A. Draper: "By the end of the year Perfect Money will be...first after WebMoney"

"The pink of absolute perfection that crowns world virtual economy henceforth will be presented by ideal financial institution - Perfect Money" – these words greet the users on the ambitious Swiss company. In general all the texts on the website are written in the same style that makes the acquaintance with the system rather cheerful and interesting but rather incomplete as well. To bridge the gaps we want to present you the interview with Andrew Draper, CEO for Perfect Money Finance Corp. granted to MoneyNews.

Question: Could you please tell the history of Perfect Money. If I’m not wrong your company is registered in Panama but actually is based in Zurich, am I right?

Andrew Draper (A.D.): Before the creation of Perfect Money system I was in the Board of one of the largest investment banks in Zurich. The whole my life I was hung up on the idea of creation of the ideal payment tool for the immediate settlements both in business and between the persons. Bank system is too conservative and is not intended for making the immediate operations.

Having cooperated with Erich Hans, our technical director, we wrote the system concept. All the developments of the idea started in 2006. After a close and subtle analysis of the law in different countries we came to conclusion that Panama is the best place to be registered in as it liberal to e-commerce in its laws. The registration in Panama allows us to declare that we will never block the accounts. The account of the Perfect Money user can be blocked in case if it will be ordered by the court of Panama. All the operations are made and controlled from our headquarter in Zurich.

Q.: What tasks are aimed by Perfect Money system on Russian market and in general?

A.D.: We’ve got an ambitious team of the leading specialists in IT and finances. Our rich experience and the present situation on the market help us to set the objective tasks and to reach them. On the international market we would be glad to take the third honorable place after PayPal and Moneybookers.

We set the objective targets and clearly realize that today each company works in its own segment. For that reason we are ready to offer the market the most liberal payment system existing today that allows making settlements with the maximum confidentiality and reliability. Our client is a self-assured person that runs a business on the Internet and who needs to make the financial operations with any amounts online and to get the classical Swiss financial service.

Having analyzed the current situation on the Russian market we can say that by the end of the year Perfect Money will be able to be the first after WebMoney on the market of Russia and CIS countries. We like WebMoney system and clearly understand that we up to date we won’t be able to compete with it. So, we have added an option enabling our customers to load and to withdraw the money from and to Perfect Money.

Q.: What is Perfect Money Russia department?

A.D.: First of all, I would like to say that the Russian market is an important part of a strategic program to develop Perfect Money. Under the strategy of Perfect Money development in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) we concluded that these markets are incurring a deficit in modern payment tools, however the economics of those countries unlike Europe and the USA go though a real boom. The department of Perfect Money Russia locates in Zurich, in one building with the headquarter of Perfect Money. The staff consists of 4 people including one translator, advisor to support Russian speaking areas and a marketing specialist to promote the system on the markets of Russia and CIS.

Q.: On its site the company calls itself as “an ideal financial institution”. On what basis do you allege this?

A.D.: Our experience and a full analysis of other systems and customer demands enabled us to make the maximum to approach to the concept of the “ideal financial institution.” We took all the best from the other payment systems and online banks and basing on the unique technological solutions, developed independently, we have created Perfect Money system. We offered the market the most liberal system for the end user which allows the customers to set independently the level of personal level security which meet their own requirements.

Q.: As we know Perfect Money is open for both persons (for personal use) and for the representatives of business. For which of these categories your services are oriented mostly?

A.D.: First of all, our services are oriented to the customers who run their business on the Internet and who need the processor to make the immediate payments and settlements with the contractors. Mostly we figure on the entities, however the Internet has changed the meaning of the term “entity” a little and now any person without any company can solely run the business and have a good profit by conducting a great number of financial operations. We’re also open to the e-commerce online gambling industries. We welcome all the site owners and offer them to install our Perfect Money API Merchant to accept the payments and this way, to expand the audience their buyers.

Q.: How many users have already registered in your system? What is the percentage of Russians interested in Perfect Money?

A.D.: Today we are waiting for the registration of the 25,000th user. We are completely satisfied with the new user sign-up pace in Perfect Money as the most important for us is that high dynamics we have been observing for the several years already. We try to offer a qualitative financial service to the users worldwide, and for that purpose the interface of Perfect Money is translated into 12 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Greek and Spanish. Today the clients of Perfect Money are the users from 178 countries. The Russian and CIS users are on the 4th place in popularity among our customers. I hope with time their number will increase.

Q.: The users of your system have various statuses. What are the conditions to get the Premium status?

A.D.: You’re right, we have divided our users into 3 status-groups to make the work with our system more comfortable, they are as follows: Normal, Premium and Partner. We grant the Premium status to the user after some definite term of work with our system, and under the condition of his or her identification and a constant balance turnover within the system. Partner status is assigned to the clients who have partnered the system. This status is more suitable for the entities with a considerable turnover and a solid experience.

Q.: How many partners does your system have today? Are there any famous companies?

A.D.: Currently, about 14 accounts have got the Partner status, including the well-known exchangers, software providers, internet-shops and etc. And day by day their number is increasing.

Q.: What do you mean when you say about some monthly interest added to the cash balance of the Perfect Money user?

A.D.: We add the monthly interest to the minimum cash balance in the account. The payouts are 7%. The owners of Premium and Partner statuses get more interest. Perfect Money doesn’t invest the money of its customers to anywhere. The interest added to the balance is paid from the operating profits.

Q.: Please clarify the meaning of your slogan "No fees for the monthly transfers in 2008".

A.D.: It means that all the internal transfers (transfers within the system, will not be changed until we won’t charge 2009. May be it will even continue it up to the 2010. The thing is that many users are afraid of changing their system processor. We understood them all pretty well and we are ready to provide everybody with an opportunity to conduct P2P-payments free of charge within the system to feel and to understand the safety, comfort and the simplicity of Perfect Money use.

Q.: Could you tell us more about the deposit/withdrawal ways available in your system today. What tools can be used and do you plan to extend the list of these tools?

A.D.: We do our best to provide our users with all the possible ways to load and to unload their account in Perfect Money system. Our goal is to make Perfect Money the maximum liquid e-currency. Initially we have introduced WebMoney, e-gold and Pecunix. After the numerous announcements of e-gold, a rapid drop in e-gold rate and cancellation of the opportunity to create the new accounts, we have decided to stop all operations with it.

Today any system can become our partner if we see that it is a reliable enough to keep money with it. In future we are planning to introduce Moneybookers and other processors. And of course, we provide a comprehensive range of services related to bank transfer. The owners of Normal and Premium statuses can use banking details of the banks located in Cyprus. As for the Partner status, we provide the individual banking details in the best banks of Switzerland. Also one can top-up his or her account via our certified exchangers.

Q.: How do you provide the security of Perfect Money transactions? As far as I understood you and the information on your site you offer each user to choose the necessary security level independently. Am I right?

A.D.: Yes, we allow our customers to choose the necessary defense and security level individually. We only provide a tree-level security to prevent a break-in. It’s up to the customer which level to choose. If he or she chooses SMS authentication, Code card and IP control system, it will be almost impossible to breach the user’s account. The only exception is that he or she will personally provide the fraudsters with all the information on IP, Code Card and will give them his or her mobile phone.

If the client uses his or her account only for some micro-payments such security measures can be unnecessary and can be easily rejected and disabled.

Q.: Could you please share the company’s plans and also its intentions regarding the Russian users.

A.D.: Our goal in the short-run is to gain the trust of the Russian users. The basis of any financial business is trust, and it is gained only after some period of a successful operation and positive feedback of our pleased customers. We will do our best to make the Russian customers to believe that a reliable payment system may exist. New customers who have believed indeed in the existence of a reliable and safe financial Swiss internet service is the best award for us.