How Fraudulent Are Singapore-issued Cards?

While eCommerce continues to bloom globally, it is still outpaced by growth in total fraud losses. In 2015, total losses from card fraud increased by 19 percent over the previous year, while the overall card transaction volume grew by only 15 percent.

The eCommerce Opportunity in South Africa

High mobile penetration, rising consumer confidence in online transactions, and secure online gateways are driving eCommerce growth globally. However, by international standards, eCommerce penetration across Africa is still relatively low. But it is estimated that 600M consumers will be online by 2025, spending $75B each year, which offers a tremendous opportunity.

Devices, devices everywhere – the growing challenge of terminal management

As merchants grow in size, the number of devices needed to power payments across the enterprise inevitably increases. And, with the growth of omni-channel retailing, the store is fast becoming home to an array of different payment device types, as merchants strive to meet the demand for customer service innovation.

Mobile is Transforming the Travel Sector – So What’s a Merchant To Do?

February in South Africa means long, hot days, and seemingly endless sunshine (interrupted only by the occasional thunderstorm). Temperatures often top 30 Celsius (that’s mid-eighties for my American friends) and nearly every day is deserving of a braai (that’s barbeque for the rest of the world). But I do spare a thought for my colleagues and friends in Boston, New York, Munich and London (amongst others) at this time of year, as they slog it out through the darkest and coldest months of winter.

“Roads? Where we’re going we won’t need Roads” – Open APIs and Financial Services

The word ecosystem is often used when discussing payments. Whether it’s to describe how a payment is made or to discuss a partnership or even understanding your place in the value chain. Though part of the issue with how we present the ecosystem is that we tend to emphasize only small portions of the overall picture, that is to say if we are discussing payments to a merchant or retailer, the picture shifts to just show eComm, mComm and POS while partially ignoring the Financial Institution, and to a lesser extent the FinTech’s domains. But those days may be coming to an end as we have begun the transition to a new payments ecosystem.

Connected Devices are Opening Up New Forms of Payments and Partnerships

Of all the trends that are currently shaping – or re-shaping – the nature of payments, none is more significant than the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). We often talk about the payments ‘ecosystem’ and the complexity that exists between the many participants that are part of this ecosystem, but this complexity will expand exponentially as millions – no, billions – of devices become internet capable.

Driving Toward Innovation in Digital Banking User Experience

The need for delivering on a user experience strategy necessitates the use of common and sometimes confusing lingo like CX, UX, information architecture, UX design and UI design. It introduces ways to gain deeper understanding of customers through methods like personas, journey mapping and Kano analysis. It commands phrases like customer-centric, experience-driven, and ideation/visioning. In the past 4 months, I have interviewed more than half a dozen agencies to engage one that could go beyond the buzzwords and the methods described above. I want to be convinced that great and meaningful changes can happen to UI’s. After all, talk is cheap.

ACI Worldwide Survey Validates Growth in Mobile and Omni-Channel Retail

During this year's National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail's BIG Show, ACI Worldwide conducted a survey of more than 100 retailers in attendance. The results of the survey highlight how retailers see an increased reliance on both mobile and omni-channel retail solutions to meet consumers’ evolving buying habits.

Vanilla Payments Won’t Cut The Mustard In 2017

Five years ago the clear trend amongst brick-and-mortar retailers was to buy-in their own payments software. Except for the very small retailers who used bank-owned stand-alone POS terminals, retailers wanted to own and operate their own systems – usually licensed products from a small number of specialist payments software vendors. It gave them flexibility, control and cost savings through centralization. Other than the bank-owned terminal approach, there really were not too many alternative options.

IoT, Blockchain, Predictive Analytics and Voice First: 2017 Payments Predictions

Well, my predictions last year of blockchain, millennials and SaaS will dominate payments was partly true. I missed millennials, I overstated the impact millennials, particularly millennial business owners, would have on the payments. The desires and needs of millennials (e.g. faster processing, mobile first, contextual offers) are built into the roadmaps of providers. Blockchain and SaaS dominated many headlines and will continue to do so. My predictions to stay relevant this year – IoT, Blockchain (with a twist), Predictive Analytics and Voice First.

How Subprime Lenders Can Profit from CFPB Rules in 2017

If you’re a subprime lender, you’re well aware that new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) are scheduled to go into effect in 2017. The new regulations focus on small dollar loans and could mean substantial fines for your consumer finance practices if not implemented.

Open API Architecture is Now a Prerequisite for Merchants

Next generation merchants, including global players such as Uber and Airbnb, have built their success on openly accessible APIs and technologies that are constantly evolving to meet market needs. Because they have built their products and services on openness, they also expect an open technical setup from their payment providers. This puts pressure on payment providers to deliver state-of-the-art payment technology.