I thought I’d put together my latest thoughts on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This blog is an update to my June 2022 Post – CBDCs: Growth Opportunity for US Banks.
Challenge – Explain a CBDC to a 10 yr old and describe why it is “better” than using cash or a card. While you can never lose your money. The government has the ability to know the source and destination of every transaction.
Continue reading6 Page Blog
Top of mind today are Wallets, Identity and Application Program Interfaces (APIs). APIs are the core concept behind many new business models investors must decipher:
Previously, I’ve covered this topic in Open Banking and Open Payments and Trust Networks (2020) Part 3 – Internet 2.5 (2022), Modularity and Trust (2022) and Evolution of V/MA – Moving Beyond Cards (2021). Summary points from these previous blogs:
Continue readingSorry for the long quiet period. My youngest just graduated High School and as a WWII history buff, his gift was the Band of Brothers tour from Normandy to Salzberg. We came away with a new appreciation for the cost of freedom and the sacrifices made all of those in the armed forces.
Covid had put a long pause on my travel to Europe. In the 6 countries we visited I was pleasantly surprised at the broad acceptance of contactless and tap to pay. Beyond tapping with my iPhone, most restaurants first attempted to tap cards before a “dip”. Contactless now comprises ~60% of POS transactions, a behavior 3-5 yrs more advanced than the US and certainly one of the drivers of card GDV growth in the EU. The V/MA position is Europe is perhaps stronger than in any other market, as any new scheme would also need to integrate seamlessly into this acceptance (and presentment) infrastructure.
Continue readingThis is the last of my 5 part blog series that started over 6 months ago. As a pragmatist, my views will likely be unpopular (and perhaps incorrect), but they are informed. Most of this blog will be obvious to US Retail Bankers and payment teams; the more interesting parts may be around Fintech and Asia. The exec summary captures the entire blog, it’s a new format.. I’m going to break down the detail of these points in separate posts. Today is Part A
For quick reference, I’ve listed the links to the previous blogs.
The reason for this blog is to interact and challenge… please feel free to do so.
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https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.19621.html
Today Visa announced a major expansion of Visa Direct called Visa +, with PayPal as the anchor launch partner. “help individuals move money quickly and securely between different person-to-person (P2P) digital payment apps” without requiring the recipient to have a Visa card.
Visa+ expands Visa’s role as the meta-directory of payments connecting consumers, wallets and accounts with a master “payname”. If I were to write the marketing one-liner for Visa+ it would be “pay people in the way they want to be paid”.
Continue readingGreat article in today’s MRC Journal Moving identity authentication earlier in customer flow/
Short Blog. Summary. US issuers are creeping into identity and eCom data as they seek to build a non-network auth. The only model which will work is where networks are the enablers of identity. From a payments perspective, there are only 2 options for owners of identity and authorization 1) V/MA or 2) Apple/Google.
I was fortunate to go to MRC-Vegas this year. Whereas M2020 is filled with Issuers/Fintechs/Investors MRC is filled with payment operators (merchants), and the companies supporting them (ie Visa/Cybersource, Stripe, Adyen, …).
Continue readinghttps://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/03/apple-introduces-apple-pay-later/
Apple Pay Later was announced at Apple’s WWDC on June 6, 2022 (Youtube – ~21:00 in). I covered the details last year in Apple Pay Later – What is it?
Today it is going live in a limited rollout. Summary points
Retailers should tread very carefully in direct issuer connections
My focus over the last 18 months has been identity, trust, authorization and assertions. Today I thought we would get under the hood a little on the technology of authorization and the current operational issues with a key network service: 3DS.
I’m glad I made the decision to attend my very first Merchant Risk Council event this week. For those that don’t know, MRC Vegas is the second largest payment event in the US (after M2020) but with a VERY different focus. MRC is attended by the “hands on” payment leaders from all the top merchants and the vendors that serve them: Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, V, MA, risk, fraud, …. Etc. Whereas M2020 is attended by FinTech, Crypto, Venture, Institutional investor, and strategy audiences, MRC is much more focused on making payments work.