Hmmm, this one seems to have slipped under a lot of people’s radar. Veteran portal Yahoo! appears to have introduced a rather interesting PayPal competitor called PayDirect, which is being…ahem…bankrolled…by the HSBC bank. Now for those wot don’t know, the HSBC – or Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company to give the full moniker – is one of the world’s largest and most innovative banks.
Their biggest claim to fame is the establishment of what many consider to be the best bank in the world – First Direct – a telephone and Internet only service. Folks who use this bank rave about how it’s light years ahead of the competition when it comes to customer service.
For this company then to enter into the email banking business like this with Yahoo! may spell big trouble down the line for PayPal and any other unfortunates who try and get in the way (even if owned by the mighty eBay). In my opinion of course. You can check out the terms of the PayDirect service here.