Ameritrade: targeting the "day traders"

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Amex launches Twitter payments

American Express has extended its Sync service with social media site Twitter to allow users to pay for purchases using special hashtags. Although unlikely to remain anything but a niche offering, Amex's move is focused more on its traditional space of consumer targeting and reward programs.

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Amex to restructure business with a renewed focus on digital

American Express's plan to restructure its business - chiefly its corporate travel unit - is a defensive move by the payment provider to align itself with the growing consumer preference for technology-based services. The move also reinforces wider company developments, shedding some light on American Express's long-term strategy.

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Annuity sales: brokerages evening out the playing field

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Apple announces the upcoming launch of its Passbook digital wallet

Apple recently announced that its first digital wallet service, Passbook, will launch alongside iOS6 in the autumn of 2012. The system does not yet support payments and is not NFC-based, but Passbook is likely to be a major milestone in the development of mobile payments.

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Apple finally takes its first tentative steps into real world payments

Apple has launched a payment app that allows users to pay for goods through their iTunes account. The service is an update to its Apple Store Mobile App which allows iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S users to pay for goods in US Apple Stores with no staff interaction. Although still a closed loop system, EasyPay represents the first step of what could become a major disruptive force in the payments industry.

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Apple takes a different path to quietly enter the world of mobile payments

The launch of the iPhone 5 reconfirms Apple's strategy to rule the global mobile payments space by focusing on what it will take for consumers to shift their payment behavior in future. The iPhone 5 from a payments point of view is essentially only skinnier and faster, notably with no NFC functionality, but its Passbook features in iOS 6 hold the most likely indicator of its long-term intentions.

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Asda: Norwich Union insurance at Asda prices

Asda is to offer home, travel and motor insurance to its customers as the first step of a major assault on the financial services market. Having seen the amount of business that rivals Tesco and Sainsbury have picked up, the Wal-Mart owned supermarket wants a piece of the action.<BR />

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Asia will pull in wealth as the rest of the world pushes it away

The shift in gravity of the wealth management market will continue its slide east in 2011, with more international clients being serviced from Singapore and Hong Kong. While neither city will rival the US, the UK, or even Switzerland in terms of global client assets under management, 2011 will see the gap narrow as growth in wealth managed from these cities accelerates ahead of the market.

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Asset management firms turn to technology to cope with ever-changing financial landscape

As the asset management industry experiences significant change, firms are turning to technology to reinvent and differentiate themselves. Outsourcing fund marketing functions is growing in popularity, while online issuance is developing as an effective distribution channel. Indeed, global asset management spend on front office technology is expected to top $3.4 billion by 2012.

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