This month, Cici Northup joins regular contributor Justin Pituch to recap positive news in the form of fast payments growth, new fraud mitigation strategies, and evolution in cross-border transfers. All reflect, to varying degrees, the unique dynamic in the payments industry created by the intersection of technology, regulation, and new business partnerships.
Payments Post #11: Closing the Loop: Cap None?
This month’s Payments Post focuses on the announcement that Capital One intends to acquire Discover and considers the perspectives of the various ecosystem participants it affects.
Payments Post #8: Glenbrook’s October Roundup
At Glenbrook, we’ve been watching rising interest rates and vacillating economic conditions over the course of the year; while economists debate the likelihood of further rate hikes and the odds of a near-term recession, we dig into the real impact of these uncertain...
From Open Banking to Open Finance: Redefining the Financial Services Landscape
By Bethany May The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just released proposed rules for Open Banking in the U.S. which offer a framework for understanding Open Banking roles, role-based requirements and rights, and timelines for implementation, among other...
Decoding a cross-border business payment to Rwanda: detailing the journey, the costs, and our observations
By Elizabeth McQuerry, Cici Northup, & Victor Malu Introduction Glenbrook is based in the U.S., but we work on projects around the world; our global practice often supports clients in emerging markets. From time to time, for more formal proposal processes,...
Payments Post #3: Glenbrook’s April Roundup
Welcome back to Payments Post. Last month’s edition was all about banks; this month’s is about “paying by bank”. Or to be a bit more semantically precise, account-to-account (A2A) payments. We were particularly interested in Visa’s Visa+ initiative, iDEAL’s apparent...
Stakeholders Respond to Fraudsters’ Affinity for Instant Payments
A joint post by Joanna Wisniecka and Bethany May Rise in instant payments systems incites rise in fraud Instant payments systems (IPS) are proliferating globally, conferring benefits to economies and ultimately, end users. These systems are making digital payments...
Decoupled Debit: How Fintechs Profited from Durbin
This Payments Views post was jointly authored by Neel Saunshi and Andrew Liang If you have followed the Durbin Amendment since its 2011 implementation, you have seen stakeholders adapt in different ways. Consumers saw their debit rewards programs disappear. Large...
CBDCs or Stablecoins? There’s space for both
By Bethany May Time to Read: 6 minutes Central Banks and Private Sector Issuers continue to develop their respective digital currencies, CBDCs and stablecoins. While this could be perceived as a type of competition, realistically both stablecoins and CBDCs could...
Celebrate and Congratulate Carol Benson
Carol Benson, one of my fellow founders of Glenbrook Partners, is retiring at the end of June, following our other founder, Scott Loftesness, who retired four years ago. It seems like only a few years ago (certainly less than 20) that the entire company fit in one car...