Category: Cards

Pay By Bank – Where does it work and why?

Pay by Bank (aka Push Payments) are tremendous efforts driven by local market bank groups. Their core success is in cash replacement (ex P2P) and where there is high consumer-merchant trust (ie bill pay/recurring payments). Data clearly show that Push Payments are NOT a threat to V/MA but part of a rising electronic payment “tide” that lifts all boats. 

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Friday I was a tad “let down” in the Sionic/TCH/MX release of Pay-by-Bank. Per my blog on Google/TCH launch and Google P2P I was anticipating something much bigger. To be clear I firmly believe that TCH is working on an “ApplePay Competitor”, which will entail TCH tokens inside of Google’s phone, but this will be 3-6 months out.  Per the blogs above, I see neither pay-by-bank nor TCH Tokens in Google Pay as a threat to V/MA. 

Today I thought I would drill down into “pay by bank”, the dynamics of why it works in some markets, and why I see little threat to V/MA in replacing core cards in eCom or at POS.

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Durbin 2 – Short Update

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What are the new Durbin’s legislative prospects? A: Not at all likely (<10% probability)

Top retailers spent this week meeting with Bank CEOs trying to convince them to support the new Durbin legislation. Their pitch was to enable bi-lateral deals, “new products” and avoid network rules (see blog). Banks did not seem to bite, as they remembered the lessons of Durbin 1:

  • Only largest merchants benefited from dual routing
  • Consumers lost in debit rewards (ie keep the change), increased bank account fees, and no merchant pass-through of savings
  • Acquirers/processors did not pass through fee reductions to most merchants
  • Networks recovered lost revenue through merchant fees
  • Large banks lost competitive advantage as smaller “exempt” banks under $10B operated under different rules
  • See WSJ article

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Driving Vision of Durbin? Bi-Lateral Connections?

My latest G2 from people involved in shaping Durbin is that retailers see an opportunity to end-run networks in bilateral deals AND direct (alternate) routing. To be clear, issuers have always been able to strike bilateral deals directly with a merchant. What they have not been able to do is route these transactions off-network. 

I now have 70% confidence in the forces shaping Durbin (still no threat to V/MA). 

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Durbin 2 – Impact on “Wrapping” Rules?

A highly technical “what if” scenario involving a long-sought after change by top US card issuers. What if Durbin credit routing bill were designed to eliminate network wrapping rules? 

© Starpoint LLP, 2022. No part of this site, blog.starpointllp.com, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner.

A highly technical “what if” scenario involving a long-sought after change by top US card issuers. I’m fortunate to have the exec teams of just about every payment network, processor and FinTech read this blog. I have 3 main drivers for writing today:

  1. Start a community discussion
  2. Assess the potential for a much more strategic driver behind the proposed Durbin bill
  3. Most “change” in US payments is driven by 7-10 players: networks, top issuers, Google, Apple, … etc. These changes have an enormous impact on the FinTechs building around them. I’m hoping to help these small companies plan around these changes as the only advantage of a start is speed.

Note I DO NOT think this scenario is likely, but rather possible (30% probability). Historical context is key and the only reason I’m spending time on this today is that 27 bank CEOs have been discussing this for over 10 yrs.

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New MA Rate Tier for Installments (ApplePay Later)?

Rumor is that Mastercard plans for a new rate tier to support installments and ApplePay Later. 

Quick 18 Aug update to Aug 1 blog below. This new rate tier was confirmed by Bloomberg this week. According to Bloomberg, Settlment product acceptance is optional for merchants (does not operate in Accept All Cards rule). Optional acceptance is quite surprising. I surveyed 3 top 10 merchants (non-grocers) and couldn’t find one that plans to sign up for the product (other than Apple).

Note that card based BNPL (consumer BNPL) has no proven market data showing increased conversions. My inclination is to believe Card based BNPL conversion will closely mirror a normal credit card. See the rationale in my blog Three Flavors of BNPL.

As I outlined in June, Apple Pay Later will be (est Oct)  is the first major launch customer of Mastercard Installments. A large retailer just related that Mastercard plans for a new rate tier to support this product. 

“Somewhere around 300 bps” – Top 5 US Merchant

Continue reading “New MA Rate Tier for Installments (ApplePay Later)?”

Apple Finance – ?Tipping Point?

A tipping point for consumer finance? Apple is doing much more than creating a consumer finance arm (ie in the model of GM/Ford) they expanding consumer access to credit beyond their products, based upon the unique “instant” distribution they have and their knowledge of the consumer.  This platform will support the distribution of their own unique products (Apple Pay Later) as well as partner products (Apple Card with GS) and instruments core to how consumers pay (V/MA/Amex and domestic schemes). 

Bloomberg beat me to the punch with their great article last night on Apple Pay Later and Apple Finance LLC (must read). Well, I was certainly wrong about one big thing in my Project Breakout blog “Apple doesn’t want to be a bank”. Quite frankly I believe even Goldman Sachs was surprised by the scale of what Apple is building. Last night I outlined the key points:

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Apple Pay Later – What is it?

Apple announced a new service at WWDC 2022 yesterday (Youtube – ~21:00 in). What is it and how does it relate to their recent acquisition of Credit Kudos?

Apple announced a new service at WWDC 2022 yesterday (Youtube – ~21:00 in). What is it and how does it relate to their recent acquisition of Credit Kudos?

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Apple Tap and Pay – Square and Why It is a Big Deal?

Apple is just beginning to build a payment platform business for both consumers and merchants. If the cost of issuing a card, or acquiring a merchant, is 0.. What does this do to bank “relationships” and products?

6 June 2022

Square’s stock (aka Block) took a big jump after last week’s announcement that they would also be a partner in ApplePay’s new ability to accept payments. Today I thought I would cover what this will (likely) look like and 5 reasons why Apple Tap and Pay is a big deal. 

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eCom Innovation Success – Shop Pay

Short blog as follow up to yesterday’s blog on Acceptance Hurdles in eCommerce. Successful innovation requires a great new customer experience and/or economic model. The most recent success in the US is Shopify’s Shop Pay.

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