“Roads? Where we’re going we won’t need Roads” – Open APIs and Financial Services

The word ecosystem is often used when discussing payments. Whether it’s to describe how a payment is made or to discuss a partnership or even understanding your place in the value chain. Though part of the issue with how we present the ecosystem is that we tend to emphasize only small portions of the overall picture, that is to say if we are discussing payments to a merchant or retailer, the picture shifts to just show eComm, mComm and POS while partially ignoring the Financial Institution, and to a lesser extent the FinTech’s domains. But those days may be coming to an end as we have begun the transition to a new payments ecosystem.

Connected Devices are Opening Up New Forms of Payments and Partnerships

Of all the trends that are currently shaping – or re-shaping – the nature of payments, none is more significant than the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). We often talk about the payments ‘ecosystem’ and the complexity that exists between the many participants that are part of this ecosystem, but this complexity will expand exponentially as millions – no, billions – of devices become internet capable.

Driving Toward Innovation in Digital Banking User Experience

The need for delivering on a user experience strategy necessitates the use of common and sometimes confusing lingo like CX, UX, information architecture, UX design and UI design. It introduces ways to gain deeper understanding of customers through methods like personas, journey mapping and Kano analysis. It commands phrases like customer-centric, experience-driven, and ideation/visioning. In the past 4 months, I have interviewed more than half a dozen agencies to engage one that could go beyond the buzzwords and the methods described above. I want to be convinced that great and meaningful changes can happen to UI’s. After all, talk is cheap.

ACI Worldwide Survey Validates Growth in Mobile and Omni-Channel Retail

During this year's National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail's BIG Show, ACI Worldwide conducted a survey of more than 100 retailers in attendance. The results of the survey highlight how retailers see an increased reliance on both mobile and omni-channel retail solutions to meet consumers’ evolving buying habits.

Vanilla Payments Won’t Cut The Mustard In 2017

Five years ago the clear trend amongst brick-and-mortar retailers was to buy-in their own payments software. Except for the very small retailers who used bank-owned stand-alone POS terminals, retailers wanted to own and operate their own systems – usually licensed products from a small number of specialist payments software vendors. It gave them flexibility, control and cost savings through centralization. Other than the bank-owned terminal approach, there really were not too many alternative options.

IoT, Blockchain, Predictive Analytics and Voice First: 2017 Payments Predictions

Well, my predictions last year of blockchain, millennials and SaaS will dominate payments was partly true. I missed millennials, I overstated the impact millennials, particularly millennial business owners, would have on the payments. The desires and needs of millennials (e.g. faster processing, mobile first, contextual offers) are built into the roadmaps of providers. Blockchain and SaaS dominated many headlines and will continue to do so. My predictions to stay relevant this year – IoT, Blockchain (with a twist), Predictive Analytics and Voice First.

How Subprime Lenders Can Profit from CFPB Rules in 2017

If you’re a subprime lender, you’re well aware that new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) are scheduled to go into effect in 2017. The new regulations focus on small dollar loans and could mean substantial fines for your consumer finance practices if not implemented.

Open API Architecture is Now a Prerequisite for Merchants

Next generation merchants, including global players such as Uber and Airbnb, have built their success on openly accessible APIs and technologies that are constantly evolving to meet market needs. Because they have built their products and services on openness, they also expect an open technical setup from their payment providers. This puts pressure on payment providers to deliver state-of-the-art payment technology.

Open APIs, PSD2, Blockchain and Marmite…The Deliciousness of Payments

As we quickly approach the new year, I thought it prudent to sit down with my esteemed colleague (as well as cyclist, oenophile, Arsenal fan and Kraftwerk fan) Lu Zurawski, who’s been at the forefront of some major industry initiatives that will ripple into 2017 and beyond.

Delivering True Omni-channel Through Payments

It’s quite common to hear about the difficulty retailers have with their omni-channel strategy. But this should be yesterday’s issue. I can put something in my Amazon basket using my phone app and then checkout on my PC later. I can buy my coffee when I get in my car and then pick it up at the server point when I arrive at the Starbucks store. And I can order a delivery of clothes from John Lewis and then take back what I don’t want back to a Waitrose store for a refund. Omni-channel retailing is increasingly commonplace.

Payment Trends of 2016 (Plus A Little Eggnog, Bells and Tinsel)

The tinsel is up, the snowflakes have started flying, the skis are waxed and sharpened, and the shopping season is in full swing. This can mean only one thing….it’s just about time for our 2017 predictions (and a  few mulled ciders). But, before one can pivot to 2017, it’s important that we reflect on the year that was in the payments world, and what a year it’s been.

Cryptocurrency and the Cross-border Opportunity

Payment21 provides AML-Compliant bitcoin processing and exchange services to eCommerce merchants and online payment aggregators around the globe. The service offerings focus on regulated businesses that have a need for effective compliance procedures. The target group includes publicly-listed eCommerce merchants, licensed gaming enterprises, concessionary wireless network providers, and their banking partners. We spoke to Bernhard Kaufmann, General Manager, Payment21, to find out how their solution for cryptocurrency processing can drive cross-border growth.