Blog Posts by Stephen Whitlam
28-07-2010
With 1 in every 36 £1 coins in circulation in the UK counterfeit, how can managers guide staff to spot forgeries? Almost two million counterfeit £1 coins were returned to the Royal Mint in the last financial year. This was more than...
27-07-2010
Businesses in the Hospitality Industry are most at risk of compromising client card data. What can managers do to improve their own business and set it apart from their peers? I was impressed with many of the pointers in Visa...
07-07-2010
Visa's contactless cards in UK circulation passed the 8 million mark in June and will grow to 12 million by the year end, so reckons the card scheme. Whilst much of the current growth is down to Barclays' decision to issue contactless cards as...
16-06-2010
Metro Bank will - hopefully - be a name to reckon with before too long. Its first branch opens in London's Southampton Row on 29th July, with Earl's Court a week later. 12 more London branches and a total...
02-06-2010
Visa has launched its CodeSure system to make online transactions more secure. Cards have a display and generate one-time codes to authenticate online transactions. Once in issue, Visa cards will feature an alpha-numeric display and a 12-button keypad built into the back of a...
13-05-2010
Whichever government emerged recently, I have long been convinced that VAT will rise. Now the BBC has revealed that a survey of influential economists agrees. 24 out of the 28 independent economists used by HM Treasury to assist its forecasts expected...
22-04-2010
Inflation is back, so when will interest rates rise? Because they will rise! Reuters published a poll of opinions from a panel of 64 economists on 1st April and whilst it masks a range of views, the consensus is a start to the...
14-04-2010
Will Cash soon no longer be "King"? Card transactions could seize the UK "payments throne" within 5 years. In its 'The Way We Pay 2010' report, the UK Payments Council notes that cash, on the face of it, still appears...
08-04-2010
Q. When can you claim back tax your business didn't pay? A. If your business uses Royal Mail under a negotiated contract! According to leading Accountants Smith & Williamson organisations may potentially be able to reclaim thousands of pounds from...
24-03-2010
The government wants banks to "lend" more, the banks need to shrink their balance sheets. Are the two incompatible? Today's budget changed the "net lending targets" for RBS and Lloyds to "gross lending targets" instead. Is it just political semantics...
22-03-2010
State spending now accounts for over half the UK economy, for the first time ever. And that excludes bailouts for the Banks! In 1997 the figure was 40%, but it now stands at 52% according to the OECD. This is...
05-03-2010
Customer "plastic card" data security is still lax for many UK retailers. Staggeringly the vast majority have still to be certified as PCI DSS* compliant. Even more worryingly, a third appear unsure if they will meet the planned 30th September deadline. These latter are in real...
02-03-2010
The upper amount for contactless card payments has been increased from £10 to £15. This is a big boost to the card industry's drive for wider acceptance of the payment method and brings the UK into line with the eurozone, where the limit is...
26-02-2010
Who read recent headlines and thought that the recovery from recession was greater than expected? Me too! When the ONS announced its growth revision upwards from 0.1% in Q4 '09 to 0.3% I thought, well its not much more, but what...
19-02-2010
For once we may not get a cold from an American sneeze; but they yesterday raised their "Base Rate" as the Discount Rate has just risen from 0.5% to 0.75%. It is not expected to feed through to consumers as - like...
18-02-2010
Bank lending to UK businesses is 8.1% lower than a year ago! Latest official figures show the fastest drop in commercial borrowing since records began. And the credit crunch is not to blame as demand for borrowing remains “muted” in...
10-02-2010
The Bank of England's quarterly inflation forecast out today suggests an RPI peak over 3.5% in the next quarter, but then a rapid fall to below 1% in 12 month's time. What I found quite telling was its prediction of...
02-02-2010
A survey of 55 analysts from UK financiers suggests a rise in base rate to 1% in Q4 this year, followed by 0.5% increases each subsequent quarter; seeing 2.5% by Q3 2011. The survey was conducted by Reuters on 7th January...
29-01-2010
Companies must get used to higher borrowing margins as Standard & Poors' (S&P) downgrade the UK banking system to be on a par with Chile and Portugal. That's worse than Italy (!!) and Belgium and a far cry from our former...
22-01-2010
Banks are continuing to significantly increase margins. The Bank of England reported yesterday that the effective interest rate on all new or refinanced corporate lending has risen from 2 per cent in August to 2.4 per cent in November, even...
20-01-2010
Cost cutting success sees IBM raise its profit target for 2010 after helping it increase its net earnings by 9% in the final quarter of 2009. "Big Blue" made a net profit of $4.8bn (£2.9bn) between October and December, up...
19-01-2010
Inflation is back with a bang. Now the question is what will happen to UK interest rates as prices rise at their fastest ever month-on-month pace? The Office for National Statistics announced today that Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 1% last month, taking...
13-01-2010
Will borrowing costs go up this year? The Bank of England has started signalling that base rate may rise in the coming months. The unequivocal warning comes from one of the bank's policymakers, Andrew Sentance, in an interview in today's Guardian. Controlling...
18-12-2009
The steady move towards widespread contactless card payments has been given a major boost as the government launches a public transport e-ticketing programme. It could see England's nine major urban areas go paperless within five years. The Smart and Integrated Ticketing Strategy...
16-12-2009
UK banks have voted to stop the cheque clearing system in 2018. If a viable alternative exists at that time. The press are having a field day, but most of them ignore the stated proviso of a working alternative. Its...
11-12-2009
Companies that successfully reduce business overheads will gain a significant competitive advantage in 2010 as inflation hits both these costs and raw material prices . The Office for National Statistics (ONS) latest figures show overheads have risen at their fastest pace for 12 months. Input...
02-12-2009
Maths and Economics show that "........if you lay 10,000 economists end to end ........they still cannot reach an accurate conclusion" (Sorry!). However even an old cynic like me listens when the Bank of England's own chief economist speaks because...
23-11-2009
UK banks are expected to soon announce that 2018 will herald the end of cheques. Cheque Guarantee cards are already set to disappear in 2011 as part of what the industry payment council (APACS) calls a "managed decline" of paper-based...
19-11-2009
At last .... anti-fraud measures that work! A fall in online card fraud, from $4bn to $3.3bn, is the first year-on-year reduction in revenue losses for US and Canadian merchants since 2003. And UK online retailers can learn from...
17-11-2009
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) published today shows inflation at 1.5pc. The increase seems mainly due to the steep fall in oil prices last year. Economists had forecast circa 1.4pc. so no great surprises here. Moreover, the broader measure of inflation - the Retail...
16-11-2009
Access to finance remains a serious problem for British businesses, despite the Bank of England pumping £200 billion into the economy to boost money supply and stimulate lending. In the latest Monthly Business Survey, published today by the British Chambers...
14-11-2009
How long before the UK has a 20% VAT rate? Most of the major EEC economies do already! Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots anticipates a crippling rise in VAT after the general election. He said this week in a newspaper...
Retailers gearing up for "Wave and Pay"
11-11-2009
The "Contactless" card payment acceptance market is set for step growth. A recent independent report suggests the number of retail locations that accept contactless payments is set to surge by more than 12.5 million within 5 years. The report by IMS...
06-11-2009
Could "input" inflation squeeze growth? Manufacturers' raw material costs leapt up by 2.6 per cent in October, the Office for National Statistics reported 6th November. The increase in input prices was larger than analysts expected and is the biggest since June 2008....
05-11-2009
Quantative Easing .... just what is it? In "Quantitative Easing Explained" the Bank of England says that direct injections of money into the economy, which they do mainly by buying gilts, is planned so:- "... sellers of the assets have...
02-11-2009
UK factory orders rose at their fastest in almost six years and activity grew at its fastest pace for two years in October, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). The survey amongst members suggests the economy has...
02-11-2009
Do you have 10,000 toilets for rent? Or 17,000 beds? Then the London Olympics need your business! Keep an eye out on 4th November as the organisers detail tender arrangements for everything from 200,000 temporary seats to table-tennis balls...
30-10-2009
Westminster City Council is to trial 'wave and pay' parking meters in 2010. Motorists can then use contactless credit or debit cards to pay for parking in central London. The trial run of the new meters will be at 20 locations and if it...
27-10-2009
Are there "Green shoots" in the High St at last? Sales are growing at their fastest rate since the slump began, according to figures today from the CBI. 41% of retailers reported sales volumes for the year to October had...
27-10-2009
No companies have yet taken part in its scheme to lend cash in return for commercial paper reports the Bank of England today. The "Secured Commercial Paper Facility" aims to channel money to firms by buying asset-backed commercial paper secured on companies’...
26-10-2009
I noticed that Swedish appliance-maker Electrolux has today reported a big rise in profits through cost-cutting and an increase in its prices. Net profit for the 3 months to 30th September was 1.6bn kroner ($236m; £145m), an increase of 93%...
22-10-2009
Business borrowing rates average 2.5% over Base Rate - up by 0.5% on a year ago - as banks increase profit margins. The Bank of England today published its monetary trends report for October and this shows that the trend appears...
21-10-2009
A client in Surrey asked us to review annual banking charges of £103k that included cash processing costs of £78k. Our review identified simple changes, with full and enthusiastic help of their bank, which produced yearly savings of £46k. A...