Author: Archive

Polar Air Cargo awarded additional frequencies to Japan

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW) subsidiary Polar Air Cargo Worldwide will expand operations in Japan following the conclusion of recent US-Japan bilateral civil aviation negotiations.

In addition to an existing six weekly frequencies to Tokyo with related service to one destination beyond Japan, Polar has been granted another six frequencies to Japan, excluding Tokyo, with the right to fly to two foreign destinations beyond this new point.

Including the new rights, Polar can now serve a combined total of twelve frequencies in Japan and eighteen frequencies beyond.

Polar will also have the latitude to choose the new destination in Japan, as well as the points outside of the country.

North Asia – particularly Korea, China and Japan – has been a significant area of development for Polar, and these additional frequencies and beyond rights to Japan will enable the carrier to expand its services in the Japanese market and continue building and strengthening its network throughout Asia.

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Post Office may join payment clearance system

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

The Post Office may well get to provide seamless fund transfer, with an RBI panel recommending that the Post Office be linked to the clearing system and the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT). The panel has also sought to keep smaller banks with a net worth of less than Rs 50 crore out of the NEFT.

In order to facilitate better customer service, such notified institutions should also have access to the clearing system,” said the report on ‘Working Group on Preparing Guidelines for Access to Payment Systems’. At present, banks have an advantage over the Post Office Savings Bank since they can provide fund-transfer facilities to customers. Those with core-banking solutions can extend online fund-transfer facility to their customers through internet banking.

At present, the Post Office is in the process of computerizing and networking head post offices. By the end of the year, the Postal Department expects to network 650 of head post offices. Once the various locations are networked and the Post Office itself is plugged into the NEFT system, the POSB (Post Office Savings Bank) would be in a position to offer fund-transfer services similar to banks.

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Postal Service Replies to Postal Regulatory Commission's Proposed Pricing and Product Rules

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service today filed its comments with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on the PRC’s proposed new pricing and product rules as part of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (Postal Act of 2006). The Postal Service also submitted its initial mail classification schedule to the PRC today, which would replace the existing Domestic Mail Classification Schedule and categorize Postal Service products as market-dominant or competitive.

The Postal Service comments are available at www.prc.gov (in Daily Listing section).

The PRC established Sept. 24 and Oct. 9, 2007, respectively, as the deadlines for the Postal Service and other parties to file comments and reply comments. After reviewing those comments, the Commission will issue its final rules.

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Switzerland plans full postal liberalization in two stages

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

Swiss Post Swiss authorities have released plans to fully liberalize the country’s postal market in two stages over the coming decade, and change Swiss Post’s legal status. The move means Switzerland will lag behind most EU countries in fully opening up the domestic mail market to competition.

The federal government plans to publish a postal reform bill for consultation at the start of 2008. It is expected to propose reducing Swiss Post’s monopoly on domestic mail from 100g to 50g in 2011. “After a period of two to five years, Parliament would pass a law on full-scale liberalization that would be liable to public referendum,” the Swiss ministry for environment, transport, energy and communications announced on Friday.

Swiss authorities noted that they had already started to reform the postal sector and were following developments in the EU, where the postal market is due to be fully liberalized in 2011. The ministry will also conduct a study into the financial implications of the market liberalization and publish the results by the end of this year.

The draft law would specify “industry-typical” working conditions for all postal operators (Swiss Post and private competitors). Swiss Post would be required to negotiate a collective tariff agreement but it would be up to companies and unions to agree on an industry-wide pay deal. Financing of the universal service obligation would if necessary be secured through a fund or state payments, the ministry stated.

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Western Union Secures Top Agents for Philippines Market

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

The Western Union Company has signed new, multi-year agreements with three of its top agents in the Philippines to offer Western Union(R) money transfer services. The three companies – Universal Storefront Services Corporation, e-Business Services Inc and PETNET Inc – together represent nearly 4,800 Western Union Agent locations in the country(1).

In addition, the company has increased its existing footprint with the addition of three new agents in the Philippines: Direct Agent 5 Inc., a consortium of consumer service enterprises; JP Tambunting pawnshops and Davao-based retail chain EMCOR Incorporated.

“The Philippines is a very important market for Western Union,” said Mr. Ian Marsh, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific, The Western Union Company. “Outside of the United States, it is second only to Mexico for inbound remittances and has tremendous growth potential as both a key receive and intra-country market.”

The Philippines is the fourth largest receiver of remittances in the world, according to the World Bank(2). The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippines Central Bank) estimates that remittances from overseas will exceed USD 14 billion this year. There are currently over eight million Filipino workers overseas(3).

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Post Office UK Ltd to sell mortgages

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

The Post Office today announced that it is to start selling mortgages.

A range of home loans backed by Bristol & West, the Bank of Ireland’s UK lending arm, will initially go on offer at post office branches in the North East from this week, before being rolled out across the UK.

The move comes as dozens of mainstream mortgage lenders are scaling back their mortgage business to reduce risk in the wake of the global credit crunch.

The Post Office, which claims to be the fastest growing financial services provider in the UK with more than one million savings, loan, insurance and credit card customers, hopes to capitalise on the complexity of existing deals offered on the high street by offering simpler loans without hidden charges, but said that it would apply strict lending criteria to the three loans in its new range that will exclude some borrowers.

It will offer one standard three-year fixed rate loan of 6.09 per cent up to 95 per cent of the property’s value, a 6.35 per cent buy-to-let mortgage up to 85 per cent and a self-certification loan for self-employed borrowers of 6.44 per cent on up to 90 per cent. All of the loans come with an arrangement fee of GBP 399.

Brokers welcomed increased competition from the Post Office’s new venture, but said that the loans were not the most competitive on the market.

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Scottish cities first for deliveries by Royal Mail rival

Posted by | Sep 23, 2007 | |

Sources at Postcomm, the postal services regulator, say TNT Post is building up its capacity in the two cities so that it can trial a full “end to end” service for Scottish business.

A number of private companies have moved into delivering postal services in the UK since the introduction of full competition to the market on January 1 last year. While some companies offer competitive rates to pick up mail or deliver it to its final destination, all still rely on the Royal Mail network for at least one part of the delivery process. In most cases, Royal Mail is used for what has been termed the ‘final mile’.

But TNT Post UK, the British branch of the Dutch postal group, aims to start offering a full service where post is picked up from businesses by TNT postmen, sorted at its own offices and then distributed by TNT’s delivery staff.

TNT Post has emerged as the main competitor to the Royal Mail since the market was opened up. It handles over 1.2 billion items of mail a year and has recently won several high profile deals, including a three-year contract to deliver the Phone Book to 3.2 million homes.

In Scotland, the company has targeted the small business market in particular. Its ‘PremierSort Flex’ service is aimed at local businesses that send a maximum of 250 letters and parcels a day. At the moment, the service uses the Royal Mail network for the ‘final mile’.

However, industry observers say that Britain is a long way from a fully privatised postal service. Statistics from Postcomm show that the Royal Mail delivers more than 99 pct of the UK’s mail to people’s doorsteps.

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Post Office may join payment clearance system in India

Posted by | Sep 22, 2007 | |

One of the oldest deposit taking institutions — the Post Office — may well get to provide seamless fund transfer, with an RBI panel recommending that the Post Office be linked to the clearing system and the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT). The panel has also sought to keep smaller banks with a net worth of less than Rs 50 crore out of the NEFT.

Section 49A of Banking Regulation Act empowers the Centre to notify institutions to accept deposits withdrawable by cheques. Post Office Savings Bank falls under such specific notification issued by the Centre. “Such notified institutions are providing chequeable accounts to their constituents.

In order to facilitate better customer service, such notified institutions should also have access to the clearing system,” said the report on ‘Working Group on Preparing Guidelines for Access to Payment Systems’. At present, banks have an advantage over the Post Office Savings Bank since they can provide fund-transfer facilities to customers. Those with core-banking solutions can extend online fund-transfer facility to their customers through internet banking.

At present, the Post Office is in the process of computerising and networking head post offices. By the end of the year, the Postal Department expects to network 650 of head post offices. Once the various locations are networked and the Post Office itself is plugged into the NEFT system, the POSB (Post Office Savings Bank) would be in a position to offer fund-transfer services similar to banks.

Read More

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