the mrbrown show: man in the nets
Photo by maury.m
We explore the complicated and complex reasons behind a recent hike.
Podcast: the mrbrown show 8 June 2007: man in the nets (MP3, file size: 1.7mb, Time: 00:03:26)
Technorati Tags: podcast, podcasting, singapore
June 8th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Hmm… I’ve not read of any speculation to destroy NETS to enshrine
debit cards;
thereby killing its original purpose of bringing cashless payments
to the common folk of the heartland.
“Charging a Lexus to provide a Toyota” — smells like profiteering.
Or like DBS conveniently absorbing POSB in a bloodless coup.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
LOL!….
Bank: “We just want more money.”
Brown:”Say so lah.”
After all the spin and beat around the bush with all the excuses for the increase, that just says it all about the recent increase.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
let’s wait and see what’s next..EZYLink?
and Fynyx - the POSB coup. that was awesome wasnt it? just a few months before the takeover, POSB had this major event to commemorate 50 years in Singapore…GCT spoke, telling about how POSB helped working class Singapore have bank account, promote savings etc etc etc.
Once the takeover - they just nicely screwed the public.
Why? because POSB was not profitable to the govt. Yet another transaction that was focused on providing a service to the citizens….NOT…
June 9th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
they will start charging us for basic transactions like withdrawals, deposits and transfers.
June 9th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
You guy really need to improve the show.
Its not funny anymore!
June 10th, 2007 at 12:52 am
hi asian,
the whole NETs issue itself is a already a joke. perhaps you have laughed enough when they announced it.
June 10th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Actually NETS really got it wrong on this one. Just image what would have been the cost of technology 22 years earlier compared what is right now. Typically an IT infrastructure has a given break even period, which is typically 3 to 5 years. The rule of thumb for the transaction processing cost is very simple, the more the transactions processed the lower would be the cost. If NETS contend that the cost of transaction has gone up from 22 years ago when it was established, they are just give BS! The reason is very simple compared to the usage rate 22 years back NETS usage and transaction processing is much higher. Therefore the cost of processing should be far lower, bearing in mind the cost of technology meaning the cost of hardware, software and services is far lower. I dont want to be held liable for defaming an entity, but I can speculate that they must have burned $$ in their not so successful overseas projects such as Chinaunionpay and providing payment services to Chinese card holders. I can also imagine they must be daydreaming the new projects to mint more money and want the banks to make upfront investment and that is why they want to entice the banks by intercreasing the interchange fee (portion of merchant service charges which the merchant service provider (NETS) share with the bank of the card holder). These schemes would include things like contactless cards, RFID projects and other such schemes something which I believe a typical user doesnt nessesarily need. And I strongly believe that the banking industry is slowly moving towards imposing fee on ATM withdrawals following the example of bloodsucking banks in Australia. Furthermore there are three payment schemes (NETS, Ezylink, ASX) fighting for the same pie of card payments in Singapore. Although all three of them maintain their respective payment technology infrastructures, their ultimate shareholders are more or less the same, which are the local banks. This means that within the system the cost of operations is higher because of the presence of seperate infrastructures but there is an element of oglipoly in which price fixing takes place. Furthermore if NETS is comparing itself with Visa and MasterCard, it is simply a wrong comparison. The reason behind this is very simple, NETS is a local payment infrastructure responsible for providing payment service for card usage within the country. Visa and MasterCard are international payment networks which allow cashwithdrawal and Point of Sale (payment through card at the stores) across the world at the Visa and Mastercard accepting outlets. Another major reason why NETS can not compare itself with Visa and MasterCard is because of the fact that their major attraction for the banks issuing credit cards is the usage of CREDIT card, which encourage customers to defer their outstanding at the end of the month. This allow the credit card issuers to earn interest income, which unwitting customers pay assuming that it is a status symbol, although it is a illadvised move. Visa and MasterCard are currently subsidizing the banks’ investment into the debit card programs using the money earned from the credit card programs across the world so that they can extend their dominance on debit card payment as well. Another major reason why NETS can not compare itself with Visa and MasterCard is because of the fact that it has monopoly on the local card payment infrastructure. There is no real local competitor to NETS which can offer similar services to the holders of deposit account holders in Singapore. As it has the monopoly, NETS should be accountable to all the stakeholders, not just the shareholders. Visa and MasterCard by the way are faced with expensive lawsuits in US, where they settled the case out of the case. Furthermore in Australia, they attracted the strong regulatory move by central bank of the country, which fixed the interchange fee unilaterally. Other countries are expected to follow the same course sometime soon. Hope this put the real situation in the proper context.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:44 am
cashless society huh? izits beggars countrys huhs?
plp working towards 1st world country, we cannot lose out
1st beggar country we must achieve before other claim itz
1st in the world leh… sounds good…
June 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
this is podcast is F&*^%ing good. the last sentence is the best.
up u point ah mr brown
June 12th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Those guys that raise rates one after another are like lemmings, playing bloody follow the leader.
Anyways, good podcast Mista Brown! Can join your podcast team or not? Serious you know!
June 12th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
DAMNN FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 14th, 2007 at 6:06 am
LOL Buay tahan damn funny! Especially the last part!
June 24th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Hahah…. i like the last part. Almost fell off my chair… heheh…
Keep it up Mr Brown.com Sibei Ho ah….