Movers and Shakers in the Card and Payment industry w/c 10/12/12

Citi consumer marketing and Internet chief joins e-commerce site

Citigroup's global consumer chief marketing and Internet officer Michelle Peluso has left Citi to become CEO of online retailer Gilt.

Peluso has overseen Citi’s global consumer bank's marketing and digital activities, including all of its online and mobile banking channels. She has also led all social media initiatives.

Peluso had spent six years as CEO of Travelocity prior to joining Citi in 2009. She will be replacing Gilt founder Kevin Ryan as Gilt CEO from February 2013. Ryan moves on to take on the role of chairman.

Glen Mahatlani appointed VP, acceptance development, South Africa

MasterCard Worldwide has appointed Glen Mahatlani as vice president of Acceptance Development for South Africa.

Based in Johannesburg, Mahatlani is responsible for growing acceptance of MasterCard products in South Africa, specifically enabling acceptance at point of sale and ATMs. He is also tasked with driving the adoption and acceptance of new technologies and payment innovations such as mobile and contactless payment platforms.

"We are thrilled to welcome Glen to MasterCard South Africa as we follow through on our commitment to invest in expertise, resources and know-how in the South African market," says Philip Panaino, divisional president for South Africa, MasterCard Worldwide.

"Glen's understanding of the market and his passion for the solutions we provide are substantial assets for MasterCard's business in South Africa. We are excited that he has joined MasterCard."

Mahatlani commented "I see this as an opportunity to positively influence and impact financial empowerment in South Africa, and even Africa as a whole. I believe that MasterCard's vision of creating a world beyond cash and the payment solutions we provide enable financial inclusion and bring people into the formal economy, and I am very excited about being a part of that." 

 

Angelo Bertini becomes MD of new BPC Banking Technologies based in UAE

BPC Banking Technologies, the provider of Open System e-payment solutions for the global financial industry, has announced the appointment of Angelo Bertini as Managing Director of BPC's operations in the Middle East and North Africa, where he will be responsible for developing and strengthening the company's growing business.

"BPC's SmartVista solution, with its unique combination of comprehensive functionality, innovative use of the latest technology and rock-solid reliability is ideally suited to the needs of the local banking community. I am excited to be joining the team and I am certain that SmartVista can help leading organizations in the region transform their payments businesses.. Across the world BPC has a proven track record in supporting organizations of all sizes, helping them to bring new products to market in days, while dramatically lowering total cost of ownership. Here in the Middle East I see great potential for our market-leading solution - SmartVista as a scalable, secure and proven solution. I look forward to working with the region's leading financial institutions." added Angelo Bertini, MD BPC Banking Technologies Middle East and North Africa.

"We are delighted to welcome Angelo Bertini to our BPC team. His deep knowledge and vast experience in the region's payment market will be an important and invaluable input to our continued growth in the region. His relentless focus on customer success and his visionary approach to the use of technology to solve complex business issues are a perfect match with BPC's culture and values." said Anatoly Loginov, Chairman, BPC Group.

Global Platform announces board of directors for 2013

GlobalPlatform, the organization which standardizes the management of applications on secure chip technology, has announced its Board of Directors for fiscal year 2013, following annual elections for six of the eleven Board seats.

The appointment of a new Mobile Task Force Chair and Strategic Director has also been announced as well as confirming individual members to serve as Board Officers for a one-year term.

 

·         The following appointments have been announced:
Marc Kekicheff - Senior Business Leader of Chip Innovation at Visa Inc. retains his position as Chairman for the third consecutive year.

·         GlobalPlatform Vice-Chairman, Uwe Wittig - Group Vice President, Head of Business Line Payment, Transit and Authentication at Giesecke & Devrient, and

·         GlobalPlatform's Secretary / Treasurer, Yves Moulart - Director of Development and Innovation within STMicroelectronics' Secure MCUs Division, Secure Software Solutions

Six Board seats were open for election. In addition to Marc Kekicheff and Uwe Witting, each of the following individuals were elected to serve a two year term:
• Janne Uusilehto - Director / Head of Product Security - Nokia
• Eikazu Niwano - Producer in the R&D Planning Department - NTT Corporation
• Andreas Muehlberger - Senior Director Engineering - NXP Semiconductors Business Unit Identification
• Jeppe Dorff - Head of Transaction Services - Rogers Communication

Jeppe Dorff was also appointed as the new Chair of GlobalPlatform's Mobile Task Force, following the announcement that Marc Kekicheff is stepping down after successfully leading the task force for the previous six years. As Chair of the task force, Jeppe will oversee the group's efforts to understand the business and technical requirements of the secure mobile services ecosystem to ensure an agreed and workable application management infrastructure is established. This includes work to advance the secure element, trusted execution environment and mobile messaging framework.

The GlobalPlatform Board of Directors also appoints Strategic Directors from the membership to provide it with additional advice and expertise on issues within particular markets. Jerome Becquart, Vice President & General Manaanager Identity Assurance at HID Global, which is a Full Member of GlobalPlatform, has taken up the voluntary consultative position with immediate effect, to provide guidance on the identity market and lead the activities of the Government Task Force.

Congratulations to all the new starters and all the best in their new roles from all at www.cardandpaymentjobs.com.

To view the latest jobs in the card andpayment industry, go to www.cardandpaymentjobs.com

 

 

 

 

 

MasterCard’s King says Cash is not….

Marion King, MasterCard’s president for the UK and Ireland spoke to Marketing Week recently about the possibility of a cashless society. She stated that the emergence of innovative payments technologies will eventually replace cash.  “There are different levels of take-up across the globe but I think that cash will increasingly be replaced, largely because of technological innovations and digital currencies via the smartphone.”, she said. She argued that, despite a global economic crisis, there is a steady rise in MasterCard’s volume of transactions, offline and online which she sees as a true indicator of a move away from cash.

She underlined MasterCard’s confidence in mobile payments, emphasising the number of investments made in this payment method. MasterCard’s partnership with EE to launch iZettle in the UK marks the shift to cashless payments for small retailers, KIng explained, “Where historically it has been costly and prohibitive for these retailers to accept cards, this innovation allows them to accept card payment wherever they are by plugging in a dongle into their smartphone.”

Security is evoked as one of the many benefits of the change towards cashless payment, but data seems to be a key advantage of the move away from cash. “Card transactions provide data, and we are able to use that to help merchants and organisations plan and understand buying patterns, and whether customers are moving more towards e-commerce and if so under what circumstances. If a customer uses cash, there isn’t that data.”, Marion King said.

The MasterCard president added the important role of the ease of use in the spread of card and mobile payments and urges small retailers who have taken a cash-only approach in the past to consider the new option to boost their business.

It looks though, yet again, that reports of cash’s death have been greatly exaggerated as for the foreseeable future at least, cash remains the favoured means of payment particularly  for lower value transaction. Added to this is the fact that, consumers prefer the anonymity conferred by cash and there will always be a sector of the population who remain resentful of  the data crunching retailers that follow purchasing behaviour.

From a retailer perspective, particularly, the smaller ones, they struggle with the higher transaction fees (sometimes passed onto the consumer).

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