Electronic money (also known as electronic cash, electronic currency, digital currency, digital money or digital cash) refers to money which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic money. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

While electronic money has been an interesting problem for cryptography (see for example David Chaum's work), to-date use of digital cash has been relatively low-scale. One rare success has been Hong Kong's Octopus card system, which started as a transit payment system and has grown into a widely used electronic cash system. Another success is Canada's Interac network, which in 2000 at retail (in Canada) surpassed cash ^* as a payment method.

Singapore has a very successful electronic money implementation for its public bus transportation system, which is very similar to Hong Kong's Octopus card. The electronic money, known as EZLink by most Singaporeans, is a card the size of an ordinary credit card; it has a smart chip plus a wireless communication module. Passengers just need to tap the EZLink when they board the bus and tap the card again when they alight; the bus fare system automatically deducts the calculated bus fare from the EZLink value. Recently, McDonalds is setting up EZLink payment infrastructure at their fast-food branches all over Singapore's main island. It is believed that in the near future EZLink will gain more acceptance as a convenient electronic money solution in Singapore.

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The Economist: Banking

German banking: The last laugh
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:35 -0000
Commerzbank’s purchase of Dresdner holds lessons for other dealmakersNOT so long ago, staff at Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment-banking arm of Dresdner, a German bank, used to refer to Commerzbank, a rival, as “Comedy bank”. No one is laughing now. On August 31st Allianz, an insurer, gave up the struggle to make anything of its 2001 purchase of Dresdner and sold the bank to Commerzbank for €9.8 billion ($14.2 billion). The new entity will concentrate on its German retail and business customers. Investment-banking will shrink, with the axe expected to fall hardest in London.The initial reaction of shareholders was unenthusiastic: shares in Commerzbank fell by more than 11% the day after the deal was announced whereas those in Allianz, which will eventually end up with a 30% stake in the enlarged bank, edged up marginally. Among other things, investors fretted that Commerzbank was paying too much for Dresdner; that the deal increased its exposure to toxic assets; and that shrinking the investment bank could be costly in a falling market. In times this febrile, such nervousness is understandable, but it is hard to question the long-term business logic behind the merger, which will create Germany’s largest retail bank by number of branches (see chart), make Commerzbank the market leader with Mittelstand companies, and enable large cost savings through branch closures. The judgment on whether this is a good deal should be made in three years, not now, says Martin Blessing, Commerzbank’s boss. ...
South Korea and Wall Street: Deal or no deal?
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:35 -0000
A state-owned Korean bank nurtures a longing for Lehman BrothersTHERE is something of the scrappy outsider about both South Korea and Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street firm desperately in need of capital to strengthen a balance sheet battered by mortgage losses. So when Min Euoo-sung, chairman of the Korean Development Bank (KDB) said on September 2nd that his state-owned firm was trying to lead a group of Korean banks into taking a stake in Lehman, it had a ring of truth.KDB, like other Korean banks, dreams of turning itself into a force in global banking. Lehman may be that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy into the big league. It is cheap. It does not appear to have suffered large client and counterparty defections. And unlike Bear Stearns, its erstwhile rival, it can access liquidity at the Federal Reserve’s discount window. If Lehman survives, it could be a profitable—and strategic—investment. ...
Buttonwood: A leaky pool
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:35 -0000
The problems of insuring against systemic riskIT IS a simple but brilliant idea. Pooling risks—the essence of insurance—allows people and businesses to protect themselves from disaster. The insured have the incentive to buy homes or build business, knowing that they will be saved from the worst outcome. That enables the economy to grow faster and everyone to enjoy a higher standard of living.But one assumption is crucial. The pool of risks must be genuinely diversified, so that only a small proportion of policyholders will be making claims at any one time. If not, then the insurer could go bankrupt. ...
A short introduction: Faith-based finance
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:35 -0000
The whys and wherefores of Islamic financeTHE modern history of Islamic finance is often dated to the 1970s, with the launch of Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But its roots stretch back 14 centuries. Islamic finance rests on the application of Islamic law, or sharia, whose primary sources are the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Sharia emphasises justice and partnership. In the world of finance that translates into a ban on speculation (or gharar) and on the charging of interest (riba). The idea of a lender levying a straight interest charge, regardless of how the underlying assets fare in an uncertain world, offends against these principles—though some Muslims dispute this, arguing that the literature in sharia covering business practices is small and that terms such as “usury” and “speculation” are open to interpretation. Companies that operate in immoral industries, such as gambling or pornography, are also out of bounds, as are companies that have too much borrowing (typically defined as having debt totalling more than 33% of the firm’s stockmarket value). Such criteria mean that sharia-compliant investors steer clear of highly leveraged conventional banks, a wise choice in recent months. ...
Islamic finance: Savings and souls
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:30:35 -0000
Muslims have a lot of money to invest. But it is a constant struggle to reconcile faith and financeTO SEE Islamic finance in action, visit the mutating coastline of the Gulf. Diggers claw sand out of the sea off Manama, Bahrain’s capital, for a series of waterfront developments that are part-funded by Islamic instruments. To the east, Nakheel, a developer that issued the world’s largest Islamic bond (or sukuk) in 2006, is using the money to reorganise the shoreline of Dubai into a mosaic of man-made islands. Finance is undertaking some Islamic construction of its own. Islamic banks are opening their doors across the Gulf and a new platform for sharia-compliant hedge funds has attracted names such as BlackRock. Western law firms and banks, always quick to sniff out new business, are beefing up their Islamic-finance teams. ...
American banks: When sorrows come
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:37 -0000
Commercial banks prepare, reluctantly, to take centre stageEVERY episode in the credit crunch has had its dramatic flourish. There were the defenestrations at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch late last year; then, in March, the Bear Stearns fiasco; the humbling of UBS; and now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a tale of hubris that might impress Shakespeare himself. What next? With the tragedy of the mortgage giants still unfolding, another dark drama is entering its second act, and it has rather a lot of players. It concerns America’s commercial banks. “Pretty dismal” was the frank description of their recent performance offered on August 26th by Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). That was just after announcing a rise in the number of banks on its danger list, from 90 to 117. ...

World Bank/IMF

EU: Court hits at Brussels secrecy
The European Union's secretive decision-making processes were condemned on Thursday in a legal judgment that should lead to more light being shed on how thousands of regulations affecting businesses are hatched.
CONGO: World Bank accused of razing Congo forests
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts.
Digging for Dirt in the DRC?
As the Congolese government begins a review of mining contracts, a mining kingpin is deported on unrelated corruption charges, and the World Bank faces accusations of failure to provide oversight of contract deals.

ING Latest Press Releases

18/08/08 - ING DIRECT closes Interhyp takeover bid with approx. 90% of shares tendered
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200

13/08/08 - Second Quarter 2008 Results
Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200

30/07/08 - ING DIRECT announces approx. 90% of Interhyp shares tendered; public takeover bid extended
Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0200

22/07/08 - ING Closes Sale of Mexican Non-Core Insurance Business to AXA
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0200

14/07/08 - ING DIRECT receives regulatory approval for public takeover bid for Germany's largest mortgage distributor Interhyp
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0200

09/07/08 - ING receives approval to start life insurance in Ukraine
Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0200


The Economist: The World Bank and the IMF

Poverty: The bottom 1.4 billion
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:37 -0000
The world is poorer than we thought, the World Bank discoversCorrection to this articleIN APRIL 2007 the World Bank announced that 986m people worldwide suffered from extreme poverty—the first time its count had dropped below 1 billion. On August 26th it had grim news to report. According to two of its leading researchers, Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion, the “developing world is poorer than we thought”. The number of poor was almost 1.4 billion in 2005. ...
Who runs the world?: Wrestling for influence
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
The post-war global institutions have largely worked well. But rising countries and growing threats are challenging their pre-eminence THE powerful, like the victorious, do not just write history. They grab the seats at the top tables, from the United Nations Security Council to the boards of the big international economic and financial institutions. They collude behind closed doors. They decide who can join their cosy clubs and expect the rest of the world to obey the instructions they hand down. That is how many outsiders, not just in the poor world, will see the summit that takes place from July 7th to 9th of the G8, the closest the world has to an informal (ie, self-appointed) steering group. Leaders of seven of the world’s richest democracies, plus oil-and gas-fired Russia, gather this year in Toyako, on Hokkaido in northern Japan, to ruminate on climate change, rising food and energy prices, and the best way to combat global scourges from disease to nuclear proliferation. ...
International government: What a way to run the world
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:45 -0000
Global institutions are an outdated muddle; the rise of Asia makes their reform a priority for the WestCLUBS are all too often full of people prattling on about things they no longer know about. On July 7th the leaders of the group that allegedly runs the world—the G7 democracies plus Russia—gather in Japan to review the world economy. But what is the point of their discussing the oil price without Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest producer? Or waffling about the dollar without China, which holds so many American Treasury bills? Or slapping sanctions on Robert Mugabe, with no African present? Or talking about global warming, AIDS or inflation without anybody from the emerging world? Cigar smoke and ignorance are in the air.The G8 is not the only global club that looks old and impotent (see article). The UN Security Council has told Iran to stop enriching uranium, without much effect. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is in tatters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the fireman in previous financial crises, has been a bystander during the credit crunch. The World Trade Organisation’s Doha round is stuck. Of course, some bodies, such as the venerable Bank for International Settlements (see article), still do a fine job. But as global problems proliferate and information whips round the world ever faster, the organisational response looks ever shabbier, slower and feebler. The world’s governing bodies need to change. ...

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