Payments

For just about anyone participating in the on-demand economy—from Uber drivers to Airbnb hosts—there’s always one major question: When will I get paid? And in many cases, it’s more a matter of having access to funds they’ve already earned than customers paying them for their services. Between ACH transfer delays and bank clearing policies, it […]

With the introduction of Amazon’s new brick and mortar grocery store, Amazon Go, standing in line to pay at the cashier is a thing of the past. At Amazon Go stores, the customer’s mobile phone detects what items they have placed in their basket, and simply bills their account when they exit the store using […]

The fintech revolution has had a dramatic impact on the financial services industry. From digital wealth management (robo advisors) to automated payment systems, a variety of disruptive technologies have made their mark on the sector. For banks, the rapid development of financial technology poses the threat of losing business to competitors that are quicker to […]

About two billion people are completely unbanked across the globe today. These are individuals with no checking, savings accounts or credit cards. They lack basic financial services that people in developed economies take for granted. That said, there are also over six billion smartphones in the world. It’s now common even for the unbanked in […]

It is a given that markets are constantly being disrupted by innovation. I would argue that the financial services marketplace is also being disrupted by legislation and regulation. Let’s face it, the payments sector is hot right now. Issues that were once solely the province of industry publications are now widely covered by mainstream media. […]

The world is going mobile and dragging banking along with it kicking and screaming. I am something of an anachronism as I still go into the branch once in a while and still worry about using my phone to deposit a check. My adult children, on the other hand, use their phone for everything, including […]

In the race for faster payments, it seems that many consumers place a higher value on convenience over security. This doesn’t mean banks’ focus on security is or should be any less critical. Rather, it highlights the need for authentication to become more than just a seamless experience for the consumer. It also needs to […]

Venmo, a P2P leader that focuses on the millennial market, processed over $7.5 billion in transactions in 2015, and over $1billion in January 2016 alone. Now owned by PayPal, Venmo may not be a direct threat to banks, but it’s certainly worth paying attention to. Let’s dig in a little deeper… The Good: Venmo is […]