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Tweeq selects IDEMIA for payment cards to customers in Saudi Arabia

Tweeq, a Saudi fintech, has chosen IDEMIA, a leader in Augmented Identity, for card issuance and personalization services…reports Asian Lite News

In a recent statement, Tweeq stated that its payment cards will be personalized right here in its Riyadh personalization facility. This also marks IDEMIA’s commitment to localize global technology to the Kingdom’s needs, which utilizes IDEMIA’s industry-renowned Common Personalisation System (CPS).

“We are pleased to have a payment cards leader like IDEMIA as our partner. As a fintech it is important to us to provide our customers with unparalleled products that defines the unique experience we aim to deliver to our customers,” said Saeed Albuhairi, CEO, Tweeq.

JULIA SCHOONENBERG, SENIOR PRESIDENT, MEA, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, IDEMIA: “We are proud that Tweeq has selected IDEMIA’s card solutions services. This highlights the trust the institution has in IDEMIA as their technology partner. As a market leader in payment card technology, IDEMIA strives to deliver high-quality offerings that reflect our clients’ commitment to their customers.”

Currently serving several major domestic banks, IDEMIA has launched the Global Fintech Accelerator Program in the past year to increase its support towards nascent fintechs to rapidly process cardholder onboarding to card issuance. IDEMIA’s CPS allows financial institutions customers, including fintechs, to ease the management of a consistent portfolio made of digital and physical payment means services. All 30 IDEMIA service centres worldwide, including the facility in Riyadh, are supported by CPS to allow instant and secure card profile developments to be transferred and reused.

With around two-thirds of the population under 35, digitally savvy and coupled with a concerted move towards a cashless economy for its 2030 Vision, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) has grown to be a leading fintech market globally. Studies estimate the industry to be worth $17.8 billion in transaction volume, and project growth to $47.5 billion by 2025 .

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A major factor for this transformation to cashless is the transition towards electronic payment methods, with financial cards likely to be at the forefront of this development. Experts suggest that KSA is expected to have in excess of 30 million payment cards in circulation by 2023 .

Tweeq, a fintech founded in 2020, enables users to open an account in seconds through their mobile app, allowing them to start receiving and making payments instantly. In addition, Tweeq is partnering with IDEMIA, a global leader in card technology, to provide Tweeq users with a payment card. This payment card enables their users to pay for purchases in-store and online, and withdraw cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) .

HDFC customer seeks justice over credit card dispute

The failure of the bank to bring clarity to the matter and suddenly decide to debit the savings account with a huge amount of interest is a deficiency of service as well as a malpractice which affects lakhs of customers on a daily basis….reports Asian Lite News

HDFC Bank took Rs 56,763 from a customer’s account in an unauthorised manner to settle alleged debt on a credit card which was neither requested nor used.

This episode occurred at the HDFC Gurguram branch where the bank issued a credit card to a customer (name withheld) which was received but never used.

In 2015-16, the bank started sending bills of Rs 14,500 for a card which was never requested but received and not used. When the customer enquired there was no response.

When the customer approached the branch manager, he was asked to destroy the card and send it to the Chennai office which he did in his presence. However, to his chagrin the customer continued to receive credit card statements. The harassed customer then started writing mails to Aditya Puri, then chairman of the bank. While these mails were acknowledged there was no closure in the matter. The follow ups were constant on the pry of the customer but all to no avail. The bank started harassing the customer again in 2021 when the customer’s employer was called for credit card bills.

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The bank then sent a legal notice for the credit card. The same customer also had a HDFC Standard Life policy and when the amount matured, HDFC Bank debited Rs 56,763 from the bank account in lieu of the credit card bills.

The bank is not permitted by RBI guidelines to hold money from the savings account to pay for this debt. This debt arose from a credit card and should have been treated as a separate issue. What is worse is that as part of the redemption process a cancelled cheque of Kotak Mahindra Bank was provided, HDFC Life continuously delayed the settlement saying it had not received the mail. When after repeated entreaties the amount was credited into the said account, said money evaporated.

The bank has not provided any statement of transactions and cash memo which is actually signed by the bank customer or any document which proves that the credit card was requested or used.

The Credit card is a Prepayment Plan Instrument and requires the bank to make sure that if instrument is issued it should be in possession of the rightful owner and not some frivolous record in the database. The card/instrument was received but disputed from the outset by the rightful owner.

The Bank and the collection agencies have made several attempts to call and harass the client which has been put on record. The recorded emails show that repeatedly a clarity was requested from the bank to show how the credit card was even used by the client. The bank has fled from its responsibility.

There is no record that the request was made for such a credit card. The credit card is not showing on the HDFC portal and no data is available to even challenge the claim. The bank has prevented the client from genuine information in order to bring clarification to the matter and has left the client to the scrutiny and illegal practice of various collection agencies.

The matter arose at HDFC Gurugram branch but the office to pursue the matter was addressed in Chennai for no specific reason. This was done to make it inaccessible for the client to clarify the issue. That the client repeatedly visited the Gurugram Branch to clarify the matter but the whole matter was denied without providing any justification since 2014.

As per RBI guidelines banks have a restricted access to exercise their right to lien. The bank cannot exercise a lien over a personal account of a customer. According to guidelines a credit card account is always separate from since a person acts in a different capacity than his understanding of the savings account.

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