Thursday 28 June 2012

REALEX PAYMENTS ADVERTISE ON HEAD OF CHANNEL MANAGEMENT ROLE - LONDON BASED

Realex Payments is a leading payments service provider with over 6,000 clients processing over €15bn in online payments per annum. Operating closely with financial institutions, we provide a suite of services around payment processing, fraud & risk management and currency tools.

Come and help us build the future of payments in a growing company with real potential for professional and personal growth! We will develop your expertise and skills, working together to excel and grow.

Our direct sales teams in the UK are having major success across various sectors and tiers of business.  Some of this success has been achieved through a number of partner relationships that includes financial institutions, web developers, industry bodies and software platform/system integrators etc. We now wish to build a specific channel management function to aggressively accelerate and grow our partner portfolio and are looking to recruit a tenacious individual who has the appetite to build and grow a market leading partnerships team. 

What you will be doing

Reporting into the UK BD Country Manager, this role will be accountable for the channel management strategy and driving the recruitment and management of SME and Corporate partners. The individual will be responsible for an existing team which includes an SME telesales/business development function.

•Working with the team on the continued development and implementation of our channel strategy in the UK. We expect the candidate to drive the ‘refresh’ of this strategy introducing models and processes they have adopted in previous roles.
•Core channel responsibility is ultimately to identify and actively recruit new business partners that deliver high quality, new, corporate and SME leads. This includes the full life cycle of the partner sale from prospecting through to commercial and contractual negotiation and signing.
•In addition the candidate will be responsible for the development and retention of existing partners driving new business leads from these organizations. Particular focus will be on the financial institutions where we have strong existing relationships – driving engagement and lead generation.
•Representing Realex Payments at external events – public speaking experience would be an aspect of the role.
•Day to day line management of the channel managers as it grows over time including the sales closing team (internal telephone sales).  There will also be a level of accountability over marketing activities supporting channel development and lead generation.
•Key Measurement:
?The number of converted/closed monthly SME contracts against target – these are all driven through channel (including online).
?The number of closed corporate leads generated through channel and the resultant committed revenue. They are not accountable for corporate revenue targets – these are driven by both direct and channel.
•The role will require the channel team liaise closely with technical account managers and corporate sales people to ensure alignment of activities.

What qualities you will bring

•The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate a very strong track record of outbound selling to large corporates or partners.
•A minimum of five years proven direct or indirect senior business development experience. Previous channel sales/management background would be a distinct advantage.
•Previous experience of line management is an advantage but not a ‘must have’.
•Very strong presentation and negotiation skills.
•Experience in a long, consultative sales cycle is required – with a strong attention to detail.
•It would be beneficial that the candidate has an extensive network across a variety of areas including the web development community, shopping carts, system integrators, industry bodies, sector focused software suppliers and has a detailed appreciation/understanding of the partner value chain and how products create value for customers.
•Strong level of financial, business, entrepreneurial acumen, in order to have creative and commercially led business discussions.
•Understands how partners make money and how Realex can add value to their overall proposition.
•Can adapt to changes in business direction, products and needs both from a partner and client perspective.
•Ability to influence vs control others.
•Strong analytical and strategic ability.
We are offering an excellent basic salary, all expenses, with an opportunity to command a significant OTE – further details on application.

To apply for this exciting role, go to: http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com/jobs/head-of-channel-management-3130.htm

Monday 25 June 2012

Movers and Shakers in the Payment world - w/c June 25th 2012

  • DAJU GU appointed President, Razor Risk at TMX
  • ANTOINE BABULE replaces Bill Sexton as CEO of Newedge USA
  • PAUL STODDART becomes MD Strategy and Business Development at Vocalink
  • CHRISTOPHER YOUNG appointed SVP service provider and international market group of KVA
  • Proxama appoints RUSSELL WEST Head of BD mobile wallet and STUART WILLIAMS, product business analyst
  • SWIFT announces 7 new board members including
    • Yves Baguet, CIO of Clearstream Services, in charge of the IT Development departments, IT operations and IT infrastructure departments
    • Mark Buitenhek, Global Head of Payments and Cash Management for ING, also a member of the European Payments Councils' Plenary
    • David Cyr ,Senior Vice-President, Payments & Trade Technology & Operations at Royal Bank of Canada
    • Marcel Jongmans, both CEO of ABN AMRO Global Clearing and Statutory Director and Managing Director of ABN AMRO Clearing Bank NV
    • Ulrich Stritzke, Managing Director of Credit Suisse and Head Global Cross Product Processing
    • Yongli Wang, Executive Director of the Bank of China
    • Bhavesh Zaveri, Country Head Operations and Head Cash Management Products at HDFC Bank, as well as Director at both the National Payment Corporation of India and Director of The Clearing Corporation of India
To view and apply for the latest jobs in the card and payment industry, go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com

 

Friday 22 June 2012

NatWest respond to 'technical problem' - or do they ?

NatWest has been forced to open in excess of 1,000 branches on Sunday as millions of people are unable to receive money or pay bills because of an ongoing technical fault.

The bank is keeping its branches open until 7pm tonight 22nd June  and until 6pm tomorrow 23rd June because of a significant number of transactions that failed to go through properly.

Up to 12 million people have been affected by the major computer error which was triggered when a software upgrade was being installed to the payment system.

The bank said tonight they had never opened so many branches on a Sunday.

Although they appear to have resolved the 'underlying problem' it could be early next week before everything gets back to normal.

A large number of customers were blocked from withdrawing cash from ATMs, while others had internet supermarket food deliveries stopped after payments were rejected yesterday.

Debit cards were barred at tills, including hotel checkout desks, airports and petrol stations. Today people were discovering that their salaries had not been paid in.

The bank said people who had not been paid should phone them up or go into a branch and they would help them on an individual basis.

This morning customers were being sent texts saying: 'Due to systems issues, any money credited to your account overnight may not appear on your balance this morning. We are working to fix and apologise for the inconvenience.'

There are fears that many thousands of customers could be hit with penalty charges because regular standing orders and direct debits, including rent and mortgage payments, were also affected.

The crisis-hit bank has so far refused to say whether it will compensate customers if they are hit with late payment fees from third parties - through no fault of their own.

NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and UlsterBank who have all been affected share a number of internal computer systems. The group said last night that the problem was not caused by hacking.



BANKING BLUNDER: NATWEST ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO POST THEIR SUGGESTIONS ONTO THEIR HOMEPAGE

As NatWest battled to get their computer systems up and running again, they allowed customers to post their 'ideas' directly onto their homepage.

Irate customers unable to get hold of their money had a few comments, including:

·         'All systems gone on strike until RBS/NatWest receive another bailout from the taxpayer' - lollollol

·         'Account updated now but money is missing! Basically been called a liar on the phone by "helpful" staff. I'm going up there now ...' - BeyondAngry

·         'Disaster! Go back to keeping your money at home! Its safer and more reliable! How embarrasng this is for you! I for sure will be going else where! Sick of this fault after fault!' - Nothappy

·         Well just logged into my online banking and it says my money is there...But is it really? - Christina Smith

Today a NatWest spokesman said they had still not yet fixed the problem.

'Unfortunately we are once again experiencing technical issues with our systems and account balances have not updated properly overnight,' he said.

'This means where money has gone into a customer’s account, there may be a delay in it appearing on their balance.

'We can assure our customers that this problem is strictly of a technical nature and we continue to work hard to resolve this.

'We also recognise this is an unacceptable inconvenience for our customers, for which we apologise.

Staff in our branches and at our call centres are ready and available to answer any questions and help where they can.'

Last week RBS and NatWest launched a mobile banking app enabling people to take money from an ATM by making a request on their mobile phone.

NatWest customers with concerns about their money can call a 24-hour helpline on 0800 015 4212.

RBS customers can call 0800 015 5035.

The Ulster Bank 24-hour helpline is 08457 424365. Customers based abroad can call +44 289 053 8033 from 8am to 10pm.

Think you could do better? To work in the card and payment industry, go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com to view the latest jobs
(Incidentally, their Twitter account has not been updated for 2 hours! What do you make of that ?)



Tuesday 19 June 2012

CARTES Paris November 6-8 2012

The key themes for 2012: Mobile Payment and Security in the Cloud

We already have a number of important dates for your diaries, including a round table on interconnected commerce and payment in all its forms (physical, electronic and mobile) in June, the SESAMES Awards Ceremony in November on the eve of the show opening and the World Card Summit inaugural conference on 6 November.

CARTES is the world's leading Smart Technologies event dedicated to security, payment, identification and mobility. Each year, it brings together 430 exhibitors, 79% of whom come from outside France, 20,000 visitors and 1,300 congress participants to explore the industry's latest trends and innovations.

CARTES 2012 – 2 key themes chosen in response to current industry challenges

Mobile Payment
2011 saw strong growth in smartphone use, with a significant increase in the popularity of mobile banking applications and an unprecedented number of initiatives in the mobile payments field. However, there are numerous challenges still to be faced if such systems are to spread further, and close collaboration between players in a wide variety of fields (banks, telephone operators, telephone and payment terminal manufacturers, service suppliers and aggregators and merchants) is essential. This is why CARTES 2012 has chosen to feature the theme of mobile payment once again, hosting all stakeholders involved in this area. The "Mobile Payment" pavilion will be specifically dedicated to them.

Security in the Cloud
Security will be Cloud Computing's number 1 priority in 2012. The exponential growth of "Cloud" services and the proliferation of connected portable devices are an excellent reason, now more than ever, to revisit the confidence, security and interoperability issues relating to increasingly mobile access to data, applications and services in the Cloud. CARTES 2012 will therefore be putting the emphasis on Security in the Cloud, which is set to be a major issue over the coming years. Companies involved in the Smart Security Industry and IT Security, their suppliers and their partners will exhibit side by side in the Show's new sector dedicated to "Security in the Cloud".

"Mobile Payment and Security in the Cloud are two of the major challenges facing Smart Technologies, and authentication in particular, over the next five years. As CARTES is the industry's key event in terms of trends and innovative technological solutions, it was obvious to us that these fundamental developments had to take a central role at the event," explains Isabelle Alfano, Director of the CARTES show.

Special guest country: India
India offers considerable development potential for digital security technologies with its major national financial inclusion and biometric identification projects, and has consequently been chosen as CARTES 2012's special guest country.
An Indian pavilion, visitor delegations and conference speakers will bring developments in the country to the fore during CARTES 2012.

Poland launches first digital bank

Poland's first digital bank has launched, complete with virtual branch, mobile, app, Facebook payments, personal finance management tools and an "entertainment area".

Alior Bank unveiled its separate Alior Sync business last week, billing the new financial services firm as being  available anytime, anywhere, for a young, digitally savvy audience.

Alior Sync is replacing physical branches with a virtual one that can be accessed through its Web site. The site contains a tab showing users how many employees are available to talk at any one time and through which medium - video, audio or text chat.

In addition to regular online banking features, the new player has also developed Android and iOS mobile apps that let customers check their finances, transfer funds and pay invoices using their handsets' cameras.
ers when transactions occur.

The bank has also worked with vendor IND Group on an app that allows customers to transfer money directly to friends through Facebook photos without having to leave the page.

Having spent 50 million zloty and eight months on the project - Alior Sync says it aims to have signed up one million customers and four billion zloty in deposits within four years.
To view jobs in the card and payment industry, go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com


Monday 18 June 2012

Movers and Shakers in Cards and Payments w/c June 18th 2012

  • CRAIG TILLOTSON joins Faster Payments as MD
  • JEREMY WIGMORE becomes SVP Europe of Qinqo
  • Charles Neral joins Sungard as CFO
  • Tom Allanson becomes Division President, Electronic Payments of Fiserv
  • Sarah Friar becomes CFO of Square
  • Kenneth Bonnici becomes CFO of Ixaris
  • Skrill appoints SIEGFRIED HEIGMARTNER CEO

To view more of the latest opportunities in the card and payment space, go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com

    Friday 15 June 2012

    Optimal Payments Plc (LSE: OPAY), a leading provider of online payments,  won three awards at the Prepaid365 Awards 2012  yesterday.
    The Net+ Prepaid MasterCard® was selected as the winner in three major categories: Best General Spend Prepaid Card, Best Gaming Prepaid Card and Best Free Prepaid Card categories. This is the fourth consecutive year of wining the Best Gaming Prepaid Card award for Net+.
    The Net+ Prepaid MasterCard® was also named runner up in four categories: Best Prepaid Card Website; Best Prepaid Card Design; Best Privacy Prepaid Card; and Best Online Shopping Prepaid Card. This recognition by consumers improves upon the performance achieved in 2011.
    This is the fourth year of the Prepaid365 Consumer Awards, with over 86 prepaid card entries across 22 categories being voted for by over 345,000 consumer respondents. Prepaid365 is the UK’s leading prepaid card comparison website and has been at the forefront of raising consumer awareness of the prepaid card product and industry. The full list of winners is available here: http://www.prepaid365.com/buzz/prepaidcards/news/
    Optimal Payments has a long standing track record in delivering innovative and customised solutions for its customers, bringing together the payments, fraud and risk management and technology solutions required for today's fast-moving markets. The Net+ Prepaid MasterCard®, linked to the NETELLER eWallet account, remains one of the leading prepaid cards available to consumers today in nearly 100 countries.

    Danny Chazonoff, Chief Operating Officer at Optimal Payments, commented:
    “We are delighted that the Net+ Prepaid MasterCard has been recognised – again – by consumers as the best general spend, best gaming, and best free prepaid card in the market. Our commitment to continued investment in innovative product developments is unrivalled in the industry and the fact that these awards are voted by consumers is a wonderful commendation of our prepaid card offering.”

    To view the latest job from Optimal Payments, go to
    http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com/hot/jobs/software-developer-3016.htm

    Wednesday 13 June 2012

    Contactless Cards and Payments Conference - June 20th and 21st - London

    Following on from the success of the 2011 conference, Contactless Cards & Payments is returning to London for it’s 10th annual conference on 20th & 21st June 2012.

    A new report by Forrester suggested Britain will be a cashless society by 2016.

    Contactless Cards and Payments 2012 covers a variety of technologies, from NFC to mobile payments and banking. This conference is an update on the newest technologies to be developed, case studies of successful schemes and a look at the risks involved from a fraud perspective. With developing technologies comes new regulation, and this event will also look at the regulatory bodies and how they are approaching the potential risks and prevention strategies they intend to apply.


    With the conference taking place a month before the London 2012 Olympics – this is a good opportunity to gain an insight into the role contactless cards play in major events. As the leading banks have a big role in contactless, the question most people are asking is what role the big technology leaders such as Apple and Google will play in securing their position in this rapidly growing market.
    Although a tremendous amount has been achieved in contactless cards, the question still remains as to why there is a slow response and attitude from consumers towards this ever evolving concept.


    SMi's two day conference has been carefully designed to bring you 18 successful case studies and interactive panel discussions, this is the only event that will give you answers and experiences you need to gain a better insight into the contactless cards market.

    Key topics to be discussed:

    NFC: recent developments in mobile payments

    E-wallets: are we ready for a cashless society?

    The European market: hear from leaders in the Turkish and Spanish markets

    Retail: hear from leading retailers including stadiums and vending machines

    Apple and Google: what will they do?

    Keynote speakers include: 

    Juan MorlaCards Director
    La Caixa Bank (Spain)


    Burak IlgiciogluCards & Payments Systems Analysis ManagerYapi Kredi Bank (Turkey)

    Craig RamsayGlobal Innovation
    Barclaycard


    Carl Scheible Managing DirectorPayPal

    Kevin LomaxHead, Collections Cash Management
    Standard Bank


    Victor DostovPresident
    Russian Electronic Money Association


    Mehmet SezginCEO Payment Systems Garanti Bank




    The expert speaker line-up also includes

    Burak Ilgicioglu, Cards & Payments Systems Analysis Manager, Yapi Kredi BankCraig Ramsay, Global Innovations, Barclaycard
    Sergio Cozzolino, Strategic Development Director,
    Telecom Italia Mobile
    Matthew Hudson,
    Head of Business Development,
    Transport for London
    Carl-Olav Scheible,
    Managing Director, PayPal
    Kevin Lomax, Head, Collections Cash Management,
    Standard Bank
    Victor Dostov,
    President,
    Russian Electronic Money Association
    Mehmet Sezgin,
    CEO, Payment Systems,
    Garanti Bank
    Juan Morla,
    Cards Director, La Caixa (Spain)
    Karen Walsh, Business Development Director,
    Everything Everywhere
    Gerhard Romen,
    Director Financial Services, Nokia
    Claire Maslen, Senior Manager, Market Development,
    02
    Robert Courtneidge,
    Global Head of Card & Payments,
    Salans Solicitors
    Dave Birch,
    Director,
    Consult Hyperion
    Saadi Hussain,
    Head of Commercial Management, BT
    Chris Crooks, Managing Partner,
    Optimum Associates
    Francesco Burelli,
    Partner,
    Value Partners

    Go to http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=8&ref=3720 and book your ticket now

    Friday 8 June 2012

    Facebook rolls out mobile billing system

    Facebook has moved to simplify the way developers charge for their mobile Web apps with the launch of a direct-to-carrier billing system.

     
    The new process, outlined on Facebook's developer blog, requires users to take two steps to make a payment - compared to seven, including SMS verification, for the old system.
    Users who want to pay for a virtual or digital good in a mobile Web app just open the payment dialogue and confirm their purchase.

    The new system comes after the social network inked a deal with UK-based mobile billing and analytics firm Bango.
    Initially unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February, the service has now gone live with US and UK giants including AT&T, Sprint, Vodafone and O2, with operators in more than 60 countries set to follow.
    Facebook is keen to find ways to make money from the increasingly important mobile arena, admitting in filings ahead of its recent IPO that the shift to handsets is hitting advertising revenue.
    To find jobs in the card and payment industry, go to http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com

    Thursday 7 June 2012

    MoneyGram International recruiting Senior Marketing Executive in Stockholm

    MoneyGram International is the second-largest money transfer company in the world with business operations in two categories: Global Fund Transfer and Financial Paper Products. Through approximately 256,000 agent locations and operations in over 190 countries, the company is committed to providing affordable, reliable and convenient payment services worldwide. MoneyGram has more than twice the locations of McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and Walmart combined.

    They are recruiting for a Senior Marketing Executive based out of their Stockholm office.

    This role will work with the Marketing Director, and Agent-Partners in the development and implementation of marketing plans and subsequent activities for the MoneyGram product across the Nordics region.

    The region covers Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Marketing activities are primarily designed to build awareness of the MoneyGram brand, increase transaction volumes and drive strong revenue growth working in conjunction with MoneyGram’s agents in-Country (i.e. the distribution channel).

    This is a very hands-on, full mix role encompassing multiple media channels. The Nordics region is a small team delivering strong year on year growth. The successful candidate will be expected to drive the marketing planning process, but also take direct responsibility for the delivery of the regional marketing plan working closely with agents, suppliers and agencies in-Country.
    To apply for this exciting opportunity, go to

    http://www.cardandpaymentjobs.com/hot/jobs/senior-marketing-executive---stockholm-3035.htm