Author: Archive

Irish Postbank opens Dún Laoghaire HQ

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

An Post today opened the headquarters of its banking business Postbank in Dún Laoghaire with the creation of 50 jobs.

Postbank will sell the financial products of Dutch retail bank Fortis through the national post office network.

The bank employs 180 people across the country and products and services are available in 270 An Post branches.

An Post chief executive Donal Connell said: “Post offices have a proud history of providing services by people whom the public know and trust.” Fortis already has a joint venture deal with Belgian Post in Belgium.

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ING Group seeking strategic investor role in China Postal Savings – report

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

ING Group is seeking to play a role as a strategic investor in China Postal Savings Bank, the country’s fifth-largest bank, the official Shanghai Securities News reported, citing Hans van der Noordaa, the Dutch bank’s Asia-Pacific chairman for insurance and investment management.

Van der Noordaa said ING Group is interested in China Postal Savings Bank’s national network.

China Postal Savings, with registered capital of 20 bln yuan, plans to become a full-service institution and seek qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) status, according to earlier reports.

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India: Post Office to have largest ATM network

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

NCR Corporation India, the automatic teller machine (ATM) manufacturer, is eyeing post office savings accounts as its growth area in the coming days.

Apart from commercial banks’ expanding ATM network, the company has identified the Indian Post, which has small savings account almost equal to all the banks taken together, as its next growth area.

“Worldwide, we are working with post offices. In India also we see them as high potential growth area,” the company’s Vice President (Global Operations), Rick Marquardt, told reporters here. In order to meet the increasing demand the company foresees in the domestic market, it has expanded its existing capacity from approximately 250-300 machines per day to 800-900 machines.

The new plant, set up adjacent to its existing plant in Puducherry, was inaugurated recently by Rick Marquardt.

C. Sivaramane, General Manager in India, said that the plant would also manufacture components that would be exported to the company’s manufacturing facilities in Hungary and China. Till date, NCR has invested USD 3.7 million (approximately Rs 15 crore) in India.

“We started manufacturing ATMs in India five years ago and till date have supplied to all the major banks in the country. The largest public sector bank, State Bank of India, has taken around 3,000 machines from us, followed by Canara Bank (1,000 machines),” Sivaramane said, adding that NCR was working on technologies through which ATMs could be used for mobile top-ups and ticketing.

In case of mobile top-ups, the mobile phone user can go to the ATM and after activating the machine with his password has to enter his mobile number.

The machine would immediately check his account balance and deduct the amount and his phone would be recharged while ticketing through the ATM would be something like e-ticketing, he explained.

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Greater focus needed on creating a sustainable and viable post office network for the future

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

On 8th October 2007 Postcomm published latest post office network annual report.

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has called on the Government and Post Office Ltd to ensure that the sustainability of a viable post office network is their top priority once the current closure programme is completed.

Postcomm does not regulate post offices but it does monitor and research developments in the network and provides independent advice to the Government. This is in the form of an annual report which is published today – entitled “A sustainable customer focussed network” – along with supporting research on “Access to postal services”.

Among its recommendations, the regulator has identified that the network will need:
a clear vision and a combination of commercial products and services that can attract and retain new customers – for example, Post Office Ltd has run trials with Argos, where customers were able to collect online purchases from their local post office, and is working on other propositions;
more links with commercial partners who recognise and can benefit from Post Office Ltd’s brand strength – for example, its joint venture with Bank of Ireland to sell financial services which is attracting 50,000 new customers every month;
stronger links with communities to identify ways in which they can work with Post Office Ltd and the Government to help sustain the provision of local postal services.

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Supreme awarded U.S. State Department contract for armoured vehicles

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

Supreme Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of specialized commercial vehicles, including truck bodies, shuttle buses, armored vehicles, and luxury motorcoaches, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Supreme Corporation of Texas (“Supreme Texas”), has been awarded a contract by the U.S. State Department to manufacture armored vehicles. The initial order is for USD 500,000, with a total contract potential of up to USD 100 million over a five-year period conditioned on receipt by Supreme Texas of future purchase orders (which are not guaranteed).

If fully implemented, the contract could result in sales of up to 800 armoured secure vehicles. The vehicles’ OEM appearance and heavy armour allow for discreet and secure transportation to and from U.S. Embassies and other government offices around the world. Deliveries, scheduled to commence in March 2008, could extend through 2013.

The vehicles will be manufactured at Supreme Texas’ Cleburne, Texas, facility, which specializes in building armored vehicles, including the VANGUARD Executive/Diplomat Armoured Suburban and other tactical and Homeland Security products.

Supreme is one of a select few, federally approved, armoured vehicle suppliers that can sell directly to the U.S. government. Supreme Texas was awarded this contract after a rigorous bid process and after receiving all required Department of State security clearances.

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Pitney Bowes Inventor Breaks 100th U.S. Patent Milestone

Posted by | Oct 8, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes announced that inventor Robert Cordery was recently granted his 100th and 101st U.S. patents in September. Cordery becomes only the second technologist in Pitney Bowes history to reach this prolific level. The milestone hundredth patent is a mail processing system that encodes mailpieces with unique barcoding to verify the processing of each mailpiece by a carrier or third party.

Cordery has worked for Pitney Bowes in research and development since 1984. In 1989 he joined the Technical Ladder, a career path parallel to management, where he is a Principal Fellow at Pitney Bowes. He holds patents in mailstream communications, value added services, mail rating, postage payment, metering, meter infrastructure, barcode reading, printing, key management, electronic commerce, electronic article surveillance, safe mail, and voting.

Ronald Sansone is the most prolific inventor in Pitney Bowes history with 121 U.S. patents. A former Pitney Bowes fellow and vice president of Strategic Innovation, his innovative focus was on enhancing Pitney Bowes’s core business by developing and integrating new technologies.

Pitney Bowes intellectual property portfolio includes more than 3,500 patents worldwide in areas such as shipping, laser printing, encryption and mailing.

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