Andrew Stegmann

South African banks look to biometrics to reduce fraud

IN OCTOBER 2015, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) released its card fraud report which found that while credit card fraud decreased in 2015, debit card fraud is on the rise, accounting for over R257m in losses last year.

This shift from credit card fraud to debit card fraud can be attributed, at least in part, to the roll-out of new technology. The deployment of chip and pin has decreased the amount of credit card fraud yet, unfortunately, the fraud does not simply disappear. Rather, the attack vector moves to areas that are more susceptible to fraud and where new technology has not yet been adopted.

For example, Standard Bank was targeted this May by a counterfeit ATM card scam and lost over R300m within a period of three hours in Japan. Why Japan? The primary reason is that ATMs in Japan continue to support the use of magnetic strip card data in addition to the more secure chip and pin. Yet, even chip and pin technology is not infallible and is vulnerable to card trapping. With the global rise in identity theft, it must be acknowledged that establishing an individual’s true identity is critical to preventing account fraud. The only true way to bind an account to an individual is to use the authorised individual’s personal characteristics — their biometric information.

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Andrew Stegmann

Elections under way in Zambia

JOHANNESBURG – Zambians began voting for a new president and legislators on Thursday, millions are expected to cast their ballots before polls close at 6:00pm local time.

The campaigns have been largely marred by  unprecedented political violence.

This follows years of peaceful transitions of power.

President Edgar Lungu faces Hakainde Hichilema of the opposition United Party for National Development.

Lungu took office last January after the death of President Michael Sata.

Both of their campaigns have been marred by violence.

For the first time, a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote or face a runoff election.

The vote comes against the backdrop of lethargic growth as weak commodity prices have hit Africa’s second biggest copper producer.

Lungu and Hichilema, have both said they are confident of outright victory.

Supporters of Lungu’s ruling Patriotic Front and Hichilema’s United Party for National Development have clashed in the run-up to the poll, forcing the electoral commission to suspend campaigning at one point.

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Andrew Stegmann

National carrier slapped with R104.6 million fine

The Johannesburg High Court has ordered South African Airways to pay Nationwide Airlines damages of R104.6 million, with interest.

After an investigation by the Competition Tribunal, SAA’s misconduct was in contravention of the Competition Act. The tribunal found that the airline used its dominance and incentive agreements with travel agents to divert potential passengers to SAA flights at the expense of its rivals.

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Andrew Stegmann

West Africa Is Increasingly Lucrative For Airlines, But Lacks A Hub

West Africa is a lucrative route for many carriers, and the U.S.-West Africa link has become a cash cow since U.S.-based United Airlines exited Lagos in July, taking 3,000 seats off the U.S. route, Graphic Online reported.

Yet West Africa, despite its 40-plus airports and 300 million population in 15 countries, lacks a strong airline and has no airport hub, Graphic.com reported.

Today, 80 percent of all aviation traffic in West Africa is carried by non-African carriers and about 15 percent by non- West African carriers.

East African airline Kenya Airways recorded a 28 percent increase in passengers in West Africa for the year ending June 2016, and attributes the increase in flights to resumed service following an interruption in 2015 by the Ebola epidemic, according to The Exchange.

United Airlines offered nonstop service to Lagos, Nigeria, from its hub in Houston, but discontinued those flights, instead adding flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv in Israel, USA Today reported.

This left Delta as the only U.S. carrier to offer nonstop service between the U.S. and Africa.

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United cited poor financial performance and weakness in the energy sector for ending the route. Houston and Lagos are both key centers for the oil and energy markets.

“The … route has been underperforming financially for several years,” United said in a statement. “Because of its importance to key Houston-based customers, we continued to invest in it; however, the recent downturn in the energy sector has caused these customers to spend less on travel.”

– See more at: http://afkinsider.com/131031/west-africa-is-increasingly-lucrative-for-airlines-but-lacks-a-hub/#sthash.IPR2XHi0.dpuf