The appeal filed against the law establishing ceilings on interest rates charged by card issuers has been rejected by the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court (CC), rejected the appeals filed against the Credit Card Act , presented in January by the Association of Banks of Guatemala (ABG), the Association of Card Payment Issuers (AEMPG) and Deputy Ronald Arango, reported Republica.com.gt.
Unconstitutionality lawsuits filed by banks and the Association of Payment Card Issuers may postpone the enforcement of the law, which was scheduled for March 2015.
The actions claiming unconstitutionality argue that when approving the controversial law, Congress did not follow the relevant processes, including the inclusion of the opinion of the Monetary Board on the part of representatives.
The controversial law limiting interest rates charged by credit card issuers was sanctioned by President Maldonado and will take effect on March 8, 2016.
Despite the request of the financial sector to veto the new law , president Maldonado decided to sanction it, and now the Superintendency of Banks will have to issue the necessary regulations for its implementation.
Issuers have objected in particular to the cap on interest that can be charged, citing an increased credit risk and a reduction in the number of cardholders.
An article on Lahora.gt reports that "... Roberto Fuentes, of the Association of Credit Card Issuers of Guatemala (AEMPG), said the Credit Card Act does not have the technical basis necessary to actually have a positive effect on users.
The new law will prevent usury and harassment of users, but will also affect consumers and business activity by leaving at least 500,000 Guatemalans without access to this payment method.
Decree 7-2015 of the Law on Credit Cards, approved by the Guatemalan Congress will come into force in three months time and will put a cap on interest rates that can be charged by card issuers, the procedures used to collect from defaulters, but at the same time will limit access to an important method of payment.
The interest rate charged by issuers cannot exceed the "double of the amount of the value corresponding to the average weighted annual interest rate in the banking system."
From a statement issued by the Congress of Guatemala:
With 96 votes, the deputies to the Congress of the Republic approved a total replacement amendment aimed at regulating credit card interest rates ; Article 10 of the 4651 bill.
In the first half of 2014 ATMs will be adapted to the new technology which was first incorporated in the country in October last year.
S21.com.gt reports: "After various issuers of credit and debit cards began incorporating the chip to improve safety and avoid credit card cloning, the banking system needs to work on changing ATM's so that they can read these new cards".
An announcement has been made for another bill regulating the contractual relationship between issuers of credit cards and users.
Deputy Ronald Arango announced at a press conference an initiative to regulate the charges made by companies to cardholders.
Prensalibre.com reports that the bill states that "there must be a free agreement between the card issuer and the account holder, but sometimes companies add more charges which end up doubling or tripling the interest rate. "
In the Guatemalan Congress of a favorable opinion was cast on an initiative to regulate the operation of the credit cards and the relationships between issuers, operators and affiliate cardholders.
Posted by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala:
At a press conference, the president of the Committee on Economy, deputy Emmanuel Seidner, announced that an initiative was presented to Legislative assembly to approve the Credit Card Act, which aims to regulate the operation of credit cards and the relationships between issuers, operators and affiliate cardholders.
Total online purchases made in 2012, which exceeded 500,000 transactions, were up 7% on those registered in 2011.
Courier companies were surprised by the figures, which exceeded their expectations. "The market is healthy and growing each year," said Jorge Gomez, General Manager of TransExpress.
"According to Gomez, 2012 showed an annual growth of 17%, compared to the more than 400,000 transactions recorded in 2011, but the biggest move of the year came during the last week of November with Black Friday (last 23 November), and continued throughout December, peaking right at the end of the year.
The total value of purchases of goods and services made using debit and credit cards by Guatemalan businessmen during 2011 was 18% more than those of 2010.
The information comes from the Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) report which looks at payments around the world and is conducted yearly by the payment technology company Visa.
Siglo21.com.gt reports that, "According to this study, which calculates spending by companies around the world, the amount of purchases made with Visa debit and credit cards in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was $7.8 billion and showed an increase of 19.4% compared with 2010.
Visa has announced it will begin in Guatemala the process of eliminating magnetic stripe cards and replacing them with ones that have chips.
Guatemalan financial institutions are working on building the infrastructure necessary to meet this new technology, said the executive director of Visa Central America, Roger Sanchez. The delivery of the first chip card is scheduled for early next year.
The Municipality of Guatemala is inviting bids for the procurement of payment processing services via credit card.
The purpose of the tender is to optimize revenue management through electronic payment processing services, to facilitate transactions for users and neighbors with the Municipality of Guatemala and their companies.by using information and communication technologies that are both streamlined and secure.
Visa Payments and Transfers is a system that allows transferring funds or making payments from cell phones using debit or credit cards.
Visa Inc. has developed a technology for making payments and debit card and credit transactions from phones that will be used in Guatemala for the first time in Latin America.
This is the platform Visa Payments and Transfers, through which Visa customers can make transfers from their cell phones with credit or debit cards in order to make payments, send funds to other users and to receive international remittances, said Roberto Gonzalez, director of business development for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean to elPeriodico.com.gt.
New technologies will be the basis for changes affecting users of financial services in the future.
Accessing your account from Facebook and financing being offered at the time you buy a product are some of the innovations that we could be seeing in the coming years in the banking industry.
This is one of the conclusions from research conducted by experts in technology and financial services applications, which include, among other things, the ability to soon be able to sign agreements using just a smartphone.