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Just been interviewed by BBC World Service on this article [Finextra must be famous!] : I made suggestions as to how they could service this new Rewards system without having to impact the Credit Card schema.

All Identity numbers are compliant with ISO 7812 mod-10, whether it be the SIM card in your mobile phone, a Payment Card, or a Loyalty Card or a Travel Card.

The first six digits of a card number identify the Card Issuer. ISO7812 was updated in 2017 to introduce 8-digit Issuer numbers.

With a single 6-digit IIN (or a block of 100 8-digit IINs) there is scope for 999,999,999 16-digit cards (the final digit is a check digit).

So if Japan wants a national reward scheme for the 126 million population (or the 110 million over the age of 15), 12 or so 8-digit IINs would suffice.

Don't panic.

As reported, my worry is I won't be able to differentiate between my own Bank accounts easily. I have 6 Bank accounts with 2 Banks that I move money to and from frequently (almost daily). The Bank records just have my Name on them; on my Internet Banking I append to my Name an additional word to help identify the account - eg "Gold", "Saver", "Deposit" etc. If I'm somehow forced to remove these, it's going to be a right pain, and even greater scope for confusion.

Erm - what ever happened to the idea of having 2FA? Am I going to be telling Alex my User ID & Password for my Bank Account? Even if I don't have 2FA, so bypassing need for Card Reader, which of my 4 (Personal & Business) Bank Accounts with my Primary Bank will Alexa be reading back to me?

Certainly when I've been impacted by numerous outages at RBS, and the protracted time it takes to get a resolution, and the instances when I've had to put up with 'garbage' narrative on my Bank Statement because the original text is irretrievably lost (eg Payer name), I'd have to say its a combination of chronic under-investment by the business, coupled with piss-poor software quality.

Nothing new under the sun - this was a feature of the "Long" vouchers (ie punched card size) used by the Airlines & Cruise Lines in the 1970's and 1980's where you coul 'circle' on the voucher whether you wanted to pay in 3 / 6 / 9/ 12 months instalments. Some Country/Issuers allowed it on on non-Airline/Cruise transactions as well.

I have a business account with TalkTalkBusiness.net : contrary to statements by TalkTalk, as of 4pm on Friday we still hadn't received any form of notification from TalkTalk as to whether we have/haven't been impacted.

About once a month I use the RBS branch on Victoria Street near Westminster City Hall to deposit Cheques. There is only 1 teller position, and desks & chairs for 4 other positions, but there is never anyone else there. I always make a point of using the Teller in order to 'log' my footfall.

Good to see that Pizza Express don't even know what they're talking about.

Employee NIC is only 12%, it has never been 12.8%.

Employer NIC is 13.8% - the last time it was 12.8% was 2010/2011 - over 4 years ago.

So if anything, its that Pizza Express are avoiding Employer NIC of 13.8%, and instead of being grateful for that reduction in their Payroll Costs, are then making a premium profit out of their employees by charging them the 8% admin fee.