Top 3 Things Students Want When Paying Tuition

I know the pain that Finance VPs in higher education experience. It seems like every day that someone comes to you saying “Our students need new technology. Can we squeeze it into the budget?” I own the P&L, so I get it.  Did you know that your university payment systems can take away some of your pain? Meeting new demands from students and parents will actually save you money. How? We sponsored a revealing survey with Aite Group that explains the potential savings.

SMEs Expect Instant Payments: How Do Banks Meet This Challenge?

Listening to their customers and delivering new services will be crucial for the success of real-time banking and payments in Europe and the US

How mCommerce and eCommerce Are Shaping the Infomercial (Cash, check or money order?)

If you enjoy watching infomercials as much as we do, you’re likely familiar with the payment option that closes out these delightful paid programs...which brings us to another edition of Rantings, focused on Payment Habits. And after all, who hasn’t purchased a ShamWow!? Mark, we’re approaching the unofficial start of summer (editor’s note: there’s likely a future post on summer holiday purchases) and even though there’s no correlation between vacations and COD (cash on demand)—at least I don’t think there’s one—it at least provides an awkward segue into Payment Habits.

Real-Time Payments Will Be a Catalyst for Change in Italy

2017 will be a crucial year for real-time payments globally. Two major schemes are set to go live: The pan-European SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT Inst), which will eventually enable consumers and businesses to make euro credit transfers in real-time between accounts 34 European countries, and The Clearing House (TCH) Real-time Payments System in the US. In addition, a number of new regional schemes are in the pipeline, so banks have their work cut out for them.

Stop Fraud… Or Increase Conversion Rates? With a Fine-Tuned Fraud Engine, Merchants Can Do Both

Preventing fraud and driving high conversion rates are universally important objectives for merchants – but many struggle to adequately balance these two demands. They either employ aggressive fraud prevention strategies to minimize fraud losses, or conversely, reduce checks in order to prevent false positives, improve customer experience and ensure sales targets are met. Neither exclusive approach works in the long run; focusing on only one will prove costly on multiple fronts.

Blockchain – Identifying Distributed Ledger Use Cases

While news of blockchain or ‘distributed ledger’ technology developments seems to be everywhere these days, large scale enterprises have been slow to adopt what promises to be a disruptive technology that will likely impact many industries. One reason for the delay is the current inability of the technology to address high-volume/high-speed applications like stock trading—a situation which experts say is rapidly changing. However, there are other applications that are suitable today.

Alternative Payments, Immediate Payments and Collaboration—Big Initiatives That Will Bring Big Value in the Middle East

We recently wrapped up an exciting Seamless Payments, Middle East conference. Attendees debated about numerous industry topics, with considerable buzz around alternative payments and immediate payments.

Blockchain Is Hot, But Where’s the Beef?

In spite of the hype—news of blockchain developments and its associated Bitcoin currency has become nearly ubiquitous—large-scale enterprises have been slow to adopt the emerging technology that promises to disrupt and improve a wide range of industries from finance & banking, insurance and real estate to cybersecurity and even music.

ATMs in a Cashless World? To Define is to Limit

Happy 50th Birthday! The humble Automated Teller Machine (ATM) first made its appearance on the payments stage in the late 1960s, fast becoming a familiar feature on every high street, and has now reached a global installed base of just over 4 million. But cash is still king in many emerging markets, propping global growth, despite signs of decline in Europe and other mature regions.

Liquidity management and Instant Payments: Why banks must act now

With the pan-European Instant Payments Scheme due to go live in November this year, real-time payments are about to become a reality for many businesses and consumers in Europe. Our own research shows that the demand for faster and innovative banking services among consumers and business is high.

Rapid Rails for Real-Time Payments

As the NACHA PAYMENTS conference arrives in Austin, Texas this week, we spoke with Steve Ledford, Senior Vice President, Product and Strategy at The Clearing House (TCH) about the key issues conference participants will be talking about: same day ACH, real-time payments and Request for Pay transactions, among other topics.

The Constant of Change and the Future of Commercial Banking

Let’s clarify this before I lose anyone; the self-proclaimed “pioneer of wisdom,” noted Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is credited with the saying Panta rhei, "everything flows." More commonly, you have probably heard this as “the only constant is change,” but either way, this teaching has withstood the test of time, as it is not only applicable, but feels like a worldly truth when I find myself talking about today’s transaction banking landscape. A robust time of change is upon us; one that has brought us to the precipice of a new era in banking. Understanding the driving forces behind this change as well as embracing new business models will be a key to success, or even to survival.