ATM inventor John Shepherd-Barron, 84, dies after short illness

London, May 20(ANI): John Shepherd-Barron, the Scotsman credited with inventing the world’s first automatic teller machine, now known as ATMs, has died after a short illness. He was 84.

Shepherd-Barron died in Scotland’s Raigmore Hospital on Saturday.

He had come up with the concept of a self-service cash dispenser in 1965 while lying in a bath after getting to his bank too late to withdraw money.

The businessman, who worked for the printing firm De La Rue Instruments at the time, said he was inspired by chocolate vending machines and put the idea to the head of Barclays Bank “over a pink gin”, The Telegraph reported.

The first ATM was installed at a Barclays’ branch in London in 1967.

Shepherd-Barron did not patent his system and did not make any money from his invention, but was made an OBE in 2005 for his services to banking. (ANI)

Malay minister backs adding Tamil language in ATMs

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 27(ANI): Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam has said he would to ensure that the Tamil language is included in ATMs.

Currently, banking transactions can only be done in English, Malay or Chinese.

Subramaniam said that in the Internet era, it would not be a difficult task for banks to incorporate Tamil in their machines. (ANI)

No prior approval for expansion off-site ATMs

New Delhi, July 6 (ANI): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that a sub-committee of State level Bankers Committee (SLBC) would identify and formulate an action plan for providing banking facilities in under-banked/unbanked areas in the next three years.

Presenting the budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha today, Mukherjee said: “A sum of Rs. 100 crore has been set aside as one-time grant in aid to ensure provision of at least one Centre/Point of Sales (POS) for banking services in each of the unbanked blocks.”For a country like ours, with significant sections of unbanked population and regions, financial inclusion is vital for sustaining long term equitable development,” he added.

The Minister further said as part of the financial inclusion drive, scheduled commercial banks have been opening ‘no frills’ accounts either with ‘nil’ or very low minimum balances.

So far, these banks have opened 3.3 crore such accounts, he added.

The RBI has announced a further relaxation in its Branch Authorisation Policy.

He later announced that the Scheduled Commercial Banks are now allowed to set up off-site ATMs without prior approval, subject to reporting. (ANI)

Union Bank of India – UBI – UBI to foray into Mutual Fund business

Union Bank of India – UBI – UBI to foray into Mutual Fund business

CHENNAI: Union Bank of India (UBI) would make a foray into the mutual fund business by December, a top bank official said on Thursday.

The bank had already received approval from Reserve Bank of India and was awaiting nod from SEBI, Union Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director M V Nair said.

“We have already got the approval from RBI. We should get the approval from SEBI by next two months,” he said. “After getting the approval the product should be launched by December 2009″.

Nair was here to officially announce the bank’s mobile banking facility under the brand ‘UMOBILE’ under which one can make bill payments, purchase movie tickets and transfer funds apart from other banking services.

He said that the Bank’s vision was to achieve Most Preferred Bank status by 2012.

The Bank currently has 2,650 branches and 1,950 ATMs across the country.

Amarnath yatra registration for pilgrims begins

Jammu, May 21 (ANI): The registration for the annual pilgrimage to the Hindu cave shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir commenced across the country on Wednesday.

The pilgrimage spread over two months is scheduled to begin on June 6.

At Jammu and several other places, the pilgrims were seen in long queues to register their names.

Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been authorised by the government to register the intending pilgrims.

Around 110 branches of the bank spread over the country will facilitate the registration of the pilgrims.

According to Madan Gupta, Vice President (Central Zone) of J and K Bank has said that facilities like mobile ATMs and banking facilities at the base camp are the latest additions this year.

“We are doing bookings up to 3,00,000 in this counter and through Internet up to 1,20,000 bookings. We request people to get their bookings done through Internet because it would be more convenient. For pilgrims, we have arranged mobile banking facilities at the base camp, which will remain for June 6 to August 5. ATM facility will be available round the clock. We would be providing the pilgrims with on-the-spot banking facilities at the base camp,” Gupta added.

He further said that in Jammu, the bank has set up an extra counter at the Exhibition Ground for registration, which will remain open on week days from 3.p.m in the afternoon till 6.p.m. on weekdays and on Saturday from 1.p.m to 4.p.m. in the afternoon.

The registration will close on July 30.

“Every year we go on this pilgrimage. We pray to Lord Shiva for the pilgrimage journey to proceed smoothly this year unlike last year,” said Rajkumar, a pilgrim.

The Amarnath pilgrimage will culminate on August 5, which according to Hindu almanac is the Shravana Purnima (full moon in the monsoon month of Shravana).

Every year a large number of devotees trek the steep, slippery 48-km route to reach the Amarnath cave shrine, which stands at a height of nearly 12,500 feet above sea level. (ANI)

Prizm payments pick ‘Postilion’ for payments processing

Mumbai, Mar 2 (ANI/Business Wire India): Postilion, a leading provider of software solutions for self-service banking and payments and a division of S1 Corporation today announced that Prizm Payments, a service provider based in India, has implemented a Postilion payments processing platform. Prizm Payments provides secure payments services for financial institutions, retailers, and service providers, across multiple electronic channels.

Following the rapid growth of the Indian payments market, Prizm Payments identified an opportunity to offer innovative ATM and POS services to financial institutions and retailers. The Prizm Payments management team has extensive experience in the industry, incorporates an established maintenance and services operation with 43 facilities across India, and is backed by a leading global private equity firm, Sequoia Capital, as a financial investor.

As the provider of the world’s most widely deployed open-systems payments software solution driving over 100,000 ATMs and 500,000 POS devices worldwide, Postilion allows Prizm Payments to establish a world-class ATM and POS network across India. Prizm Payments will introduce a comprehensive payments services infrastructure to India, comprising of retail ATMs, POS services, third-party maintenance services, and prepaid card services.

“Postilion will be helping us to deliver improved ATM, POS and card services to financial institutions and retailers in the Indian market,” explained Loney Antony, Managing Director of Prizm Payments. “We understand the importance of providing customers with a reliable, high performance, innovative and secure service, and these were the key factors that motivated our choice of Postilion. We aim to differentiate ourselves by providing leading edge value-added services across all channels. Postilion’s modular approach allows us to bring these new services to market faster, thus maximizing our investment.”

“Having been traditionally dominated by cash, the Indian payments market has seen significant change and growth which has presented many opportunities for players in the payments industry,” commented Steve Kirrage, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Postilion Middle East and Southern Europe. “Postilion solutions are an ideal fit with Prizm Payments’ business model, and we are pleased to be working with them in their venture.”

Prizm Payment Services Private Limited (Prizm Payments) is a company incorporated in India with an established track record in the payments industry in India and in operation for over 3 years. Prizm Payments is led by a management team with extensive experience in the payments industry and with a leading global private equity firm – Sequoia Capital as a financial investor.

Prizm Payments is created to develop a self-sufficient nation-wide modern payments ecosystem for financial institutions, retailers and service providers. Prizm Payments’ mission is to be the leader in enabling secure, innovative payments services across electronic channels. (ANI)

Prizm payments pick ‘Postilion’ for payments processing

Mumbai, Mar 2 (ANI/Business Wire India): Postilion, a leading provider of software solutions for self-service banking and payments and a division of S1 Corporation today announced that Prizm Payments, a service provider based in India, has implemented a Postilion payments processing platform. Prizm Payments provides secure payments services for financial institutions, retailers, and service providers, across multiple electronic channels.

Following the rapid growth of the Indian payments market, Prizm Payments identified an opportunity to offer innovative ATM and POS services to financial institutions and retailers. The Prizm Payments management team has extensive experience in the industry, incorporates an established maintenance and services operation with 43 facilities across India, and is backed by a leading global private equity firm, Sequoia Capital, as a financial investor.

As the provider of the world’s most widely deployed open-systems payments software solution driving over 100,000 ATMs and 500,000 POS devices worldwide, Postilion allows Prizm Payments to establish a world-class ATM and POS network across India. Prizm Payments will introduce a comprehensive payments services infrastructure to India, comprising of retail ATMs, POS services, third-party maintenance services, and prepaid card services.

“Postilion will be helping us to deliver improved ATM, POS and card services to financial institutions and retailers in the Indian market,” explained Loney Antony, Managing Director of Prizm Payments. “We understand the importance of providing customers with a reliable, high performance, innovative and secure service, and these were the key factors that motivated our choice of Postilion. We aim to differentiate ourselves by providing leading edge value-added services across all channels. Postilion’s modular approach allows us to bring these new services to market faster, thus maximizing our investment.”

“Having been traditionally dominated by cash, the Indian payments market has seen significant change and growth which has presented many opportunities for players in the payments industry,” commented Steve Kirrage, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Postilion Middle East and Southern Europe. “Postilion solutions are an ideal fit with Prizm Payments’ business model, and we are pleased to be working with them in their venture.”

Prizm Payment Services Private Limited (Prizm Payments) is a company incorporated in India with an established track record in the payments industry in India and in operation for over 3 years. Prizm Payments is led by a management team with extensive experience in the payments industry and with a leading global private equity firm – Sequoia Capital as a financial investor.

Prizm Payments is created to develop a self-sufficient nation-wide modern payments ecosystem for financial institutions, retailers and service providers. Prizm Payments’ mission is to be the leader in enabling secure, innovative payments services across electronic channels. (ANI)