Richard MARIKI, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Rehema MAKUBURI, Head of Postal Affairs at the Tanzania Communica-tions Regulatory Authority, Justine BEYARAAZA, Africa regional expert and Suleman MSOFE, Head of the Operations and Techno-logy Directorate at the International Bureau.
Read MoreDeutsche Post World Net opened the DHL Innovation Center in Troisdorf near Bonn today. The goal and mission of the DHL Innovation Center are to develop marketable, highly innovative products from logistics trends of the future. In addition, the laboratory of the future forms an umbrella organization for all areas of technical innovation management that the company has been exploring. The laboratory of the future plays a key role in the Group’s strategy, with which Deutsche Post World Net as the No. 1 company in the global logistics market intends to become the world’s most innovative logistics company.
The projects at the DHL Innovation Center are being conducted jointly with partners. The innovation partners from the business world include IBM, Intel and SAP. The DHL Innovation Center also maintains research partnerships with the logistics institutes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston and Zaragoza, and the German Fraunhofer institutes. About 20 permanent employees are working on innovation projects in the center. An additional 10 jobs are filled by employees from the innovation and research partners.
Read MoreSybase iAnywhere today announced that Correos, the Spanish Postal Service, has deployed its RFID Anywhere(TM) software platform in one of the largest RFID projects in Europe. Using RFID Anywhere, Correos has introduced a radio frequency control system, called Q-RFID, in 16 Automated Processing Centers (APCs) throughout Spain and in four other bulk Admission Centers, enabling the company to ensure quality control and the traceability of postal deliveries.
“The use of RFID Anywhere enhances Correos’ competitiveness as a result of more efficient management of postal processes and an improvement in the quality of its services,” said Regina Defarges, organizational deputy director, Correos. “We’re proud to be the forerunner in the use of RFID technology in the postal industry.”
Read MoreThe privatization of Japan’s post office, which doubles as the world’s biggest savings bank, was hailed around the globe as a watershed free-market reform that would streamline the world’s No. 2 economy.
But just months before the October kick off date, a darker prospect looms over what will unseat Citigroup Inc. as the world’s biggest financial institution. Far from encouraging open competition, some are warning that the government-nurtured colossus could leverage its size to stamp out rivals, foreign and domestic.
Washington is pressuring Tokyo to ensure that won’t happen, and Japan is promising strict safeguards.
Japan Post does more than sell stamps and deliver letters. It also runs a postal savings bank with 500 million accounts and some 4,000 branch offices nationwide. Its ubiquitous post offices effectively act as sales agents for insurance and investment products as well as stamps.
For millions of Japanese, the post office is their only bank. The service is especially popular in rural areas shunned as unprofitable by commercial banks.
Sitting on assets of USD1.96 trillion, Japan Post secures about 28 percent of Japan’s household savings and is widely billed the world’s largest bank.
The first phase begins Oct. 1, with Japan Post being broken into four separate businesses, an insurance company, savings bank, mail courier and post office management company.
Initially held under a holding company, they will made independent by 2017.
Business leaders want assurances the new companies won’t get tax and regulatory breaks denied private competitors.
They are also worried Japan Post will be allowed to encroach on rivals by introducing new investment services and new insurance products before a level playing field is created.
There is additional concern the new companies will exploit implicit government guarantees on deposits to lure new customers. Basic deposits at commercial banks, by contrast, are only insured up to USD85,000. Even after October, the government will hold 100 percent of the companies until shares are sold on the stock exchange, starting as late as 2011.
Another issue is whether foreign firms will have equal footing to sell investment products through the newly privatized bank. So far, they have been granted only a minor role.
Japan Post’s finances are extraordinarily sound. Profit jumped 56 percent to USD16.5 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, thanks largely to income from the new trust funds.
Read MorePortuguese public postal operator, CTT Correios, has signed a deal with its Brazilian counterpart ECT to launch joint mail, express and financial products later this year.
CTT has taken the lead in setting up a working group to study the international mail, express and money transfer markets with a view to launching new products and services, possibly with the same branding, in both countries in September.
“The agreement is indicative of the importance of commercial relations and growing migration between the two countries,” CTT said in a statement after the signing of the accord in Lisbon last week.
“The dynamism of these markets implies new products, services and brands in the target segments, a revision of costs and the negotiation of new margins between the operators with a view to introducing more competitive prices,” they added. The agreement, based on a common and jointly-managed “action plan”, is renewable annually for five years.
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