Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn singapore visitor visa. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn singapore visitor visa. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Thứ Tư, 13 tháng 8, 2014

3 Enticements US Cities Could Copy From Hong Kong to Encourage ...

For 20 years Hong Kong has been ranked as the #1 place in the world to do business by the Heritage Foundation. Last year the United States came in at #12, dropping out of the top 10.


A year ago I moved myself and my family to Hong Kong to open an office in Asia for my firm. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to experience firsthand the process of doing business in this city of 7 million inhabitants. While Hong Kong isn’t perfect, a few key features make the place stand out. American cities could learn a thing or two if they want to attract more entrepreneurs. Here are three suggestions:


Related: 5 Lessons From Silicon Valley for Developing Business Hubs


1. Make it easier to do business. 


I incorporated my company in Hong Kong for about $200, without ever having previously stepped foot in the locale and without a visa. Once I was on the ground in Hong Kong I was able to set up a bank account in less than an hour — again, without a visa or any sort of identification other than my passport.


At first glance doing business in California looks even less expensive, with a stated price of $100 for business incorporation, but a look at the fine print reveals this notice: “S corporations that are corporations or LLCs under civil law corporations must pay the annual $800 minimum franchise tax.”


Several years ago when I registered my business in California in order to set up a sales office, I was required to pay this $800 annual fee. Years after shuttering that office (open only five months), I learned that the state government had never closed my account and wanted several years’ worth of the $800 fee, plus penalties and interest. I haven’t considered opening an office in California since, despite it being my home state.


Once I was on the ground in Hong Kong I was able to set up a bank account in less than an hour — again, without a visa or any identification other than my passport.  


Receiving a visa to live and do business in Hong Kong took a few months but was a relatively simple process.  


Hong Kong consistently ranks second in the world, just behind Singapore, when it comes to ease of doing business, according tothe World Bank’s annual Doing Business report. The United States comes in at a respectable fourth place, but in the area of “starting a business,” it is rated as # 20, while Hong Kong took fifth place.


Utah State Representative Jacob Anderegg recently supported legislation to thoroughly ease business-licensing regulations. Cities in Arizona’s West Valley area have been working to streamline building-permit wait times.


Related: What City Topped the Chart for Helping Small Businesses Succeed?


2. Lower taxes.


There is no capital-gains tax in Hong Kong. In the United States the tax rate is 15 percent or greater. Hong Kong’s top marginal personal income tax rate is 17 percent while U.S. rates can be as high as 39.6 percent.


Entrepreneurs pay a high price for doing business in the United States, and as the Internet makes it ever easier for entrepreneurs to do business anywhere, American cities and states will need to compete harder to attract the business owners who can keep their economies vibrant. Letting business owners keep more of what they produce sends a clear welcome message.


Related: Tech Firms Seeking Talent Spring for Spacious, Luxe Quarters


3. Offer a great standard of living.


Hong Kong has a reputation of being one of the most expensive cities in the world, but that’s only for those opting to live in its expensive quarters.


I live a 10-minute walk from a nice beach in a quiet resort town, a mere 35-minute ferry ride from the city’s center. It costs me less for housing than what I paid for it in relatively low-cost Salt Lake City. The ample transportation options mean I don’t need to own a car, which lends a significant boost to my wallet.


Hong Kong has relatively low crime rates, and many of its inhabitants enjoy a long life expectancy. Plus, city is well structured for walking instead of driving. Without even trying, I receive a decent workout every day traveling to meetings around the city or riding a bike from my home to the grocery store.


Americans might consider shedding zoning regulations that separate housing areas from commercial spaces, making car ownership an absolute necessity. They should study other aspects of Hong Kong’s policies that have resulted in its being such a healthful and safe place to live.


It’s never been as easy for entrepreneurs to live anywhere they want and do business on their own terms. It’s up to the U.S. officials — at the city, state, and federal levels — to compete for the talented individuals who are creating the jobs of tomorrow. Taking a closer look at Hong Kong would be well worth the effort.


I’m curious to learn what other U.S. states or municipalities are doing to ease regulations and streamline government processes to encourage entrepreneurs to do business. 


RelatedFrom Recreational Apparel to Weed, Here Are Our Best Cities for Niche Industries



3 Enticements US Cities Could Copy From Hong Kong to Encourage ...

Thứ Ba, 12 tháng 8, 2014

MasterCard, Visa face adoption challenges with respective digital wallet services

MasterCard and Visa possess shiny, relatively new toys in their respective digital wallet services.


MasterPass and Visa Checkout are intended to give consumers a better experience shopping online across numerous devices, particularly on a mobile phone. That, in turn, should help merchants better deal with the dreaded cart abandonment outcome as a result of a complicated checkout process.


But while those services might seem attractive sitting in the sandbox, both companies might have trouble convincing consumers and merchants to come out and play with those toys.


“The issue both Visa and MasterCard have with their efforts is that neither one of them has a direct connection to either side of the purchase,” James Wester, research director of global payments for IDC Financial Insights, told Mobile Payments Today. “They have a connection to an issuer and they have a connection to a merchant bank, but there’s nothing they can do to directly influence what consumers or merchants do.”


Visa marketing muscle


Visa will use a heavy marketing push for Visa Checkout, which the company introduced last month to replace the V.me digital wallet in Australia, Canada and the U.S.


The company showed two 30-second commercials last month during a press event to announce Visa Checkout. A YouTube search revealed some more commercials, including a Visa demo meant to explain to consumers how the digital wallet works.



Visa announced initial Visa Checkout partnerships with Pizza Hut, Staples, United Airlines and U.S. Bank. Newegg added the service last week.


“Commerce is just beginning to move from the physical stores to the PCs, tablets and mobile devices, and it’s not going to stop,” Visa CEO Charlie Scharf said during the press event. “These devices have replaced cameras, calculators, books and more, and they will drive payments from plastic to digital. Our job is to enable this change in a way that is simple and secure.”


As MasterCard and Visa seek to add merchant acceptance for their respective services, Wester believes Visa might have a small advantage thanks to its connection with e-commerce retailers through online payments processor CyberSource. Visa acquired CyberSource in 2010.


“But [Visa] still [doesn"t] have that direct connection to consumers, and they have to be very careful about that direct connection because that’s what their issuers do,” Wester said. “The only thing they can do is use their considerable branding muscle to try and change consumer perception of how to buy online. I’m not certain what other options they have.”


Visa might have made a direct connection with consumers with a standalone mobile wallet, but the company will not go in that direction. Scharf dismissed the idea when a reporter asked him about a mobile wallet following the presentation.


“A lot of things get conflated into the wallet mentality,” he said. “When you talk to consumers about the core benefit that they’re looking for, and frankly most consumers don’t understand the concept of a digital wallet, to be honest with you, they always go back to simplicity. We know that’s what we do as a company.”


MasterPass plan


MasterCard’s approach to solving current e-commerce problems for consumers and merchants is similar to Visa. In fact, the companies share almost a comparable line of thinking when it comes to mobile wallets.


“I’m going to kid myself and think I’m going to have millions of people download a MasterPass app,” Vib Prasad, head of MasterPass Global, told Mobile Payments Today in a recent interview. “Fundamentally what MasterCard has really been successful at is enabling partners to help embed the MasterCard brand into their own experiences, and we’re doing the same thing with digital.


“If it’s a mobile banking app, we want to be integrated into it. If it’s a merchant’s shopping app, we want to be integrated into it. It’s less about creating something new.”


Banks and merchants in the past year have created new experiences riding the MasterPass rails.


Last month, Standard Bank in South Africa launched a MasterPass-enabled mobile banking app. Poland-based uPaid switched its wallets users to MasterPasss when MasterCard replaced the MasterCard Mobile product that had been active in the country for three years.


MasterCard in July announced it would extend MasterPass’ capabilities to in-app payments this month. Retailers can use an API to embed MasterPass as a checkout option within a mobile app, mobile website or desktop app. Starbucks Australia and Shaw Theatres Singapore are among the first merchants to add this feature.


Prasad believes MasterCard has the right service for merchants to solve what he described as a “persistent omnichannel problem” across different devices, and even brick-and-mortar locations.


“The merchants are trying to figure out the omnichannel space for consumers to have better tech experiences,” he said. “They are trying to put it all together.”


Whether that is enough for merchants to enable MasterPass acceptance remains to be seen. Wester, however, believes merchant are not quite convinced digital wallets solve cart abandonment.


“Until they find [a way to solve cart abandonment], I don’t think merchant are going to choose any one solution,” he said. “It’s going to be very tricky for both Visa and MasterCard to say at this point, ‘Look we don’t really don’t have many people who are active users of our digital wallet. We do, however, know there are billions of cardholders out there.’ But merchants are savvy enough to know that doesn’t necessarily correlate to a lot of users.”


Photo courtesy of roujo. 




MasterCard, Visa face adoption challenges with respective digital wallet services

Beautician ends up as "housemaid" in Kuwait, manages to return

CHANDIGARH: Falling prey to an unscrupulous travel agent, a widow from Ropar ended up being “sold off” to a family in Kuwait. Even after coughing up Rs 3.5 lakh, Neelu, mother of two, didn’t get the promised job in a beauty parlour. Instead, she found herself mopping houses and cooking as a maid, having been sold by the agent for Rs 2 lakh.

But unlike scores of other unsuspecting unemployed who land up in Kuwait and Iraq, she was fortunate to get help from Punjabis settled there and managed to return home through Kuwait Welfare Society, a union of Indian workers.


“I read an advertisement by an agent about work visas in Singapore. An expert at makeup therapies, I got in touch with him and a deal was struck for Rs 3 lakh. In the meantime, he told me there is a much better offer from Kuwait and I’ll be able to earn more. So I agreed to pay Rs 50,000 more,” she recalled.


“When I got my documents, it mentioned ?housemaid’ as my job profile. When I protested, the agent made me speak to a lady, who claimed to run a beauty parlour and said it was only on paper that I was going as maid. She assured me that otherwise things were as planned,” said Neelu, who had lost her husband several years ago.


“On reaching there, a local agent took me to a family and sold me for Rs 2 lakh. I was kept in confinement of the house and asked to do household chores. They wouldn’t give me food and there was no medical help when I fell ill. Fortunately, their driver was an Indian and he helped me get in touch with Kuwait Welfare Society, who ensured my return,” she added.


Before Neelu returned last week, her family had filed a police case against the travel agent for duping her. “My statement was recorded recently by police. I hope some action will be taken so that more gullible girls don’t fall in the trap,” she said.


“A friend of mine was sent to Singapore on work visa but was forced to return in a matter of hours on the ground that she had tuberculosis. After coming back, she had all the medical tests done but found nothing. The government needs to tighten the noose around such travel agents,” said Neelu.


LAW WEAK


The move to bring unauthorized travel agents under Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act is still hanging fire. Such agents in Punjab still cannot be prosecuted or proceeded against on allegations of violating the provisions of the Act or for not registering with the state government, sources said.



Beautician ends up as "housemaid" in Kuwait, manages to return

Long weekend ahead, Puneites get packing

PUNE: The four-day-long weekend following Independence Day has prompted Puneites to pack their bags and head for popular getaway spots across the country and even abroad.

Goa, Kerala, hill stations like Lonavla, Mahabaleshwar and international destinations like Turkey, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia seem to be the chosen locations.


The Independence Day on August 15 falls on a Friday, followed by Parsi New Year and Janmasthami that fall on August 18, a Monday. Back-to-back public holidays have given people the opportunity to take off to nearby destinations, away form the humdrum of everyday life.


The Malin tragedy or the recent Whats App broadcast messages predicting ?cloudbursts’ have failed to scare adventure-lovers who have made plans to visit the hilly terrains of Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, Khandala and Lonavla. All these places are currently booked to capacity, say travel industry sources. “Matheran is a destination with red soil and is generally not recommended during heavy rains as people have to walk on foot or hire ponies. Cars are not allowed inside. But the place is booked to capacity this weekend, which shows that people are adventurous and wish to explore,” said a travel company’s general manager.


Other destinations high on the tourist radar are Kumarakom in Kerala, Goa and Rajasthan. “Ayurvedic and spa treatments are highly recommended during monsoon to unclog skin pores. Kerala is popular for its pleasant monsoon and spa treatments. Hence, many are taking off to the land of coconut trees. Driving down to Goa is also an option,” the manager said.


G Krishna, chairperson of the Pune chapter of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said that his company has received numerous queries for Mahabaleshwar, Goa, Kashid, Alibaug and Khandala. Hill stations are full, he said. His company has booked 16 adults for Goa, four clients for Khandala, six others for Alibaug and Mahabaleshwar each. “People prefer nearby destinations as for many Monday i.e. August 18 is a working day,” said Krishna.


However, a sizeable chunk of travelers is opting for international destinations like Turkey, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Sujit Katre, general manager at a travel company, said that international destinations are most favored when tourists manage to get visa on arrival or visa in a day or two. Travelling to these destinations for four days costs anywhere between Rs 35,000 and Rs 60,000 per person (including travel and stay), depending on the kind of hotels one selects.


“It is very rare that people get an extended-four-day weekend during July or August. Families are the ones making the most of this weekend as it is a low-rate season and children too have four days off from school,” Katre said. Travellers grabbed the golden opportunity, especially with airfares to these destinations low during the end of July, he said. Katre has booked around 90 people for this weekend for international destinations alone, he said.


Zelam Chaubal, director of a city-based travel company, said that most flights to international destinations like Singapore and Thailand are sold out. Among domestic destinations, Goa, Lonavla and Mahabaleshwar are the most popular ones.


A long weekend ahead


August 15 (Independence Day), a national holiday


August 16 August 17 (Saturday, Sunday)


August 18 Parsi New Year and Janmasthami


Popular destinations


Domestic: Lonavla-Khandala, Mahabaleshwar, Kashid, Matheran and Goa


International: Turkey, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore



Long weekend ahead, Puneites get packing

Thứ Hai, 11 tháng 8, 2014

Currency fluctuation can increase cost in overseas card transactions

Your sister is studying in the US and it is her birthday. You order a gift for her from Amazon.com and make a payment in dollars, using your credit card, sitting in India. The internet allows you to do this. On that day, the dollar-rupee exchange rate was 60.95. It takes a couple of days for the transaction to get settled; by then, the dollar-rupee depreciates to 61.21. You have no option but to shell out a bit more money than you had anticipated.



With online shopping becoming popular and people travelling abroad, usage of credit and debit cards for making payments in foreign currency has increased. The exchange rate, though, is only one of the things you need to keep in mind. Let us look at this and some of the others to note in using your card for foreign transactions.



Exchange rate and other charges



“There could be a difference in the exchange rate between the day you do your transaction and the day it is calculated and settled. There is nothing you can do about it,” says Nitish Asthana, general manager, ICICI Merchant Services, a joint venture between ICICI Bank and First Data, providing credit card payment processing services.



However, a lot of merchants offer a facility to pay in the home currency, called Dynamic Currency Conversion. Many duty-free stores at international airports offer this facility, such as in Hong Kong and Singapore. Using this, you can lock in the exchange rate. So, while travelling abroad, look at point of sales (PoS) terminals having this facility.



The foreign currency mark-up charges are as applicable, depending on the specific credit card of the customer. It ranges between two to 3.5 per cent of the transaction value, says Parag Rao, senior executive vice-president, HDFC Bank.



Validity and limit



As a first step, before you swipe your card, check if it is valid for foreign use. Following an increase in card-related frauds, many banks now issue cards valid only for domestic use, as a means of security.



In some cases, they fix a limit for use abroad. So, if you suddenly find your card cannot be used for a transaction above a certain amount, don’t panic. It is probably only a limit set by your bank as a precaution.



“Customers need to ensure that their credit card is enabled for international usage. You can either call-in to our phone banking or log-in to net banking to enable or change this facility,” says Rao. Check with your bank if the card can be used overseas and, if so, the limit. If you feel the need, you can ask for a temporary increase in the limit.



“Magstrip cards are generally domestic cards only and can be converted to international ones on the request of the customer. Chip and PIN cards are more secure, as international usage is enabled automatically. That’s the norm followed by most banks today,” says Asthana.



While Visa and MasterCard are valid across all merchants globally, even RuPay cards are valid abroad, following its tie-up with Discover. But make sure to verify before you travel.



EMV card



The PIN is a requirement only in some countries, which have migrated to the EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) technology.



While swiping your card, the PIN will be asked only in these countries and not others. So, you might find that your international card, which requires a PIN while using in India, might not require one in some foreign countries. It is advisable to use your card at an EMV-compliant PoS terminal.



Many countries have made PIN entry mandatory for Chip and PIN credit cards. However, in America, credit card transactions are normal swipe ones and no PIN is required, whereas customers normally do have to use their PIN for debit card transactions. In Britain, PIN transactions are a must for Chip plus PIN credit cards. Many countries in central Europe and now in Southeast Asia insist on the PIN usage for Chip and PIN credit cards.



Unlike websites in India, where card usage requires either a one-time PIN (OTP) or an IPIN, this is not true for foreign websites. However, some websites abroad have begun requiring an additional factor of authentication (such as an OTP).



“Consumers should be careful when using their card on an international website, ensuring it is used only on reputable ones, which have the relevant levels of security protocols to protect card data. Also ensure your virus protection software is updated and that your browser’ caches are always cleared,” says Muge Yuzuak, head of cards and personal loans, Citibank India.



Disputed charge or fraud



If there is a disputed charge or a fraudulent charge, you have to report back to your issuing bank, which will in turn follow up with the merchant bank of that country. Once you lodge a complaint and it is proved that the fraud occurred in a transaction where there was no PIN, your bank will reverse the charge. You have to fill a dispute form and email it to the bank and also deposit it in a branch of your bank abroad.



“There is a window of seven to 45 days for the bank to reverse the charge. The window to report the fraud is six months but don’t wait that long. Do it as soon as you discover the fraud,” Asthana advises.



RISE IN FOREIGN TRANSACTIONS

  • With online shopping becoming popular and people travelling abroad, usage of credit and debit cards for making payments in foreign currency has increased

     


  • The foreign currency mark-up charges are as applicable, depending on the specific credit card of the customer. It ranges between two to 3.5 per cent of the transaction value

     


  • Following an increase in card-related frauds, many banks now issue cards valid only for domestic use, as a means of security


Currency fluctuation can increase cost in overseas card transactions

Planet Payment Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results


LONG BEACH, N.Y., Aug 11, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) –


Planet Payment, Inc.

/quotes/zigman/13227869/delayed/quotes/nls/plpm PLPM
+2.34%




/quotes/zigman/412266/delayed UK:PPT
0.00%



, a leading provider of international payment and transaction processing and multi-currency processing services, announced today its results for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2014.


Financial Highlights for the Quarter Ended June 30, 2014



  • Net revenue for the period increased to $11.9 million compared to $11.8 million in the second quarter of 2013.




  • Net income for the period was $1.5 million compared to net income of $0.3 million in the second quarter of 2013.




  • Adjusted EBITDA for the period was $2.8 million compared to $1.3 million in the second quarter of 2013. (See Table 1 for reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA).




  • Total active merchant locations increased to approximately 80,000 (2013:approximately 44)(2013:000) (See Table 3 for explanation of this metric).




  • Total settled dollar volume processed increased to $2.1 billion (2013:$1.7 billion) and total settled transactions processed increased to 26.3 million (2013:14.9 million). (See Table 3 for explanation of these metrics).




  • Settled multi-currency dollar volume processed totaled approximately $660 million (2013:$638 million). (See Table 3 for explanation of this metric).



Operational Highlights for the Quarter Ended June 30, 2014



  • Continued roll out of Pay in Your Currency® service with Cielo, S.A. in Brazil




  • Continued roll out of Pay in Your Currency with PT Bank of Central Asia in Indonesia and with Vantiv in the United States.




  • Continued roll out of processing solution for Visa initiative in Mexico, adding transaction types.




  • Continued rollout of UPOP e-commerce solution with new accounts in the United States.




  • Launched MICROS Payment Gateway solution for hospitality and lodging merchants with Axia Payments in the United States.



Commenting on the results, Carl Williams, CEO and President of Planet Payment, Inc., said:


“We are hard at work executing a plan that we believe will generate revenue growth and profitability. These efforts are starting to bear fruit as can be seen by the profitability in the quarter as compared to a year ago, and we shall ardently continue our efforts to achieve all of our goals. The progress that we have made over the past few months shows us that we are on the right track and I am excited about our prospects for success as we look to the future.”


Outlook for Fiscal Year 2014


The Company reaffirmed its guidance for the year 2014, as follows:



  • Net revenue estimated to be in the range of $52.1 million to $55.1 million.




  • Net income estimated to be in the range of $4.1 million to $6.4 million.




  • Adjusted EBITDA estimated to be in the range of $10.0 million to $12.3 million. (See Table 2 for reconciliation of prospective net income to Adjusted EBITDA).




  • Fully diluted earnings per share estimated to be in the range of $0.06 to $0.10 based upon an estimated 56.0 million fully diluted common shares outstanding.



Conference Call


The Company will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2014 financial results today at 5:00 pm New York time. Carl Williams, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Robert Cox, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer will host the call. The call will be webcast live from the Company’s investor relations website at http://ir.planetpayment.com/

. The conference call can also be accessed live over the phone by dialing (877) 705-6003, or for international callers (201) 493-6725. A replay will be available approximately two hours after the call concludes and can be accessed on our website or by dialing (877) 870-5176, or for international callers (858) 384-5517, and entering the conference ID 13580989. The replay will be available until our next earnings call on our website or via telephone until Monday, August 18, 2014.


Additional analysis of the Company’s performance can be found in the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to be filed at www.sec.gov

.


Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.


Information contained in this announcement may include ‘forward-looking statements’. All statements other than statements of historical facts included herein, including, without limitation, those set forth in “Outlook for Fiscal Year 2014″ and those regarding the financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations of both Planet Payment and its business partners, estimated net revenue, net income, Adjusted EBITDA, diluted earnings per share, estimated fully diluted common shares outstanding, tax rates, future service launches with customers and new initiatives and customer pipeline are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions regarding Planet Payment’s present and future business strategies, and the environment in which Planet Payment expects to operate in future, which assumptions may or may not be fulfilled in practice. Implementation of some or all of the new services referred to is subject to regulatory or other third party approvals. Actual results may vary materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of risk factors, including the risk that implementation, adoption and offering of the service by processors, acquirers, merchants and others may take longer than anticipated, or may not occur at all, regulatory changes and changes in card association regulations and practices, changes in domestic and international economic conditions and changes in volume of international travel and commerce and others. Additional risks may arise, with respect to commencing operations in new countries and regions, of which Planet Payment is not fully aware at this time. See the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed at www.sec.gov

for other risk factors which investors should consider. These forward-looking statements speak only as to the date of this announcement and cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. Planet Payment expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any changes in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.


About Planet Payment


Planet Payment is a leading provider of international payment processing and multi-currency processing services. We provide our services in 23 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, primarily through our more than 60 acquiring bank and processor customers. Our point-of-sale and e-commerce services help merchants sell more goods and services to consumers, and together with our ATM services are integrated within the payment card transaction flow enabling our acquiring customers, their merchants and consumers to shop, pay, transact and reconcile payment transactions in multiple currencies, geographies and channels.


Planet Payment is headquartered in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Beijing, Bermuda, Delaware, Dubai, Dublin, London, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Shanghai and Singapore. Visit www.planetpayment.com

for more information about the Company and its services. For up-to-date information follow Planet Payment on Twitter at @PlanetPayment or join Planet Payment’s Facebook page.


Non-GAAP Financial Information


The Company provides certain non-GAAP financial measures in this announcement. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA, when viewed with our results under GAAP and the accompanying reconciliations, provides useful information about our period-over-period results. Adjusted EBITDA is presented because management believes it provides additional information with respect to the performance of our fundamental business activities and is also frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of comparable companies. We also rely on Adjusted EBITDA as a primary measure to review and assess the operating performance of our company and our management team in connection with our executive compensation. These non-GAAP key business indicators, which include Adjusted EBITDA, should not be considered replacements for and should be read in conjunction with the GAAP financial measures.


We define Adjusted EBITDA as GAAP net income (loss) adjusted to exclude: (1) interest expense, (2) interest income, (3) provision (benefit) for income taxes, (4) depreciation and amortization, (5) stock‑based compensation expense and (6) certain other items management believes affect the comparability of operating results. Please see “Adjusted EBITDA” below for more information and for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.


Table 1. Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA


 


For the three and six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013


 


 


Three months ended


Six months ended


 


June 30,


June 30,


 


2014


2013


2014


2013


ADJUSTED EBITDA:


 


 


 


 


Net income 


 $ 1,509,414


 $ 304,691


 $ 730,124


 $ 676,607


Interest expense


 15,816


 15,765


 31,986


 28,911


Interest income


 (288)


 (312)


 (463)


 (524)


Provision for income taxes


 199,705


 67,974


 193,695


 68,567


Depreciation and amortization


 730,984


 669,430


 1,477,297


 1,405,036


Stock-based compensation expense


 274,669


 290,027


 550,660


 548,956


Restructuring charges


 53,752


 — 


 682,967


 — 


Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP)


 $ 2,784,052


 $ 1,347,575


 $ 3,666,266


 $ 2,727,553


 


 


 


 


 


Table 2. Reconciliation of Prospective Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA


 


For the year ending December 31, 2014


 


 


Range


 


Millions


ADJUSTED EBITDA:


 


 


 


 


Net income


$4.1


$6.4


Interest expense


0.1


0.1


Interest income


0.0


0.0


Provision for income taxes


0.8


0.8


Depreciation and amortization


3.0


3.0


Stock‑based compensation expense


1.3


1.3


Restructuring charges


0.7


0.7


Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP)


$10.0


$12.3


 


Table 3. Explanation of Key Metrics


 


 


Three months ended


Six months ended


 


June 30,


June 30,


 


2014


2013


2014


2013


KEY METRICS:


 


 


 


 


Consolidated gross billings(1)


 $ 31,637,314


 $ 30,406,907


 $ 63,469,886


 $ 62,908,833


Total settled dollar volume processed (2)


 $ 2,104,436,930


 $ 1,731,199,719


 $ 4,099,711,638


 $ 3,431,303,136


Total active merchant locations (at period end) (3)


79,811


44,467


79,811


44,467


Total settled transactions processed (4)


26,339,466


14,882,349


50,330,376


28,061,154


Multi-currency processing services key metrics:


 


 


 


 


Active merchant locations (at period end)(3)


34,720


23,509


34,720


23,509


Settled transactions processed(5)


3,293,739


3,015,374


6,465,430


6,059,344


Gross foreign currency mark-up(6)


 $ 27,878,255


 $ 26,089,431


 $ 55,974,145


 $ 54,336,023


Settled dollar volume processed(7)


 $ 660,128,540


 $ 637,806,403


 $ 1,340,698,984


 $ 1,335,672,927


Average net mark-up percentage on settled dollar volume processed(8)


1.14%


1.17%


1.12%


1.14%


Payment processing services key metrics:


 


 


 


 


Active merchant locations (at period end)(3)


45,113


20,979


45,113


20,979


Payment processing services revenue(9)


 $ 3,759,059


 $ 4,317,476


 $ 7,495,741


 $ 8,572,810


Settled transactions processed(10)


23,045,727


11,866,975


43,864,946


22,001,810


Settled dollar volume processed(11)


 $ 1,444,308,390


 $ 1,093,393,316


 $ 2,759,012,654


 $ 2,095,630,209


(1) Represents gross foreign currency mark-up (see footnote 6) plus payment processing services revenue (see footnote 9).


(2) Represents total settled dollar volume processed through both our multi-currency and payment processing services.


(3) We consider a merchant location to be active as of a date if the merchant completed at least one revenue-generating transaction at the location during the 90-day period ending on such date. The total number of active merchant locations exceeds the total number of merchants, as merchants may have multiple locations. As of June 30, 2014 and 2013, there were 22 and 21 active merchant locations, respectively, included in both multi-currency and payment processing active merchant locations but are not included in total active merchant locations, in order to eliminate counting these locations twice.


(4) Represents total settled transactions (excluding other transaction types such as authorizations and rate look-ups).


(5) Represents settled transactions processed using our multi-currency processing services (excluding other transaction types such as authorizations and rate look-ups).


(6) Represents the gross foreign currency mark-up amount on settled dollar volume processed using our multi-currency processing services. Gross foreign currency mark-up represents multi-currency processing services net revenue plus amounts paid to acquiring banks and their merchants associated with such multi-currency processing transactions. Management believes this metric is relevant because it provides the reader an indication of the gross mark-up derived from multi-currency transactions processed through our platform during a given period.


(7) Represents the total settled dollar volume processed using our multi-currency processing services.


(8) Represents the average net foreign currency mark-up percentage earned on settled dollar volume processed using our multi-currency processing services. The average net mark-up percentage on settled dollar volume processed is calculated by taking total multi-currency processing services net revenue ($7.5 million and $7.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $15.0 million and $15.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively) and dividing by settled dollar volume processed (see footnote 7). For the purposes of calculating “Average net mark-up percentage on Settled dollar volume processed”, multi-currency processing services revenue includes revenue related to multi-currency transactions only.


(9) Represents revenue earned and reported on payment processing services.


(10) Represents settled transactions processed using our payment processing services (excluding other transaction types such as authorizations and rate look-ups).


(11) Represents the total settled dollar volume processed using our payment processing services.


 


Planet Payment, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


As of June 30, 2014


As of December 31,

2013


 


 (unaudited)


 


Current assets:


 


 


Cash and cash equivalents


$ 7,336,577


$ 6,572,468


Restricted cash


4,293,638


3,471,023


Accounts receivable, net of allowances of $0.2 million as of June 30, 2014 and  December 31, 2013


5,980,520


6,016,296


Prepaid expenses and other assets


1,486,307


1,457,660


Total current assets


19,097,042


17,517,447


Other assets:


 


 


Restricted cash


566,161


446,044


Property and equipment, net


2,313,899


2,198,640


Software development costs, net


4,839,704


4,904,415


Intangible assets, net


2,562,114


2,820,909


Goodwill


358,986


362,063


Security deposits and other assets


2,345,390


2,141,620


Total other assets


12,986,254


12,873,691


Total assets


$ 32,083,296


$ 30,391,138


Liabilities and stockholders’ equity


 


 


Current liabilities:


 


 


Accounts payable


$ 408,523


$ 585,604


Accrued expenses


3,626,931


5,032,620


Due to merchants


3,787,708


3,018,900


Current portion of capital leases


511,779


466,010


Total current liabilities


8,334,941


9,103,134


Long-term liabilities:


 


 


Long-term portion of capital leases liability and deferred revenue


1,785,759


1,432,513


Total long-term liabilities


1,785,759


1,432,513


Total liabilities


10,120,700


10,535,647


Commitments and contingencies


 


 


Stockholders’ equity:


 


 


Convertible preferred stock— 10,000,000 shares authorized as of June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, $0.01 par value: Series A— 2,243,750 issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013; $8,975,000 aggregate liquidation preference


22,438


22,438


Common stock—250,000,000 shares authorized as of June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, $0.01 par value, and 55,355,794 and 55,037,488 issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively


553,557


550,375


Additional paid-in capital


102,425,454


101,038,685


Accumulated other comprehensive income


122,261


135,231


Accumulated deficit


(81,161,114)


(81,891,238)


Total stockholders’ equity


21,962,596


19,855,491


Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity


$ 32,083,296


$ 30,391,138


The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements


Planet Payment, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited)


 


 


Three months ended

June 30,


Six months ended

June 30,


 


2014


2013


2014


2013


Revenue:


 


 


 


 


Net revenue


$ 11,884,605


$ 11,764,663


$ 23,059,722


$ 23,850,726


Operating expenses:


 


 


 


 


Cost of revenue:


 


 


 


 


Payment processing services fees


2,374,857


2,748,935


4,893,678


5,551,224


Processing and service costs


3,245,321


3,178,655


6,959,914


6,354,302


Total cost of revenue


5,620,178


5,927,590


11,853,592


11,905,526


Selling, general and administrative expenses


4,502,977


5,448,955


9,584,770


11,171,639


Restructuring charges


53,752



682,967



Total operating expenses


10,176,907


11,376,545


22,121,329


23,077,165


Income from operations


1,707,698


388,118


938,393


773,561


Other income (expense):


 


 


 


 


Interest expense


(15,816)


(15,765)


(31,986)


(28,911)


Interest income


288


312


463


524


Other income


16,949



16,949



Total other income (expense), net


1,421


(15,453)


(14,574)


(28,387)


Income before provision for income taxes


1,709,119


372,665


923,819


745,174


Provision for income taxes


(199,705)


(67,974)


(193,695)


(68,567)


Net income


$ 1,509,414


$ 304,691


$ 730,124


$ 676,607


Basic net income per share applicable to common stockholders


$ 0.02


$ 0.01


$ 0.01


$ 0.01


Diluted net income per share applicable to common stockholders


$ 0.02


$ 0.00


$ 0.01


$ 0.01


Weighted average common stock outstanding (basic)


53,802,936


52,832,451


53,621,071


52,805,938


Weighted average common stock outstanding (diluted)


54,767,440


54,570,476


55,288,195


54,672,972


The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements


Planet Payment, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)


 


 


Six months ended

June 30,


 


2014


2013


Cash flows from operating activities:


 


 


Net income


$ 730,124


$ 676,607


Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:


 


 


Stock-based compensation expense


585,793


548,956


Depreciation and amortization expense


1,477,297


1,405,036


Provision for doubtful accounts


3,248


230,644


Disposal of property and equipment



4,979


Gain on insurance settlement



(301,281)


Changes in operating assets and liabilities


 


 


Decrease in settlement assets


1,291,208


465,071


Decrease (increase) in accounts receivables, prepaid expenses and other current assets


3,881


(97,700)


Increase in security deposits and other assets


(203,770)


(345,503)


Decrease in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other long-term liabilities


(1,289,370)


(1,563,329)


Decrease in due to merchants


(1,345,015)


(611,430)


Other


6,611


(39,164)


Net cash provided by operating activities


1,260,007


372,886


Cash flows from investing activities:


 


 


Insurance proceeds



401,281


Increase in restricted cash


(2,233,940)



Increase in merchant reserves


2,113,823



Purchase of property and equipment


(87,681)


(684,667)


Capitalized software development


(718,593)


(807,027)


Purchase of intangible assets


(81,453)


(59,287)


Net cash used in investing activities


(1,007,844)


(1,149,700)


Cash flows from financing activities:


 


 


Proceeds from issuance of common stock


782,598


292,202


Principal payments on capital lease obligations


(270,652)


(203,874)


Net cash provided by financing activities


511,946


88,328


Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents(*)




Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents


764,109


(688,486)


Beginning of period


6,572,468


6,002,457


End of period


7,336,577


5,313,971


Supplemental disclosure:


 


 


Cash paid for:


 


 


Interest


$ 32,552


$ 31,146


Income taxes


396,692


201,946


Non-cash investing and financing activities:


 


 


Assets acquired under capital leases


$ 287,275


$ 464,729


Accrued capitalized hardware, software and fixed assets


88,992


63,507


Capitalized stock-based compensation


21,560


27,669


(*) For the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, the effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents was inconsequential.


The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements


Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)


1. Business description and basis of presentation


Business description


Planet Payment, Inc. together with its wholly owned subsidiaries (“Planet Payment,” the “Company,” “we,” or “our”) is a provider of international payment and transaction processing and multi-currency processing services. The Company provides its services to approximately 80,000 active merchant locations in 23 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, primarily through its acquiring bank and processor customers, as well as through its own direct sales force. The Company’s banks and their merchants with innovative services to accept, process and reconcile electronic payments. The Company’s point-of-sale and e-commerce services are integrated within the payment card transaction process enabling its acquiring customers to process and reconcile payment transactions in multiple currencies, geographies and channels. The Company’s ATM services provide its domestic and international acquirers with additional processing capabilities to help them increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction.  The Company also offers non-financial transaction processing services that allow merchants to offer a range of commercial services including pre-paid mobile phone top-up, bill payments and insurance premium payments, using the same point-of-sale devices deployed to accept payment cards. The Company is a registered third party processor with the major card associations and operates in accordance with industry standards, including the Payment Card Industry, or PCI, Security Council’s Data Security Standards.


Basis of presentation


The condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”).


The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Planet Payment, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.


Unaudited consolidated interim financial information


The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements as of June 30, 2014 and for the periods ended June 30, 2014 and 2013 have been prepared on the same basis as the annual consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited financial information for the interim periods presented reflects all adjustments, which are normal and recurring, necessary for a fair presentation of the statement of operations, financial position and cash flows. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. Operating results for the interim period ended June 30, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014. The December 31, 2013 balance sheet information has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date. Certain information and disclosures normally included in annual consolidated financial statements have been omitted pursuant to the rules and regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.










CONTACT: Planet Payment, Inc.
Robert Cox (CFO)
Tel: + 1 516 670 3200
www.planetpayment.com

Canaccord Genuity Ltd (Nomad for Planet Payment)
Simon Bridges / Cameron Duncan
Tel: +44 20 7523 8000





Copyright (C) 2014 GlobeNewswire, Inc. All rights reserved.


/quotes/zigman/13227869/delayed/quotes/nls/plpm





Add to watchlist

PLPM




/quotes/zigman/412266/delayed





Add to watchlist

UK:PPT





Planet Payment Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results

Chủ Nhật, 10 tháng 8, 2014

African economies may be growing fast, but so too is poverty

Euphoria abounds in much of Africa nowadays, and rightly so. Seven of the world’s 10 fastest-growing countries are there. Recognizing the potential and importance of the continent, U.S. President Barack Obama convened a U.S.-African Leaders Summit last week.


But amid all of the good news, there is a risk of overlooking the bad. According to a recent report on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the number of people in Sub-Saharan Africa who live in extreme poverty increased by more than 40 percent, to 414 million, from 1990 to 2010. The region still accounts for four out of five deaths of children under the age of 5.


Obviously, growth has not been inclusive; the rising tide has left many boats behind.


This is simply unsustainable.


Roughly 12 million people will enter the African workforce each year in the next decade; but, even today, young people account for 60 percent of all unemployed. Creating a sufficient number of rewarding jobs is a substantial challenge.


The answer to that challenge will vary by country, but it rests on reviving and reinforcing the manufacturing, agriculture, retail and hospitality sectors, as well as technology-related businesses. We have already seen the positive impact that innovations such as so-called mobile wallets – mobile phone apps for banking – have had on facilitating payments and commerce, and on creating a new class of jobs in Africa.


Even more can be achieved by making broadband and technology more abundant and affordable. After all, if India can create, from scratch, successful outsourcing businesses that serve clients thousands of miles away, why can’t Africa?


Even under the most optimistic growth scenarios, a decade from now about half of Africa’s workforce will still be employed in the informal sector, including micro and small enterprises. Facilitating the informal sector’s growth and improving its productivity by widening access to finance and technology is imperative. At the same time, Africa’s education system must focus on producing skilled and employable people.


Notwithstanding the emergence of a few world-class manufacturers, such as Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, the contribution of manufacturing to GDP in Africa has declined to just 13 percent. But rising labor costs in parts of Asia, particularly in China, present an opportunity for Africa to reverse this trend.


Similarly, with 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, Africa has a huge opportunity to feed the world’s growing population and promote agriculture as a business. Yet in countries such as Nigeria, as the government has recognized, agriculture is moving backward.


To tap its potential in manufacturing and agriculture, Africa needs to focus on addressing its infrastructure deficit and the fragmented nature of its markets, as well as on improving regulatory quality, strengthening government effectiveness and enforcing the rule of law – the basic building blocks of any development strategy. Investor-friendly policies also have a role to play.


Africa desperately needs to improve its hard infrastructure, such as power stations, airports, ports, roads and railways. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, generates less electricity than the tiny island state of Singapore, despite possessing huge gas reserves. In the absence of a high-quality air-transport network, the preferred route between many African capitals is now via Dubai on Emirates Airlines.


China has shown how quickly progress can be made on infrastructure. But unlike China, Africa’s domestic savings rate is a meager 15 percent of GDP, grossly inadequate to finance the infrastructure gap.


So Africa needs foreign capital. Infrastructure projects, by their very nature, are long term and exposed to political vicissitudes; but investors need regulatory certainty. Transparent bidding and contract terms, clarity about tariff structures and payment mechanisms, unambiguous customs regimes, and confidence about property rights are essential ingredients, as is a judiciary that is incorruptible, effective and efficient.


Achieving the necessary scale is possible if existing barriers to free movement of goods and services across national borders are reduced or eliminated, and companies have the freedom to act on a regional basis. Currently, intra- Africa trade accounts for less than 15 percent of total trade – the lowest of any continent. The formation of regional blocs in South, East and West Africa are positive steps, but more determination and urgency are required in implementation.


The medium-term goal has to be a “true” African Union that acts more like the European Union in terms of guaranteeing the free movement of goods, services and people. At the very least, as investors in Africa would attest, visa regimes must become more business-friendly.


In addition to its low savings rate, Africa suffers from a multiplicity of subscale capital markets (the sole exception is South Africa). The answer may lie in creating a pan-African exchange to trade equities and bonds. This would give local entrepreneurs access to finance as well as facilitate direct access for foreign portfolio investors to African companies. Providing exit options where none now exist could also seed an explosive growth in private equity capital. Arguably, Africa would be better served by raising more equity than debt.


By ending state monopolies over telecoms, Nigeria has created more than 3 million jobs in this sector alone over the last decade. Is there a broader lesson to be drawn about curtailing, if not ending, the role of state-owned enterprises? Or should Africa follow the Chinese model of simultaneously nurturing – and perhaps even favoring – such firms? The jury is still out. It is clear, however, that Africa needs a policy framework that redefines the respective roles of the government and the private sector.


Viswanathan Shankar is group executive director and CEO for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas at Standard Chartered Bank. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate © (www.project-syndicate.org).



African economies may be growing fast, but so too is poverty

Singapore couples eager for bloodlines spend big on surrogates


Gammy, a baby born with Down’s Syndrome, is fed by his surrogate mother Pattaramon Janbua at a hospital in Chonburi province, August 3, 2014. The case could affect commercial surrogacy, especially in Singapore. – Reuters pic, August 8, 2014.An increasing number of Singaporeans are seeking the services of surrogate mothers from Thailand and Malaysia, spending huge amounts of money to have babies, The Straits Times (ST) reports.



The paper said after the cost of in-vitro fertilisation treatment, the cost of getting a baby through a surrogate mother could reach S$100,000 (RM255,800), even before the baby is delivered.



But the recent Baby Gammy controversy, where an Australian couple were accused of abandoning a baby with Down’s Syndrome to his surrogate mother in Thailand, could impact the commercial surrogacy which is popular among Singaporeans.







The issue has brought out calls on the Thai government to regulate the industry.



“I expect my business to take a total hit as Thai doctors are now afraid to do surrogacy procedures, as they risk losing their medical licences,” Michael Ho, a former property agent who now runs Asian Surrogates, a Singapore-based company, told ST.



Ho, who said he now planned to send new clients to India “or close down” his business, said he charges clients S$49,000 (RM125,000), which includes the surrogate mother’s fees.



He told ST that his clients were mostly Malaysians and Indonesians, while many surrogate mothers are poor Malaysian and Filipinos.



He said more couples from Singapore, where surrogacy “is not widely accepted” although there is no clear legal hurdle, are now using his service.



Singapore’s health ministry guidelines do not allow surrogacy for assisted reproduction, where a woman’s eggs are removed and fertilised with her husband’s sperm, but placed into a stranger’s womb due to the woman’s medical problems.



In Malaysia, reproductive treatment has become a popular part of medical tourism, and fertility clinics have mushroomed amid higher demands from couples who find it hard to conceive naturally.



Hospitals offering the services are governed by the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC). But a Health Ministry’s plan to draft an Assisted Reproductive Technique Services Act, to address issues such as surrogacy, sperm and egg banking, and sperm donation, have reached a deadlock since 2009.



Surrogacy is still illegal in Malaysia, with ethical and religious concerns coming into play. Islam and Catholicism prohibit a third party in a pregnancy, although the rules are more relaxed in Buddhism and Hinduism.



A local fertility expert had warned that legalising surrogacy could be fraught with problem if not done carefully.



“We could become a rent-a-womb country. In some countries, the only way out for poor women is to be prostitutes or surrogates. We do not want Malaysia to be a haven for that. There are places in Eastern Europe and India known to commercialise surrogacy.



“In some countries, paying money to carry someone’s baby is common and it has become a part of medical tourism,” Dr Prashant Nadkarni of  KL Fertility and Gynaecology Centre told the International Medical Travel Journal in 2011.



That has probably led to the Indian government introducing a new rule on foreigners seeking surrogacy in the country, where they should get a special medical visa for the purpose.



The visa also requires an applicant get a letter stating their government’s consent to surrogacy.



ST said this has affected business from Singaporeans, quoting a Delhi-based fertility centre.



The centre also said out of US$40,000 spent on the whole process, US$9,000 is paid to the surrogate mother.



But like many other businesses, clients feel that middle men are the scourge in the high cost of getting a baby by renting a womb.



Instead, they find it easier to pay directly to the surrogate mothers.



“Surrogacy is the only way we can have our own blood-related children,” said a couple, who are considering an offer they got through an online website for a woman to carry their baby. – August 10, 2014.



Singapore couples eager for bloodlines spend big on surrogates

Visa Aims to Boost Electronic Payments

Chris Clark, the group executive for Asia Pacific at payments company Visa Inc., says he sees himself and his company fighting a battle against cash and checks. Visa and rivals such as MasterCard have managed their greatest success in South Korea, where nearly 70 cents of every dollar is spent through electronic payment systems. He sees a great opportunity in emerging economies such as Myanmar and Vietnam, where tourists typically arrive with wads of cash, as the concept of electronic payments is only just picking up steam. He also faces a huge challenge in Japan, a developed economy where cultural norms still lean…



Visa Aims to Boost Electronic Payments

Thứ Bảy, 9 tháng 8, 2014

Today"s letters: A conflict between "good" and "evil"?

Re: Fostering Hate In The Halls Of Power, Amy Awad, August 7.

I have seen first hand how having multiple passports provides advantages, ranging from ease of access to government services to increased salaries. I have also seen the plight of a Palestinian friend of mine, who travels exclusively with a Lebanese passport. A few year ago, it was going to take him six months to get a single entrance visa for Canada. Last year, his lack of another passport cost him a job in Singapore.


Although holding a Canadian passport makes life much easier for many people, it is simply not the case, as Amy Awad suggests, that revoking the privilege of holding multiple passports is the same as being stateless.
Paul Seaman, Calgary.



Amy Awad, human rights co-ordinator at the National Council of Candian Muslims, calls on the Canadian government to apply more nuance in its interpretation of the Hamas-Israeli war, rather than adopting “simplistic notions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to drive their policy decisions.”


To recap: Hamas has fired 3,500 missiles into civilian areas. It used child labour and redirected over 15,000 tons of cement from public infrastructure projects to create over 30 tunnels crossing under the border into Israel, in order to murder and kidnap civilians. It uses UN schools and hospitals to conceal weaponry and missile launch sites among the civilian population. It spreads hate and anti-Semitism to encourage its citizens to martyr themselves, while its leaders hide in underground shelters and five-star hotels.


There is indeed a word that would describe the ability to see Hamas in terms other than “good” and “evil,” but that word is not “nuance.”
Harold Reiter, Thornhill, Ont.



In the past several weeks alone, I have witnessed demonstrations of pure hatred at the Israeli consulate in Toronto and at the Ontario legislature, by people who support terror regimes, such as Hamas and Iran. Canadians do not want, or need, immigrants who bring their wars to Canada. Amy Awad should note that the 60,000 Southeast Asian refugees she mentioned left their hatred and their wars at the door when they arrived.


The National Council of Canadian Muslims, where Ms. Awad serves as the human rights co-ordinator, constantly portrays themselves as victims. They need to admit that human suffering will not stop by bringing more Middle Eastern values to Canada. It will stop when they bring more Canadian values to the Middle East.
Steven Scheffer, Burlington, Ont.



It apparently escaped Amy Awad’s notice that most of the terrorist organizations in the world at present are run by Muslims, and that far too many Muslim societies treat their women as second-class citizens. I suggest she gets the other non-extremist Muslims to cleanse their religion of all its bigots before she criticizes the Canadian government for its perfectly rational foreign policies.
Kendall Carey, Toronto.



Amy Awad accuses the Harper government of adopting “simplistic notions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to drive their policy decisions,” in regards to the war between Israel and Hamas. With one side demonstrating an implacable hatred toward the other, vowing to exterminate them and using terrorist tactics in conduct its military campaign, our courageous Prime Minister has chosen to call evil by its name. It’s that simple.
Milan Mijatovic, Windsor, Ont.


‘Show some class’


Re: Raonic Keeps Home Hopes Alive, August 7.

Milos Raonic is too full of himself. His flippant and self-serving comments in his interview with Arash Madani were not what one expects of a world-class player. Jack Sock played some great tennis and very nearly won the match. Other professional players would have complimented him on his play, but Mr. Raonic did not say a word. Grow up, Mr. Raonic. Show some class.
Phil Rody, London, Ont.


Starving the Germans


Re: What If, letter to the editor, August 7.

Letter-writer Donald McKay suggests that Germany’s “Schliefflen Plan” during the First World War was “negated” by Von Moltke and therefore didn’t succeed. Not true. The plan didn’t succeed because, like most military plans, the opposition failed to “co-operate,” and Germany lacked the manpower and resources to overcome that opposition.


Oddly enough, the most effective part of the war from the Allied standpoint was the British naval blockade, which caused a food shortage in Germany. That aspect of the war is rarely mentioned, in part because it shows Great Britain in a bad light, since the blockade continued long after the armistice.
Gary Waller, Toronto.


Hamas has no friends


Re: ‘Hamas Is A Virus That Must Be Destroyed,’ letters to the editor, August 7.

Letter-writer Andy Turnbull claims that the only thing to come out of Israel’s invasion of Gaza is that Israel is guaranteed the hatred of all the Arabs, and that the big winner is the military-industrial complex. Mr. Turnbull seems unaware of the internecine squabbles and rivalries among the Arab states and Muslim sects. While the Arabs have no love of Israel, they stayed out of the Gaza war and gave no support to Hamas.


Egypt has been fighting with the Islamists in Sinai and angered Hamas by shutting down the smuggling tunnels and enforcing its own blockade. With their supply of arms and money curtailed, Hamas was facing a crisis. It kidnapped and murdered the three Israeli boys in a bid to gain popularity. We all know how that ended.


The Saudis were glad to see Hamas defanged, as was Mahmoud Abbas, who is the Americans’ leader of choice for the Palestinians. Hezbollah turned a deaf ear when Hamas asked for help, because it is angry with Hamas for not supporting its side in the Syrian civil war.


As for the so-called military-industrial complex, the technology that is most interesting to other countries is Israel’s Iron Dome, which saves lives from incoming rockets and missiles. It does not kill or injure.
E. Joan O’Callaghan, Toronto.


Taxer is a word


Re: ‘Taxer’ Me, I’m Canadian, letter to the editor, August 7.

What led letter-writer Fraser Petrick to think there is no such English word as “taxer”? It appears, along with its variant “taxor,” in both editions of the Oxford English Dictionary.
William Cooke, Toronto.


Defaming Islam


Re: Iraqi Sect Flees Jihadist Onslaught, August 7.

It saddens me that ISIS has defamed and desecrated the Muslim religion by killing innocent children. The terrorists running the so-called “Islamic State” have hijacked the word Islam, which means peace and submission. They submit only to their personal agendas and greed. The religion they profess to follow states that there is no compulsion in religion. On what basis do they commit these acts of injustice and malice? As a Canadian born Ahmadi Muslim, I urge these barbarians to act upon the teaching of the Holy Quran, which states: For you, your religion, and me, my religion.
Qasim Choudhary, Calgary.


Transgender studies


Re: Transgendered Advocacy Has Gone Too Far, Barbara Kay, August 6.

Barbara Kay cites an op-ed written by Paul McHugh to assert that “transgendered advocacy has gone too far.” Mr. McHugh argues that transgender surgeries do not work because a study published by the Karolinska Institute found that surgical transgender patients had a suicide rate that was 20 times higher than non-transgender patients. Ms. Kay also quotes McHugh’s assertion that puberty-delaying drugs stunt growth and cause sterility. Both these assertions are incorrect and require further clarification.


First, the authors of the Karolinska Institute study interpret their results to suggest that their subjects needed “improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment.” The authors did not state that their data suggest the surgeries do not work. We also do not know what the rate of suicide would be had these surgeries not been performed.


Second, the primary purpose of puberty blockers is not to render surgeries less onerous in adulthood, but to allow more time for youth to consolidate their gender identity and seek adequate mental health resources. Puberty blockers have been shown to decrease anxiety and depressive symptoms in transgender youth. They are also completely reversible and do not permanently stunt growth and fertility.
Dr. Joey Bonifacio, Toronto.


National Post



Today"s letters: A conflict between "good" and "evil"?

Maid to pay

”When you think of Hong Kong, you don’t imagine this sort of problem,” says Scott Stiles, co-founder and general manager of the Fair Employment Agency, a new not-for-profit recruitment organisation for foreign domestic workers.


The problem is debt bondage, a state in which employees – in this case foreign domestic workers or, as they are known colloquially in Hong Kong, helpers – are bound to their job or employer by debt. The United Nations refers to it as a form of “modern-day slavery”.


Many helpers in Hong Kong are forced into debt by illegal placement fees. Agencies are allowed to levy a certain charge in a helper’s home country. In the Philippines, these fees are for training and a medical examination. In Indonesia, a placement fee can also be charged. But, once a helper sets foot in Hong Kong, the maximum amount an agency can legally charge is 10 per cent of their first pay packet. Based on the current minimum allowable wage, that would amount to HK$401.


However, many unscrupulous agencies in Hong Kong flout this law, charging helpers placement fees of up to HK$21,000. As most cannot foot this sort of bill, they are “loaned” the money and made to pay it back at a rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their monthly salary for seven or eight months. This leaves many helpers bound to their jobs by poverty and debt, making them vulnerable to abuse, overwork and other forms of mistreatment.


“Employers are often unaware of the issue, or choose to ignore the situation,” says Stiles. “The root of the problem is the employment agencies overcharging. If you look at the news reports of horrible situations of abuse, for example, the recent case of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, who was illegally charged HK$18,000, [cases of abuse] generally [involve] people who have been loaded with debt and put into a position of debt bondage.


“In order to solve these problems, you have to take the debt away to remove the pressure, so that someone who is being abused can come forward and say, ‘I need out’. If we can solve the debt issue, the other problems of human trafficking and more egregious forms of abuse in Hong Kong will solve themselves.”


Holly Allan is manager of Helpers for Domestic Helpers, a charity that offers free advice, counselling and guidance to maids. According to Allan, more than 60 per cent of the cases dealt with by the charity last year involved exploitation by employment agencies in Hong Kong.


“Foreign domestic workers are often required to enter into a loan agreement in order to finance illegal placement fees,” says Allan. “Most foreign domestic workers say they cannot get a job in Hong Kong unless they agree to pay excessive fees. And agencies sometimes enlist the help of employers in collecting illegal fees by deducting these from the workers’ wages and retaining their passports to ensure full payment.”


These unethical and illegal practices have been going on for more than a decade, but now the Fair Employment Agency plans to level the playing field.



STILES CAME TOHONG KONG in 2012, on a summer internship during his final year studying finance at Brigham Young University, in Hawaii, in the United States. He joined a socially aware work-experience programme run by David Bishop, principal lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Business. Bishop, a lawyer turned academic, also runs charitable organisations and feels strongly about the treatment of helpers in Hong Kong.


Bishop got talking to Stiles about his dismay with the status quo.


“I came to Hong Kong in 2007 as a lawyer and fairly early on saw the domestic helper arena as something I wanted to be involved in,” Bishop says.


“After a few years of working with various organisations, I had a sense of frustration because as hard as many of these groups work – and they work very, very hard – and as much good as they do, and they do a lot of good, because of their mandate, they were not able to get ahead of the problem and be a solution. Nobody was looking at the actual root cause of the problem from a commercial perspective to try to solve it.”


The problem, again, is debt bondage.


“In terms of human trafficking and migrant labour, this is the largest women’s rights issue in the world and especially in Asia,” says Bishop. “As Hong Kong is a commercial town, we needed to find a creative, commercial solution to fix this large social issue.


“It is pretty clear the primary issue is the agencies and the secondary issue is the moneylenders that collaborate with the agencies,” he continues. “So, the initial plan was to create a domestic helper agency and micro-lending platform. It takes time to do both so we are currently focusing on the primary element, the agency.”


Stiles returned to Hawaii to finish his degree fuelled by a passion to make a difference. He wrote a detailed business plan for an ethical, non-profit agency and sent it to Bishop.


Bishop forwarded the plan to Helpers for Domestic Helpers, where it landed in the hands of Tammy Baltz, a management consultant who had been volunteering at the charity for more than a decade. She, too, was trying to work out a way to prevent agencies overcharging helpers. The three met in September last year and the Fair Employment Agency was born.


A social enterprise with a charitable mission, its directors receive no remuneration, there are no dividends and there are restrictions about the distribution of capital. It is the first agency of its kind in Hong Kong.


“Our slogan is ‘Fair to Workers, Fair to Employers, Fair to Hong Kong’,” says Bishop. “Currently, all three groups are being taken advantage of. Domestic workers are being loaded with illegal debt, employers are paying money for a service that is not as good as it should be, and they are participating in trafficking unknowingly or against their will. And then you have the Hong Kong people who are being criticised by the global media for the marginal cases like [that of] Erwiana Sulistyaningsih.


“Our goal is to right the wrongs on each side. The best way to do that is to solve the debt problem.”


The agency will charge standard service fees, about HK$8,000 paid by the employer for the full service of sourcing, vetting and placing a helper. Its office in Wan Chai will be run by Stiles and two or three other full-time members of staff, plus students from Bishop’s internship scheme at HKU. A soft launch is planned for this Friday, with the doors opening fully on September 15. The trio are funding the start-up out of their own pockets and they expect the enterprise to quickly become self-sustaining.


“The helpers will pay for their training, but we are sourcing that at a reasonable rate,” says Stiles. “We won’t charge them 10 per cent of their first pay packet as, while that is legal in Hong Kong, it is against the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation standards.


“We view ILO standards as the model we want to follow and work towards. We will also be very careful to get a good match between employer and employee. Often, agencies which charge these illegal fees are incentivised to place a mismatch because then they can replace the helper later and get more illegal fees.”



FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS make up about 3 per cent of Hong Kong’s population. Last year, there were about 320,000 helpers, of which 50 per cent were from the Philippines, 47 per cent from Indonesia and the rest from Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There are 2,664 licensed agencies operating in Hong Kong, of which 1,276 provide placement services for helpers.


Rina Padillia (not her real name), a Filipino helper, signed a contract last year with an agency in Hong Kong. On arrival, it charged her HK$3,000 for her placement, more than seven times the legal amount. The agency did not issue her with a receipt, thus leaving no paper trail, which makes it very difficult for authorities and NGOs to combat the practice.


In March this year, Padillia’s contract was terminated after she began experiencing health problems due to smoking in the household. She had been promised it was a no-smoking house.


Mr Wong, the director of the agency, then asked for another HK$1,000 to find her a new employer and withheld her passport. Both of these actions are illegal. She was told that if she wanted her passport back, she would have to pay another HK$500 – also illegal.


On top of this, the agency retained one of her bags. She was told it had been disposed of – once a helper’s contract has been terminated, they often have no alternative but to leave their belongings in the care of the agency while they seek accommodation. Inside the bag was her original contract, wallet with her ATM card, jewellery and clothes.


Padillia sought help from Helpers for Domestic Helpers. She was advised to call the police to help her retrieve her passport, a move that was successful. The charity also helped her to file a case at the Small Claims Tribunal for the HK$9,908 owed to her by the agency covering the illegal fees collected and the value of her unreturned luggage. No one from the agency attended the hearing and the tribunal found in Padillia’s favour.


However, instead of paying the money owed, the agency is now contesting the case, a common delay tactic, according to Allan.


These processes are time consuming. Padillia has now outstayed her working visa. Despite the fact she has court cases scheduled for August and September against both the agency and her previous employer, who still owes her money in unpaid wages, the Immigration Department has been extending her visa for only three or four days at a time at a cost of HK$160 for each application.


During the most recent application, her seventh such extension, Padillia was told that she would not be issued another visa and was advised to fly back to the Philippines and return for the court cases. As a general rule, litigant foreign domestic workers such as Padillia are not permitted to work pending court cases and are forced to rely on the charity of friends.


When Padillia explained to the immigration officer that she cannot afford to fly backwards and forwards to Hong Kong for each court case, she was told this was “her problem”.


Ultimately, this means the agency will likely get away with not returning her money. Padillia has lost her job and it looks like she will return home more than HK$10,000 poorer than when she arrived, despite having worked here for five months. Sadly, her story is not an unusual one.



The Employment Agencies Administration (EAA) is the section of the Labour Department tasked with regulating and investigating offending agencies and ensuring they act within the law.


Queenie Wong Ting-chi is a senior administrative officer at the Policy Support division of the Labour Department. She looks after policy and supervises the EAA.


“We are very serious about the overcharging,” says Wong. “I would recommend [helpers] come to the EAA and report the case as soon as possible because, according to the Magistrates Ordinance, there’s a six-month time bar for overcharging offences.


“If they come forward as soon as possible and, in particular, if they can produce some evidence, then it will help a lot. We would like to have them act as a prosecution witness because in Hong Kong we practise the rule of law. We need them to be a prosecution witness to secure a higher chance of successful prosecution.”


The EAA has received 93 complaints from helpers so far this year. Out of those it has prosecuted just three. Often there is a lack of hard evidence, as agencies are careful not to leave a paper trail of their wrongdoing.


Only one agency prosecuted for overcharging has been convicted. The other two were convicted for operating without a licence.


“According to our law, the maximum fine is HK$50,000 for overcharging,” says Wong. “If [an agency] is convicted of overcharging, we will consider revoking the licence.”


Allan highlights the problems helpers face when they try to seek recompense: “Despite numerous complaints, very few offending agencies have been prosecuted. Either due to lack of resources or political will, not enough efforts have been made to tackle the problem of exploitation by employment agencies. It is often left to the victims to obtain and provide evidence of the agencies’ illegal activities, which is extremely difficult for them to do because the agencies cover their tracks. The EAA has the power to inspect the records of agencies but [helpers] are often discouraged from pursuing their complaints even before an investigation is initiated by the EAA.”


Such was the case when Padillia went to file a complaint at the EAA. The duty officer advised her that her case was “weak” and warned her that the head of the agency was a “very tough guy, not an easy guy”.


Despite this, Padillia decided to pursue the claim and made a statement. Nearly four months later, she received a letter from the EAA stating, “We could not find any concrete evidence showing that the agency had breached our regulations. As such, our department would not take further action regarding this case.”


“I just wish the EAA would investigate properly because, if they don’t, other domestic helpers will go to them and become victims like me,” says Padillia.


Allan despairs. “This is the second time in recent months that a client of Helpers for Domestic Helpers has filed a complaint at the EAA against this particular agency,” she says. “In fact, the owner has pleaded guilty to operating without a licence, and yet they continue to operate freely. I cannot help but feel that the system is failing.”



She explains further why the odds are stacked against these workers. “A [helper] can file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal but it is difficult to do this if she is still employed as few employers will allow her to take time off from work to take this action.


“If a [helper] files the claim after being dismissed from her job, the two-week-rule [which states a helper must leave Hong Kong within 14 days of her job being terminated] makes it difficult for her to obtain an extension of stay to pursue her claim. Even if she is allowed to stay … she would generally not be permitted to take up employment. Many [helpers] therefore abandon their claims as they cannot afford to sustain themselves during the litigation.”


Bishop is positive about Hong Kong’s ability to change. “Taiwan has these issues; Singapore has these issues; Malaysia and the Middle East have these issues. However, Hong Kong is a fertile ground for change because it adheres to the rule of law and there are good laws in place, they just need to be enforced transparently,” he says.


“Hong Kong has a wonderful, educated population who can understand the issues. Hong Kong has domestic helpers that, for the most part, are talented and here because they want to be here – it’s a top destination in Asia. In the past, Hong Kong has been an example of good practices and it can be again.”


Ultimately, the Fair Employment Agency team hopes to set up an accreditation programme to give the ethical stamp of approval to other agencies in Hong Kong. They are also working on the second element of their plan – founding a microfinance company in Hong Kong.


Kaire Capital will be the first of its kind, providing helpers with an alternative to loan sharks.


“Ethical recruiters like the Fair Employment Agency are the obvious solution to address the issue of debt bondage,” says Allan. “They offer an alternative to agencies whose only goal is to maximise profit at the expense of [the helpers]. In addition to strictly complying with laws and regulations, the Fair Employment Agency will also strive to ensure that the [helpers] they recruit have the right skills that match the needs and requirements of the employers that hire them. It’s a win-win situation.”


“We think the business will be able to … expand because it’s a good idea and meets a clear market need,” says Stiles.


“However, our goal is to change the environment, not make money. In the best possible world, we wouldn’t need to be here in 10 years.”


 



Maid to pay