What Do Consumers Want and How Are Retailers Meeting Their Payments Demands in 2018?

What do consumers want from their payments in 2018? That’s the million-dollar (possibly more) question merchants everywhere are asking themselves and it’s the question Retail Week Connect asked 2,000 consumers and 30 senior retail executives. Here are some key takeaways:

It’s A Hard Knock Life: Digital Transformation for Payment Service Providers in the New Payments Ecosystem

Is it a hard-knock life for processors and PSPs? Margins are constantly under pressure, and there’s the need for constant innovation, not to mention rock-solid #SleepAtNightability of solutions. And if there’s even the slightest crack in the fundamentals, customers will surely let you know all about it!

Instant Payments Are at the Heart of the New Global Payments Landscape: 10 Trends to Watch in 2018

2017 was a big year for immediate payments: European Banking Association, Real-Time 1 (EBA RT1) SEPA Credit Transfer Instant, The Clearing House (TCH) Real-Time Payments in the U.S., and the Australian New Payments Platform (NPP) schemes, all either going live, or in the case of Australia, about to go live. These schemes enable real-time payment transfers across the United States, 34 European countries and Australia, with the potential to reach nearly another 1 billion people. This comes on top of the existing live schemes in the UK, China and India, so that over half of the global population now can access real-time payments solutions.

Real-Time Payments Will be Europe’s Most Dominant Payments System – Are You Ready to Realize the Full Value?

Since the launch of the SCT Inst rulebook in November 2017, many more banks are live and offering real-time payments to their customers, with most of the rest committed to 2018. The buzzword at the recent ECB #TIPSapp Event in Frankfurt was ‘Interoperability,’ or as my friend José Beltrán from STET would say, ‘Reachability.’ No-one expressed this more clearly on February 6^th than Javier Santamaria, President of the European Payments Council, when he reiterated his message from Il Salone Dei Pagamenti, the day after the SEPA launch; "We have launched the Pan-EU scheme, now it is up to you in the audience and beyond to take advantage of it and make it work."

The Complexities of Cannabis: Banks, Merchants, Consumers and More

Cannabis—it’s no longer the verboten 800-pound pink elephant (though I think that might be a new strand). It’s about as mainstream as well…mainstream. And as we begin our latest Rantings Rant, it seems like the last time we (well, not you or I) experienced something like this, Al Capone and Elliot Ness were facing off during the time of Prohibition (if you’ve never seen the film The Untouchables, I highly recommend it!).

The Hammer Finds Its Nail: Open Banking and Commercial Cash Management

Globally, the Open Banking story has been shaped by Europe, thanks to PSD2 (The Revised Payment Services Directive) and the effect that it will have on us as everyday consumer banking clients. This will forever change our experience with financial tools for the better.

The banks that have traditionally served us will modify their models to support the foundational layer of a new ecosystem of co-invention and partnership. This story is all well and good, but so far most – if not all – of the discussion has surrounded the consumer experience and has neglected where the most fertile ground for change and disruption lies—corporate and commercial banking.

KodakCoin, and Six Ways That Blockchain Could Really Be Leveraged

The newest cry in the cryptocurrency clamour? That of heritage-photography-giant-cum-new-kid-on-the-payments-block, Kodak. Unbelievably, they have managed to out-blockchain the long-island-iced-tea company in their audacity, and (more than) double their share price to boot.

Why User Engagement Matters, Even for Enterprise Applications

As a User Experience Designer at ACI, I spend a lot of time watching users interact with my designs. I need to make sure our solutions work properly, but lately I’m more interested in how they make my users feel. Engagement is a dominant concept in user interface design right now. It’s important because positive emotional experiences often lead to increased use and loyalty.

Five Payments Trends to Watch in 2018 [Part 1]

2018 is set to be a year of rapid change and new challenges for payments players. The floodgates are opening with PSD2 and UK Open Banking coming into force, bringing an onslaught of new competitors and potential partners. Whether evolution is mandated or market-driven, banks and processors are facing a critical year in their long-term success.

Five Payments Trends to Watch in 2018 [Part 2]

The New Payments Ecosystem Is Here. The floodgates are opening with PSD2 and UK Open Banking coming into force, bringing an onslaught of new competitors and potential partners. Whether evolution is mandated or market-driven, banks and processors are facing a critical year in their long-term success.