Credit card-related crimes are increasing worldwide, says an international expert. So it is important to create awareness about security among businessmen, said Henri Schomper, Doha Bank’s vice president for security and risk management, Mastercard Worldwide. “A proper merchant training should be offered… We should educate businessmen to do safe banking,” said Schomper during the “Global Trends Driving Changes in the Middle East Payment Market” seminar at the Doha Four Seasons Hotel. To identify a counterfeit Mastercard, he said one should look at the hologram, look at the globe on the fraudulent card and compare it with the original. Signatures should also be looked into, and checking suspicious activities, among others, should be noticed by merchants. “If you have someone coming inside the store and say, I want to buy this computer and that CD player and the television over there, five to 10 minutes before you close shop, would you think that is suspicious or not?” The seminar, according to R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, was organised by Doha Bank to introduce the changing trends and new payment systems of the bank. It discussed the fundamentals of growing profits, increasing market presence and finding new revenue opportunities in the present market condition. Other topics that were tackled include: Trends in Acceptance and Emerging Payment Solutions, Segmentation and Winning Strategies, Securing Merchant Business, Making Local Sales Global, Technology Solutions to Enable Merchants, and Value Additions to a Business. Around 250 merchants showed up during the seminar, which was attended by Doha Bank’s management committee, executive managers, senior managers and various other staff who were an integral part of the seminar. Speakers include Seetharaman, Tony Gougassian, area manager – Qatar and Levant, Visa International, Nabil Tabbara, Doha Bank executive manager of retail banking, Schomper, Krishna Kumar, Doha Bank executive manager of the IT department, Mohd Hasan, Doha Bank’s head of Acquiring, and Maher Halabi, general manager of Giant Stores. The event closed with an award distribution ceremony of Doha Bank’s merchant partners for their Dream loyalty programme. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906096334.xml

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