delay

Found the following two articles in UK press. They are currently being released across all media.

Perhaps they explain the delay at Monoco?

http://www.theretailbulletin.co.uk/index.php?page=5&id=7190&cat=rese
UK retailers not ready for new card payment security
Wednesday September 14 2005

A survey carried out by the Logic Group and The Retail Bulletin reveals that, two months after the June deadline, almost three quarters of retailers aren't ready to adopt and comply with the new Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards mandated by Visa and MasterCard to safeguard consumers from identity theft through the misuse of their card details.

PCI has been introduced following a number of high profile cases in the USA where literally thousands of card details were stolen. Merchants not compliant are now liable to substantial fines and risk being permanently barred from card acceptance programmes.

Not one of almost 100 merchants surveyed had achieved full accreditation despite the June 30 deadline having already passed. Indeed, 55 per cent were not even aware of the data security process and a further 73 per cent have put no measures in place to ensure compliance.

"The survey findings are truly worrying," says Mark McMurtrie, Logic Group Marketing Director. "With such significant repercussions for those merchants failing to achieve compliance, it's amazing that the PCI standard has had such a low profile up until now. Do we have to wait for another high profile UK fraud case where thousands of card numbers are stolen and personal data is compromised before the gravity of the situation is finally realised?"

The survey highlighted that a massive 57 per cent of the audience had received no support or guidance on PCI. The standards are intended to guarantee that cardholders' details remain safe when conducting payments, whether from point of sale, via the Internet or over the phone. Although the guidelines for the standard were drawn up by Visa and MasterCard, other card issuers including American Express and Diners Club have also endorsed the scheme.

"In some ways, it is hardly surprising that merchants have done so little to achieve PCI compliance," adds McMurtrie. "Adopting the standard requires a comprehensive risk assessment to identify non-compliant areas followed by remediation services to address them. Few merchants will have the necessary resource or expertise to achieve compliance and maintain it without expert help. Our aim is to help merchants minimise the costs and time involved in meeting this mandatory regulation."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9074-1780139,00.html
Retailers accused over in-store credit cards
By Miles Costello, Times Online



Consumers are being charged between £80 million and £100 million a year in extra interest payments on branded credit cards and insurance issued through department stores and other retailers, it emerged this morning.



As it unveiled the provisional findings of an 18-month investigation into the provision of in-store credit cards, the Competition Commission, the competition watchdog, said card issuers were levying interest payments that were 10 per cent to 20 per cent a month higher than the costs to them of providing the card and the credit facilities.

The Commission said it had found that there was an "adverse effect on competition in connection with the supply of consumer credit through store cards and associated insurance in the UK.

"The detriment to cardholders in terms of the excess prices paid for credit and insurance is in the region of £80 million to £100 million a year," it said.

Christopher Clarke, the deputy chairman of the Competition Commission, said: "We have provisionally concluded that there are features of the store card market that effectively insulate retailers and consumer credit providers from competitive pressures, notably from credit cards and store branded credit cards.

"There is therefore little competitive pressure either on APRs [annual interest rate payments] or insurance. Retailers' primary concern is to avoid having an APR on their store card which is above those of other store cards. At the same time, consumers' sensitivity to APR levels is low.

"Taken together, this results in store cardholders who take up credit, and associated insurance, paying more than they would in a fully competitive market."

The Commission's investigation primarily covered the five-year period to 2003, when there was an explosion in interest among retailers in providing in-store credit facilities for consumers wishing to pay once a month for goods - or spread their payments over several months.

The Commission did not name any individual retailers this morning, maintaining that it has "focused on the functioning of the market as a whole rather than on the conduct of individual companies".

It also said that, while retailers themselves may be charging excessively as a result of a lack of competition, there were no such problems among the banks and other financial institutions that stand behind the stores' branded cards and insurance.

The Commission said it had identified 70 retailers that operated store card services, mostly department stores and clothing retailers. It said that as at the end of last year, there were almost 14 million active card accounts with outstanding balances of about £2.5 billion.

More than half of these credit card users take on interest-bearing credit rather than paying off their debts in a lump sum each month, the Commission found.

The Commission is considering a number of "remedies" to create competition in the market.

These are: full information and a "warning" about interest charges on statements, the provision of a facility to pay using direct debit, and separate rather than packaged offers on payment, purchase and price protection insurance.