Time to Read: 9 minutes The problem of knowing who to trust on an insecure, anonymous network has concerned me since I founded an ISP in 1995. With thousands of subscribers, it was the first time I confronted bad online behavior. As a payments geek, I’ve seen plenty...
We Are All Connected – Payments in the Post-COVID Era
Economies, global and domestic, are both interconnected and interdependent. Routine perturbations like economic slowdowns and recessions illuminate those dependencies as pain in one sector spreads to an adjacent one. COVID-19, and the global economic, social, and...
Point of Sale Domain – The Pain at the POS
The POS Domain is Synonymous with the Retail Industry The POS Commerce domain is the land of brick and mortar retail, representing the majority of retail activity. Despite the steady double digit annual growth of the Remote Commerce domain, the POS Commerce domain was...
The Payments Industry Impact of COVID-19
Series Introduction COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. payments industry and domestic economy is profound. Multiple reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce, merchant acquirers and PSPs indicate the extent of the pain even at this early stage of this pandemic-induced...
Merchant Payments Operations: Organization
In Kavita Jiandani’s post Assessing a Merchant’s Payments Operations, she introduced Glenbrook’s methodology for our in-depth assessment of a merchant’s payments operations. In her introductory piece, Kavita highlights the major Key Assessment Areas we evaluate during...
EMV’s First Phase in the US at an End; the Wait for Phase 2 Begins
Despite our industry’s preoccupation with mobile payments, here at Glenbrook we’ve been keeping a sharp eye on the state of the U.S. EMV® migration. Let’s call the U.S. approach, based on contact EMV only with no PINs on our credit cards, EMV Phase 1. That’s where we...
Payments 2017 – One Month In
Business evolution—whether it’s automotive, bioscience, or in the payments industry—proceeds along a predictable path of incremental improvements and optimization. Until it doesn’t and a step function takes effect. Last year was sleepy compared to what we can expect...
The ITU Digital Financial Services Focus Group Wraps Up
Last week in Geneva, the ITU wrapped up a two-year project - the "Focus Group on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion". Several hundred organizations and people participated in the Focus Group, which produced research papers and policy recommendations on...
Money20/20 Wrap-up
We’ve seen a lot of innovation in payment initiation over the last few years. Apple Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay and their like have filled Payments News headline stories. But this year, at Money20/20, consumer-facing innovation downshifted to a lower gear. And...
What Blocks the Blockchain
Given the high rate of press releases and articles on fintech applications of blockchain technology - and the growing number of financial institutions expressing interest in its potential - I’ve been considering this high signal to noise ratio. A few thoughts: Hype...