Authorization Management is the Key to Smooth But Secure Payments

If you happen to be a fraudster, it’s likely that you are loving all the ways the industry is making it easier for people to pay. The less friction in a payment, the quicker the money moves, and the more opportunity you have to intersect with fraud and move the money away before anyone notices.

Filtering the Fraudster: Building a Picture Using Big Data

In our new Insight Paper, we focus on how merchants can build an effective fraud filter for their sales funnel – one that is not over-restrictive, leads to genuine sales being accepted, and prevents genuine fraud. Get the balance right and merchants stand to improve their checkout conversion rates and boost their bottom line.

Payments Buzzwords Bingo: Mid-Year Report Card

Summer is in the air (and it’s 95 degrees this week!!). As we move properly into ‘flip-flops and shorts’ season in the North East, it’s about that time to check in on our annual calls from the New Year (and begin to look forward to counting down to the next set of predictions). Hard to believe that 2017’s Christmas is now closer than 2016’s, but so goes time, and nobody can slow that down. So without further ado I give to you… the mid-year trends update!

Addressing Millennials and Their Influence within the Payments Industry

Generational changes are a reality that affect all of us, and bring with them variations in behavior. We are currently experiencing one of these generational changes, which has also brought with it challenges for the payments industry. The nearly 2 billion millennials that now inhabit the earth have entered into adulthood (in some respects at least) and will soon become the generation with the greatest purchasing power.

How SWIFT gpi Will Change the Cross-Border Payments Market

SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi) is ushering in a new dawn in international transfers which, quite frankly, has been a long time coming, especially when you consider the current race to real-time payments. The world is getting smaller and faster, and cross-border payments are about to catch up.

The ATM Turns 50: Does Retirement Beckon? Or Does A New Role in the Payments Ecosystem Await?

This year marks the 50th birthday of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), with the first one installed in London on June 27, 1967. Five decades on, and there are more than 3 million ATMs deployed worldwide, with the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) citing research that calculated that a new ATM is added to the global installed base every three minutes. I spoke with Andy McDonald, vice president of Merchant Payments at ACI Worldwide, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the payments industry, much of it focused on ATMs. Who better to provide insight into whether ATMs have a well-earned retirement awaiting, or if we’ll still be using them (in one form or another) in 50 years’ time?

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. 

SMEs Expect Instant Payments: How Do Banks Meet This Challenge?

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.