westpac online banking

While acknowledging the modernisation of WAF in that it was providing the bill pay by phone opportunity, Mr Butler said Fiji had led the way in terms of mobile money. And he also thanked their competitor Vodafone Fiji for its role in mobile money.

Mr Butler said discussions on water bill payments through mobile money was conceptualised more than a year ago.

"I pay our respects and homage to WAF for bringing everyone here today to launch this service ù the three banks, and two mobile competitors. It shows the respect various institutions have for you and what an important service this is going to be for Fiji," Mr Butler said.

"This is about convenience. This is allowing people in rural areas, from the comfort of their phones to pay their water bills, this is what modernised bill payment is about."

Haroon Ali, BSP

BANK of South Pacific head of business banking Haroon Ali said the bank was happy to partner the Water Authority of Fiji on providing bill payment services.

As the last speaker at the event, Mr Ali said he did not have much to say with previous speakers already commenting on the obvious points that needed to be raised.

Mr Ali however said this was a great service, currently available to BSP customers through SMS banking.

He added that water bill payment would become available online soon when the bank's state-of-the-art Internet banking is launched.

Ronald Prasad, Vodafone

VODAFONE's director of corporate business, Ronald Prasad said yesterday's launch was another milestone for M-PAiSA.

"In a short span of one year, we have had some significant milestones. As you may be aware, we launched the M-PAiSA service in June last year and to-date, more than 360,000 customers have registered for this service, with over $10million in transactions," Mr Prasad said.

"For a mobile communications company to venture into financial services and achieve such results in such a short span of time is no mean feat.

"The fact is that mobile communication is impacting the world in unprecedented ways. It can be described as a train in motion that is unstoppable.

"With over 95 per cent of Fiji's population having access to mobile communications, it now offers the platform to make financial services more convenient, accessible and affordable to more people. In today's busy lifestyle, more and more people look to their service providers for greater accessibility and convenience. Gone are the days that people would queue up patiently to be served.

"We are proud to provide an M-PAiSA payment solution to WAF in their quest to better serve their customers. We continuously look at offering innovative solutions that add value to corporate customers and help improve their service to their clients

For any service provider, timely collection of dues is always a challenge. However, often it is not the ability of a customer to pay, but rather the lack of time and convenient payment options, which is the reason for the delay or default. M-PAiSA offers a huge upside to businesses to improve their collections, maintain positive cashflows and reduce risks."

Cameron Penfold, Westpac

WESTPAC Banking Corporation's head of business banking, Cameron Penfold believes the initiative to pay water bills through phone and Internet banking is a good one.

Mr Penfold also congratulated the Water Authority of Fiji for moving towards a more convenient and secure electronic payment system. He is sure WAF customers who are also Westpac's clients will be pleased with the new service.

"This partnership will allow their customers to pay their bills quicker, which I am sure they are looking forward to," Mr Penfold said.

He said the service was an opportunity to save time and money. Mr Penfold said Westpac was looking at developing its "everywhere banking" (banking through mobile phones).

Almost half (46.1 percent) of the Australian public could be missing out on part of their superannuation, according to the findings of a nationwide survey released today by major Australian bank Westpac.

Surprisingly, the survey found that of these, 15.8 percent of people questioned, knew they had unclaimed or ‘lost’ super but are not actively trying to recover it.

According to figures released by the Federal Government earlier this year, on average there is one lost super account for every two working Australians.

Westpac Group Executive of Retail and Business Banking Rob Coombe said these figures highlight the sheer scale of Lost Super and the amount of Australians that have lost touch with their own super savings.

“It’s alarming to see that nearly half of Australians have lost super. So many people are missing out on money that is rightfully theirs and that could make a significant difference to their lives once they retire. That’s why we’ve launched an initiative to help our customers, and indeed all Australians, actively find their lost super and reclaim it,” said Mr Coombe

We’re urging our customers to call into their local Westpac branch where we will complete a lost super search for them and fill in the paperwork for them to reclaim it. By ensuring their super is in one place and effectively managed through a product like BT Super for Life, customers can achieve visibility and control of one of their largest financial assets”.

Federal Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation The Hon. Bill Shorten said that connecting Australians with their lost super was a priority for the Federal Government.

“We welcome this initiative by Westpac. It complements the Government’s policy to enable superfunds to use tax file numbers to identify members' accounts from 1 July 2011. These measures will help re-connect Australians with their lost super.” Mr Shorten said.

Mr Coombe said that Westpac is committed to encouraging Australians to acknowledge that super is a major financial asset and the first step is to ensure they do not have any lost super.

“While it’s quite easy to lose track of superannuation when you change names, jobs or move house, the process to reclaim it is simple and the resulting benefits are considerable. Our product BT Super for Life allows customers to see their super online with their banking – that’s one way to never lose sight of super again,” said Mr Coombe.

Customers can enquire about BT Super for Life at any Westpac branch.

california sales tax

eBay said most of its sellers would be exempt from a new California law requiring out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax in the state if they deal with California businesses. (See, "How California Sales-Tax Collection Legislation Affects Small Sellers - link.)

eBay Vice President and Deputy General Counsel - Government Relations Tod Cohen released the following statement on Friday regarding the passage of the California budget and Internet sales tax bill:

"eBay believes that the legislative actions by the State of California aimed at forcing out-of-state retailers to collect and remit California state sales taxes violate the US Supreme Court's Quill decision governing sales tax collection. SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Republican lawmakers are claiming victory after the state budget passed last week without a single GOP vote because the plan did not include the Democrats' top solution—a renewal of the higher income, sales and vehicle taxes approved two years ago.

But not every conservative is popping a bottle of California sparkling wine in celebration: While they held fast to their no-tax pledge, GOP lawmakers also lost a historic chance to secure their top priorities: scaling back state employee pensions; imposing a state spending cap; and making business-friendly changes to California's regulatory and environmental laws.

Republicans hope to pin the blame for massive spending cuts to social programs and higher education on Democrats, while claiming credit for holding the line on taxes. The majority vote budget came after Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, conceded defeat in his attempt to persuade a handful of Republican lawmakers to support his plan to ask

voters to extend for up to five years temporary increases in the sales, income and vehicle taxes.

Union leaders and Democrats hope that as the deep spending cuts take effect, Californians will feel the impact and public opinion will shift toward supporting tax increases they hope to put on the ballot in November 2012. Those could include higher taxes on the wealthy and taxes on companies that pump oil in California, but there are no specific proposals yet.

Republicans could be saved by a rebounding economy. "The Republicans appeared to not want to support any reasonable package. "The Republicans are calling it a victory because they believe that not extending the taxes, the higher tax rates, was good for the average Californian," said Toebben, a Republican. Thad Kousser, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, said the GOP successfully leveraged its only remaining legislative power by letting temporary tax increases expire on July 1.

Mitch Zak, a Republican political consultant who supported GOP lawmakers meeting with the governor, said Republicans should have laid out specific policy proposals on pensions, state regulations and a spending cap soon after Brown released his initial budget proposal in January.

Fox was among Republicans who had urged GOP negotiations over the governor's tax proposal.