Banking Terms - Set 26 (UCommerce, Vantage Score, PSS Act, 2007, Prime Brokerage Fees)

UCommerce

Universal Commerce or UCommerce is the intersection of online, kiosk, and in-store payment enablement, incorporating social media and near-field communications..

Vantage Score

A credit score product launched in March 2006 by the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) as a competitor product to the FICO score. Like a FICO score, a Vantage Score is a three digit numeric value that assesses a borrower's credit risk. Vantage Scores range from 501 to 990, with a higher score representing a lower risk to the creditor.

Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act, 2007)

The PSS Act, 2007 provides for the regulation and supervision of payment systems in India and designates the Reserve Bank of India. The Act also provides the legal basis for “netting” and “settlement finality”.

Prime Brokerage Fees

Prime brokers do not charge a fee for the bundled package of services they provide to hedge funds. Rather, revenues are typically derived from three sources: spreads on financing (including stock loan), trading commissions and fees for the settlement of transactions done away from the prime broker. The financing and lending spreads, which are charged in basis points on the value of client loans (debit balances), client deposits (credit balances), client short sales (short balances), and synthetic financing products such as swaps and CFDs (Contract for difference), make up the vast majority of prime brokerage revenue.

Therefore, clients who undertake substantial short selling or leverage represent more lucrative opportunity than clients who do less short selling and/or utilize minimal leverage. Clients whose market activities are principally fixed income-oriented will generally produce less prime brokerage revenue, but may still present significant economic opportunity in the repo, foreign exchange (fx), futures, and flow business areas of the investment bank.

Banking Terms - Set 25 (Smishing, TARGET2, Tiered Pricing, Token Based Authentication)

Smishing

Smishing is a technique used by criminals to steal bank or credit card information using text messages. In such an incident, the mobile device user receives a fake text message that appears to be from a bank. The text message may request that the consumer call a phone number to provide card or account information to a criminal posing as a bank employee.

TARGET2

TARGET2 is an interbank payment system for the real-time processing of cross-border transfers throughout the European Union and replaced TARGET in 2007. TARGET2 has to be used for all payments involving the Eurosystem, as well as for the settlement of operations of all large-value net settlement systems and securities settlement systems handling the euro and is operated on a single technical platform. The business relationships are established between the TARGET2 users and their National Central Bank.

It stands for Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System 2.

Tiered Pricing

Tiered pricing is a merchant account rate structure that credit card processors use to assess charges. It is also referred to as bundled pricing because it allows processors to group interchange fees into general rate tiers of their choice. There are two types of Tier Pricing 3-Tier Pricing and 6-Tier Pricing.

Token Based Authentication

Allows cardholders to connect remotely to services by authenticating their identity through the use of a password that is not transmitted between the two parties. Often a password is generated by a device issued by the service provider, e.g., a bank or card issuer, to the customer or cardholder, and when prompted the password is entered by the customer and is recognised by the service provider.