Design a system to pay the credit card bills via handset Essay

Design a system to pay the credit card bills via handset - Essay Example The application allows the task to be carried out through a text message. Credit card bill payments can be stressful from a cardholder’s perspective. A visit to a bank or pay point may not be convenient to a busy person. Besides this, the time consuming queues can make a person avoid the payment exercise completely. An individual facing a low liquidity situation is more likely to avoid making the payment in the face of the added difficulty of the payment process. Cardholders are often wary of accessing the net and carrying out banking transactions due to the confidential information that they have to share. Security is a major concern for electronic transactions. WAP-enabled communication devices like mobile phones and PDA can be used for information access and banking transactions. This system allows the use of phones to pay credit card bills regardless of time and location. The success of this payment options is that the user is not expected to go out of his way to access this feature. The technology is flexible and adapts to the habits of the user. It provides an additional channel for transacting at no extra cost to the user. If the issue of security is well managed, this mode of transacting will be widely used. â€Å"M-Commerce reflects a change in distribution technology innovations in the card payment industry. Mobile banking functions as a phone channel, meaning banks no longer have to depend on the branch network to reach the customer frontier. As competition increases, banks realise the importance of providing integrated delivery channels; branch, phone, Internet, digital television and hand-held computers all add value to the traditional card-based services.† (93) Mobile Commerce is clearly this decades biggest growth opportunity. The Web and its features can be accessed within constraints of time and location. There are a few other restrictions such as power failures or disasters like fires. Wireless communication paves the

The monetary financial system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The monetary financial system - Essay Example However, these investments have a downside risk of underperformance and lack of control etc. There are two types of collective investments: open ended investments and closed ended investments. In the open ended investments the number of shares or units is not fixed and the fund can issue unlimited amount of shares/units. However, as the name suggests, in closed ended investments the number of shares or units issued is fixed. The unit trust and investment trust are examples of collective investment institutions with certain notable differences which are explained as follows.      ‘An investment in unit trusts is a method whereby a small investor can form part of the share market without being directly involved.’ (Swart, 2007, p.153) ‘In contrast to unit trust, investment trusts are public limited companies whose business is the investment of funds in financial assets.’ (Buckle and Thompson, 1992, p.125)   Both the unit trust and the investment trusts ar e pooled investments that aim towards diversification of risk for the investor. The individual investor benefits from the knowledge and expertise of the trust managers for which the trust charges fees to its unit holders in the form of annual charges. Financial institutions and intermediaries play an important role in the management of the unit and investment trusts. ...    The unit trusts have been more popular in the past with investors preferring open ended units as opposed to closed ended in the case of investment trusts. Investment trusts are allowed to borrow for investment, however, this facility is not present with the unit trusts. Unit trust is managed by a trustee where the investment trust is a company listed on the exchange. In terms of pricing, unit trusts are always valued on their net asset value (NAV) whereas investment trust can trade both at a premium or discount to their NAV.   Thus demand and supply forces have no consequences on the unit trust but affect the prices of the investment. The unit trust issues unit which are not tradable to the third party whereas due to the listing on the stock exchange, investment trusts’ units are tradable. In terms of the fee structure, the investment trust charges as lower as compared to the unit trust.    Thus, with the above mentioned similarities and differences, it is up to the i nvestors’ analysis and nature to choose between unit trust and investment trust.    2. Firms could raise long term finance issuing shares and bonds. Evaluate the pros and cons of each? Companies need to generate funds on long term basis in order to operate in the market. The two basic options for raising equity from the market are: bonds and shares. The bond is a long term debt instrument with fixed interest payments issued by the issuer or the borrower of the funds which can be the government or any company. The bondholders are entitled to the fixed interest payments along with the return of their principle. They do not hold the right to own the company and are the first ones to be paid off at the time of bankruptcy. When the company issues shares for