Hat in Hand with 17 Heads: Payments Innovation and the Fraud Pitfalls to Avoid

Imagine that you live in a world that is revenue-agnostic, where payments revenue is so far decoupled from the payments channels that they ride on, and that startup culture and venture capital allow for the creation of all sorts of innovations that have some creative monetization that keep the train on the tracks. If you got halfway through that horrific sentence and realized we’ve been there for quite a while already, I’m impressed. It is essentially the cornerstone of banking, in many capacities.

Time is Money: A Millennial View of UK Faster Payments’ 10th Anniversary

As a millennial, I’ve often been the butt of jokes of those a little bit older than I am (whether colleagues or my own family). One of the clichés perpetuated is that we are constantly glued to our smartphones: In a way that’s correct, but misses an important point. As a young millennial professional, the most important thing to me is TIME. And that’s the reason my phone plays a crucial role in my life – much to the annoyance of my girlfriend and family. It means I can do things on the move, which in turn makes my life a whole lot easier.

Pints, Penalties and Payment Fraud: Welcome to the World Cup

You’d think that England already had the World Cup in the bag, based on the nationwide scenes of jubilation after the Three Lions’ penalty-takers had gone against the (painful) grain of football history, and emerged victorious at the end of a scrappy match against Colombia. However, those cries of “It’s Coming Home” from English football fans may just be a little premature, given that there are still three matches to play (and win) before the English can lay claim to being world champions for the first time in half a century.

Success Speaks: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Talks Meeting Member Demands in Healthcare

When looking for a payments success story in the world of healthcare, you’d be wise to turn your attention to the Great Lakes and the work done by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBS MI). In a recent webinar with AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) and ACI, Faran Farooqi, Strategic Capability Implementation and Operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, shared his insights into how his organization addressed the challenges of today to deliver a great payments experience for their members.

Innovate and Integrate to Accumulate: Investing in Payments Systems to Drive Growth

Today’s merchants face numerous challenges, which boil down to one central issue: how to succeed in a constantly changing, complex market, while also investing for the future.

Merchants need to deliver on growing expectations around the customer experience in an increasingly competitive environment, while battling growing costs and squeezed margins. This pressure extends through the whole business for every merchant, in every sector, and it’s driving merchants to look into every corner of their operations for ways to cut costs and redirect resources.

Taking Payments and Fintech for Granted? (A Lyrical Edition)

Based on a very quick search of the Googles, there are 128,014 songs that contain the lyrics “take for granted”— from the likes of Mary J. Blige, Social Distortion, Madness and Frank Sinatra as well as countless other great (and not-so-great) crooners. And that would make for a sizable Spotify playlist… and I do love my Spotify playlists (I’ve been on a Wham! kick lately).

Instant + Open Payments = A Winning Combination

I recently joined a panel discussion at EBAday 2018, alongside representatives from across the payments ecosystem, and the clear consensus was that real-time payments will be the new normal. This was evidenced by some of the interactive polls carried out.

Choice and Flexibility Help Digital Entertainment Merchants Catch Their Customers

Gaming and Digital Entertainment is one of the fastest growing verticals within the broader merchant sector, as boundaries continue to blur. Many forms of entertainment that once only took place in the physical world, or through the purchase of physical goods, have gone fully digital – with significant ramifications for businesses that provide payments services to suit a wide range of merchant needs. I spoke with Andy McDonald, ACI’s vice president of merchant payments, to find out more.

The Telco Transformation Tight Rope: Balancing Risk and Reward

In a previous blog post, we looked at the towering mobile payments opportunity for those MNOs and MVNOs that can build customer trust and convenience through innovation to become a digital marketplace.

But, it is safe to say that while the digital marketplace model could be a real opportunity for telcos, taking this route is not without some risk.

Consumer Payments: Will ‘Request for Payment’ Be the Next 'Big Thing'?

This week, NatWest announced that it has teamed up with British mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse to trial a new online shopping system that lets customers pay directly through their bank account, without using a debit or credit card.