Top 3 Things Students Want When Paying Tuition

I know the pain that Finance VPs in higher education experience. It seems like every day that someone comes to you saying “Our students need new technology. Can we squeeze it into the budget?” I own the P&L, so I get it. 

Did you know that your university payment systems can take away some of your pain? Meeting new demands from students and parents will actually save you money. How? We sponsored a revealing survey with Aite Group that explains the potential savings.

Are Open APIs the Stairway to the New Payments Ecosystem?

Losing yourself in music is something that everyone should do at least once a day. The freedoms that it affords one’s mind cannot be understated. In my eclectic (and eternal) playlist, there is one song that has likely been played at least twice as much as any other (and to be fair, it likely has the same global play counts); Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, an epic song that helped define the band to generations. But it was this past week when listening to the song when my mind was turning over thoughts on banking, and a line jumped out at me with new meaning; “There’s a feeling I get, when I look to the west…” While Jimmy and Robert were musing over much larger questions about life and death, my current journey had me subconsciously thinking about banking. 

Where Do Banks Begin Once Instant Payments Are Available? 

Listening to their customers and delivering new services will be crucial for the success of real-time banking and payments in Europe and the US

How mCommerce and eCommerce Are Shaping the Infomercial (Cash, check or money order?)

If you enjoy watching infomercials as much as we do, you’re likely familiar with the payment option that closes out these delightful paid programs...which brings us to another edition of Rantings, focused on Payment Habits. And after all, who hasn’t purchased a ShamWow!? Mark, we’re approaching the unofficial start of summer (editor’s note: there’s likely a future post on summer holiday purchases) and even though there’s no correlation between vacations and COD (cash on demand)—at least I don’t think there’s one—it at least provides an awkward segue into Payment Habits.

Stop Fraud… Or Increase Conversion Rates? With a Fine-Tuned Fraud Engine, Merchants Can Do Both

Preventing fraud and driving high conversion rates are universally important objectives for merchants – but many struggle to adequately balance these two demands. They either employ aggressive fraud prevention strategies to minimize fraud losses, or conversely, reduce checks in order to prevent false positives, improve customer experience and ensure sales targets are met. Neither exclusive approach works in the long run; focusing on only one will prove costly on multiple fronts.

Real-Time Payments Will Be a Catalyst for Change in Italy

2017 will be a crucial year for real-time payments globally. Two major schemes are set to go live: The pan-European SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT Inst), which will eventually enable consumers and businesses to make euro credit transfers in real-time between accounts 34 European countries, and The Clearing House (TCH) Real-time Payments System in the US. In addition, a number of new regional schemes are in the pipeline, so banks have their work cut out for them.

Blockchain - Identifying Distributed Ledger Use Cases

While news of blockchain or ‘distributed ledger’ technology developments seems to be everywhere these days, large scale enterprises have been slow to adopt what promises to be a disruptive technology that will likely impact many industries. One reason for the delay is the current inability of the technology to address high-volume/high-speed applications like stock trading—a situation which experts say is rapidly changing. However, there are other applications that are suitable today. 

Women Are a Force to Reckon with When it Comes to Wearable Payments

A few weeks ago, Visa unveiled a sunglass prototype with payment capabilities. The pair of shades, showcased at several tech events around the world, looked almost identical to non-tech models – with the exception of a tiny chip embedded on the side. To pay, a wearer simply taps them on a Visa near field communication (NFC) enabled terminal.

Alternative Payments, Immediate Payments and Collaboration—Big Initiatives That Will Bring Big Value in the Middle East

We recently wrapped up an exciting Seamless Payments, Middle East conference. Attendees debated about numerous industry topics, with considerable buzz around alternative payments and immediate payments.

ETA TRANSACT: Time To Break Out… And Cross Borders To Reach New Customers

It’s before lunch on day one of ETA Transact17 in Las Vegas; exhibitors are still putting the finishing touches on their stands in the main hall, so it’s the perfect opportunity to sit in on some of the breakout sessions, part of the educational program put on by the Electronic Transactions Association. And ‘breakout session’ seems particularly apt in this case, as panelists from ACI Worldwide, Planet Payment, and arvato launch into a discussion on how merchants and payment providers can ‘break out’ of their domestic markets and take advantage of the huge opportunity in cross-border eCommerce.