the UK. Possible bases for a new international monetary system include the current form of world money, the special drawing right (or SDR), and possibly some role for gold.

I understand it would be difficult to predict, but when do you believe the collapse will happen?

Using the science of complexity as a theoretical model for understanding the potential for collapse in the monetary system indicates that the collapse could come at any time. In all likelihood, the actual date is probably still a few years away. But because it could happen at any time, investors should begin making preparations now, including holding some physical gold, cash, land, fine art and other non-digital assets that will preserve wealth and cannot easily be destroyed or confiscated by digital means.

What according to you are the reasons behind the collapse?

The main source of instability is excessive debt combined with persistent deflation that increases the real value of that debt. The debt comes from sovereign deficits, and the deflation is a natural consequence of the global depression that began in 2007. Other sources of risk are the over-concentration of bank assets in fewer hands, the enormous expansion in the gross notional value of derivatives, and the density function resulting from the interconnectedness of major financial institutions, markets and exchanges.

Given China’s rising debt, do you think the collapse might get triggered from there? Or, is the debt problem just a hype?

The debt problem in China is not hype. The collapse of the debt and property bubble there could well be the catalyst for a global economic crisis. About 45% of Chinese GDP is infrastructure investment and a substantial portion of that is wasted on non-revenue generating and unneeded projects and financed with unpayable debt. This debt is funded in part through wealth management products (WMPs), which are like high-yield junk CDOs. This WMP bubble is in addition to the general residential property bubble that has been financed with regular mortgage products. Another source of debt is off-balance-sheet provincial government obligations. China is the greatest debt bubble in history and it will unwind with adverse and unpredictable consequences for global capital markets.

Retail investors also face a major setback. What advice do you have for them?

Investors should allocate their portfolios in approximately these portions: gold 10%, land 10%, fine art 10%, cash 30%, government bonds 10%. Alternatives such as hedge funds, private equity and venture capital 30%. This portfolio is robust enough to handle inflation and deflation. The cash component reduces volatility, hedges against possible deflation and offers embedded optionality to pivot to another asset class as visibility improves.

Do you think such scenarios make people more optimistic about crypto currencies like Bitcoins?

I see the rise of crypto-currencies as a sign of waning confidence in traditional currencies, such as the dollar. I expect the trend towards alternative currencies, such as Bitcoin, to grow as central banks continue to fail in their efforts to manipulate asset values.

Also read:

Decoding China’s debt 

Investors losing interest in South Africa:  John Kane-Berman

The post ‘The debt problem in China is not hype’ appeared first on International Finance.

September 9, 2014: The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, on Monday confirmed that its payment data systems have been breached, which could potentially impact customers using payment cards at its US and Canadian stores. There is no evidence that the breach has impacted stores in Mexico or customers who shopped online at HomeDepot.com.

While the company continues to determine the full scope, scale and impact of the breach, there is no evidence that debit PIN numbers were compromised.

Home Depot’s investigation is focused on April forward, and the company has taken aggressive steps to address the malware and protect customer data. The Home Depot is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, to any customer who used a payment card at a Home Depot store in 2014, from April on.

“We apologise for the frustration and anxiety this causes our customers, and I want to thank them for their patience and support as we work through this issue,” said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. “We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has indeed occurred. It’s important to emphasise that no customers will be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts.”

The investigation began on September 2, immediately after the company received reports from its banking partners and law enforcement that criminals may have hacked its payment data systems.

Since then, the company’s internal IT security team has been working round-the-clock with leading IT security firms, its banking partners and the Secret Service to rapidly gather facts and provide information to customers.

Responding to the increasing threat of cyber-attacks on the retail industry, The Home Depot previously confirmed it will roll out EMV ‘Chip and PIN’ to all US stores by the end of this year, well in advance of the October 2015 deadline established by the payments industry.

The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,266 retail stores in all 50 states in the US, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2013, it had sales of $78.8 billion and earnings of $5.4 billion. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates.

Source: The Home Depot

The post Home Depot’s payment system breached appeared first on International Finance.