Payments on Fire™

Interchange is fundamental to open look card system economics and a mystery to many, especially to merchants who must pay it but don't perceive any benefit from it. It's a non-optional component of what the merchant pays to accept cards. It's one element of the merchant discount fee. Despite the stubborn fact of it, there are ways for some merchants to make sure they pay as low a rate as possible. Join Angelo Grecco of CardConnect (now a part of First Data) and Glenbrook's George Peabody for a conversation about interchange optimization, an approach that certain B2B merchants can employ to lower their acceptance costs. In this episode of Payments on Fire we decode the payments industry terms: Merchant discount fee Interchange Bundled pricing Interchange plus pricing Level II/III data If you're new to payments or just need a refresher on interchange, take a listen!

B2B payments are huge. Taken together, these supply chain payments exceed the gross domestic product. But supply chain payments remain an imperfect art. While consumers pay for one purchase at a time, a B2B payment may cover multiple invoices, each with different commercial terms. Given the amount of data about the payment that's necessary to crisply communicate between a buyer's accounts payable department and a seller's receivables group, it's no wonder paper checks are still in broad use. While B2B payments have been resistant to "electronification," the cloud, the mobile user interface, a new data standard (ISO 20022), and APIs into banks and payment schemes are enabling a renewed effort to streamline B2B payment transactions. B2B payments are hot. Join Erin McCune, partner in charge of Glenbrook's B2B practice, as she discusses: How B2B payments are different from consumer payments Why B2B is "hot" once again What market forces are pushing B2B forward Why Faster Payments in the U.S. and around the world could have a major impact on supply chain payments

The Faster Payments Task Force has brought together a broad constituency with the payments industry thoroughly represented. And thanks to participation by organizations like Consumers Union, the people who bring us Consumer Reports, the voice of the consumer has been well represented in determining important evaluation criteria. Christina Tetreault, staff attorney at Consumers Union, joins Glenbrook's George Peabody for this podcast discussion on faster payments, the consumer benefits these new approaches could offer, and what to hope for from their deployment in the U.S.

Merchant adoption of EMV capability isn't a done deal in the U.S. Glenbrook's own estimates show that we're only halfway there. Few people have as much insight into merchant payment acceptance and the technology that enables it as Larry Godfrey of Global Payments' Heartland Payments business. Take a listen to George and Larry's discussion as they cover: The EMV terminal transition The chargebacks that many merchants have encountered (looking at you, LA) Contactless payments Security and encryption Payment acceptance

Consumer billing payments get complicated in the healthcare space. Co-payments are bigger than ever as are the medical bills. Consumers need prompting to pay and even incentives to get those big bill onto a payment plan. With higher co-payments, smaller insurance payments, and so many patients having to deal with large medical bills, providers need services to take on the revenue management task. Join Glenbrook's George Peabody and David Yohe of the billing specialist BillingTree as they discuss the rising importance of consumer payments in healthcare and the challenges of changing property management payments. You'll hear how an ISO addresses payment industry change. Listen closely and you'll hear that the ISO's job isn't easy.

The Internet of Things may be a hot topic but its security isn't hot at all. Up until recently, IoT device manufacturers and buyers haven't cared much about security, a disinterest that's led to over one hundred thousand surveillance cameras being hijacked by Mirai botnet malware. While cameras aren't making or accepting payments (yet) it's easy to imagine automobiles paying for tolls and fuel directly. If it's not my Roku box, maybe it's Alexa or Google Home that makes payments on my behalf over the IoT. The payments industry is working to get out in front of this potential trouble. EMVCo tokenization, now expressed in services like Apple Pay and Android Pay, is a leading tool in the payments security kit. 3D Secure. 2.0 services, when used in combination with other security layers, should have a role in IoT payments security, too. Join Tim Sherwin, Co-Founder and CEO of Visa's CardinalCommerce unit and Glenbrook's George Peabody in this deep dive into 3DS 2.0, where it works, who pays for it, and its expected role in the IoT.

The Internet of Things (IoT) will bring us a tsunami of network-enabled devices, for consumer use as well as yet to be imagined industrial and commercial applications. Many of these devices will be payment enabled, many using card payment rails. Securing those billions of IoT devices is going to require techniques deployed by the mobile industry, the card industry, and other sectors. Cryptographic hardware will be part of the solution. The answers, of course, will include multiple methods and modes, all chosen based on risk and cost. Join Gemalto's Jack Jania and Glenbrook's George Peabody for a discussion on the broad world of IoT device security and how payments intersects with this new and enormous category of devices.

Bringing electronic payment capability to small merchants is a major hurdle for multiple developing economies. In this Payments on Fire podcast with Glenbrook co-founder Allen Weinberg and George Peabody, we discuss merchant enablement in markets reliant on 2G wireless and feature phones. We take a deeper look at India's payment evolution in particular. Allen's observations come from his recent work in India and the insights into payment system success factors he's developed. Take a listen!

Bringing payments and financial services to those of us with a tenuous connection to the banking system is the goal of the Center for Financial Services Innovation. FinLab, a joint effort by the CFSI and JPMorgan Chase, is a five year effort, now in its third year, that's using a competition for funding and business support to broaden American financial services options. When nearly half of Americans don't have $400 ready money, better financial management tools can help. Join FinLab's Managing Director, Ryan Falvey and Glenbrook's George Peabody as they discuss the FinLab mission, its process, successes, and what Ryan hopes to see next.

Payments transactions generate plenty of useful data for merchants. But wrangling that data into informative shape gets challenging, especially when multiple acquirers, gateways, processors, or other service providers are used. Each one has a different approach to reporting and some are (much) better than others. Developing a consolidated view and, as important, reconciling financials from different sources is a time consuming task for staff who need timely data on multiple concerns. Addressing this data hairball is payments analytics company Pazien. Take a listen to Pazien CEO and co-founder Jason Pavona and George as they discuss what the company does as well as reliability strategies for website operators.