Payments Innovation

Paper checks are dying. But not as fast as you might think. While many individuals are demanding instant payment systems, most companies still operate by paying bills by check every month.  The overall rates of check usage dropped significantly from 2000 through 2015, but in the last few years the percentage of check usage has plateaued.  There has not been enough disruptive innovation in this particular space to force companies into the next evolution of digital payments. Stuart Bain is the Senior Vice President at Alacriti, Inc. His team at Alacriti is focused on bringing superior payments technology and flexible payment options to companies all over the country. Stuart joined us for this episode of Payments Innovation to discuss billpay industry trends, the evolution of checks as a form of payment, and what younger generations are demanding from new payment methods. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The days of region-locking payments are coming to a close. US Unlocked is a prepaid card for international consumers to make purchases in the US. Brion Bonkowski is the CEO at Tern: Enabling Global Commerce which acquired US Unlocked several years ago. Tern purchased US Unlocked because Tern were interested in acquiring their impressive tech platform.  Tern has now built out tech to enable people to launch other prepaid platforms around the world. Brion joined us for this episode of Payments Innovation to talk about Tern and US Unlocked, the capabilities of their prepaid cards, and the challenges that come alongside operating in this space. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many financial institutions are stuck in the past with outdated technology. But tech innovators like Google and Facebook aren’t going to wait for them to catch up. Don Halliwell is the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Zafin, and he’s been in the digital transformation space for over 10 years.  Don and his team are in the partnership space with banks. They provide them with the agility required to meet customers where their needs are. Zafin equips financial institutions with the software technology they need to overcome digital transformation challenges in the ever-evolving digital landscape of the financial industry.  They are the worldwide leader in digital banking, and they work with over 30 largest banks in the world including in the US and Canada. In this episode of Payments Innovation, we’re joined by Don to talk about pushback to digital transformation, the current marketplace in this space, and the future of the digital banking industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why doesn’t the US have real time payments? Many nations around the world, including the UK, have these solutions, but not the US. To dive into this question, we spoke with Tim Mills, the Vice President of Real Time Payments Business Development at The Clearing House. The Clearing House has been around since the middle of the 19th century.  They were established to create more efficiency surrounding interbank clearing and the settlement of payments.  160 years ago, clearing checks between financial institutions was a lot easier said than done. In the past century and a half, The Clearing House has moved to such areas as ACH payments and high value payments. They have moved to acting as an advocate around payment related issues for the financial industry.   And now in the 21st century, they are playing a leading role to modernize the payments landscape. Tim has a 20 year background in payments including time in Bangladesh and Trinidad.  He has been with The Clearing House since 2004 working to make real time payments a reality in the United States.  In this episode of The Payments Innovation Podcast, we talk to Tim about Real Time Payments in the US, the challenges that still need to be overcome, and what the future holds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many entrepreneurs fall into no man’s land when it comes to their bank account. They’re too big to keep a personal account, and too small to get attention from banks. Every specializes in bank accounts for online businesses, and they are looking to simplify the entire bank account process for online entrepreneurs. Jeremy Black is the Co-Founder and CEO of Every.  He began his career as an online entrepreneur in a pre-Shopify world. He ran an e-commerce operation in music industry before he moved onto roles in the tech community. Jeremy spent a lot of time in banking and enterprise software before he felt the call to return to the entrepreneur life. His role at Every is to advocate for the next generation of online entrepreneurs. This week, we spoke to Jeremy about Every’s platform, his target market, partnerships, and the future of his business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Community Banks fund over half of the small businesses in the US. They are an essential and often overlooked part of the economy. Tina Giorgio is the President and CEO at ICBA Bancard. Tina has been in this role for a little under 2 years, but she has spent the last 30 years in community banking. “Community Bankers, at our core, are about serving our local community.  There’s a lot of communities in the United States who would not be properly served if it wasn’t for their local community bank.” Many community banks simply can’t compete with larger entities.  They need representation, especially in the evolving world of payments.  So Tina and her team are advocates for these banks. They have specifically been working in the area of merchant funded rewards.  ICBA Bancard provides benefits through these reward programs to both merchants and their customers.  Merchants see a higher number of transactions by implementing these programs, and merchants get to support both national and local business while getting rewarded. It’s a win for everyone. Tina joined us for this episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast to talk about community banking, merchant funded reward programs, and overcoming challenges in her role. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paying strangers for big purchases is difficult. Do you pay with cash?  Most people don’t like walking around with that much money.  Do you make a bank transfer? That might take more time and involve more fees than you bargained for. Pete Janes is the Founder & CEO at Shieldpay, a company specializing in digital escrow accounts that help remove the danger of large transactions with strangers. A lot of private marketplaces leave buyers and sellers to their own devices, and as a result there is a large fraud rate. As high as 12%!  Shieldpay was born when a friend of Pete had his car stolen via a fraudulent purchase back in 2016. Pete knew this was a large problem that needed to be solved.  He also knew it had implications for the real estate world. And that this type of transaction was applicable for international payments as well! In this episode of Payments Innovation, Pete talks to us about Shieldpay’s method, the vetting process, their advantage over competition, real estate transactions, and the future of his company. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Buying from Amazon versus ordering from a catalog. One is a lot easier than the other.  One is a lot faster than the other. And one feels a whole lot more “2018” than the other. So why do many B2B companies still make purchases through outdated means?  John Tomich is the CEO & Co-Founder at Credit Key, and he believes that many B2B practices are lagging 10+ years behind B2C, and that includes ecommerce.  But the tide is shifting. As people are getting used to purchasing B2C products so easily through Amazon and other online retailers, they are starting to expect the same experience on the B2B side of things.  Why should they have crawl through a clunky, poorly designed distributor site? Or order manually through a catalog? Yes, that still happens! John’s company, Credit Key, is bringing that simple shopping cart solution to the B2B world.  Their platform allows B2B companies to offer innovative payment options and real-time credit extensions all within an easy to use interface that matches B2C Ecommerce experiences.  There’s a B2B payments revolution happening, and Credit Key is on the front lines! In this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast, we sit down with John to hear about the B2B payment space, delivering credit extensions in real time, and competition within the industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Banking is becoming more mobile. You want to be able to manage your portfolio and trade stocks on the go, but security is at the forefront of everybody’s mind.  How do you ensure that your favorite apps are securely storing and managing your data? Nathan Richardson is the CEO at TradeIt, an API infrastructure that links retail investors and app developers with any online financial broker.  Nathan first dove into the API space when he headed up Yahoo Finance in the early 2000’s. Nathan and his team developed a financial data ticker as a widget that they distributed to partners. Years later, Nathan started TradeIt when he saw that many financial institutions in the US were behind in implementing API technology.  He knew he could build a platform that could help brokers offer secure solutions to customers. He found that financial institutions that adopted API strategies and learned to innovate tended to be the most successful. These same institutions are engaging their customers better -they are meeting them in the apps they already love.  Best of all, there is no one size fits all approach. Clients can customize TradeIt’s platform to fit their needs. Nathan joined us for this week’s episode of the Payments Innovation Podcast to talk about the background of TradeIt, pitching his platform, and the future of API technology for financial institutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Customer loyalty matters. But there aren’t many examples of modern companies that are rewarding their customers very well. Michael Rolph is the CEO and Co-founder of Yoyo Wallet, a platform that helps retailers surprise and delight their customers through streamlining payment options and customer loyalty programs. Retailers can use Yoyo’s technology to allow customers to pay through their own app and get rewarded for purchases.  Or, as Michael would describe it, “We’re doing Starbucks meets clubcard, democratized for all retail, and better.” Yoyo provides real time data and insights to go along with these campaigns so retailers can see exactly what is working and what is not.  Marketing doesn’t need to be a shot in the dark, and Yoyo helps retailers see their customers more clearly. In this episode of Payments Innovation, we sit down with Michael to talk about customer loyalty, lessons learned by starting Yoyo, the Yoyo platform, and the future of the company. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.