Fast Payments

Ready for U.S. Faster Payments 2.0?

Today’s U.S. faster payments market is not the one we envisioned. In market for five-plus years now, RTP® and Zelle® laid the foundation of faster payments in the country but, as with most new payment systems, challenges inhibit adoption. Volumes in both networks have grown but are not at the levels expected for a country […]

Tags: Real-time Payments

Fast Payments

Opportunities in U.S. Fast Payments

At Glenbrook, we believe that efficient and inclusive financial services are vital to economic growth. In support of this mission, we have worked on fast payments initiatives in 55 countries or regions to date. For example, we have developed principles for inclusive instant payments systems, contributed to the implementations of these systems, supported stakeholder convening […]

Tags: Real-time Payments

Banking Merchant Acquirers Risk & Fraud

Examining Risk and Resiliency in Banking Relationships (..and no, we’re not just talking about bank failures)

On Monday a few weeks back, a member of a client’s executive team gave me a call: “We really need to speed up the project to find another bank sponsor.” That was followed by a call from another client later that day: “We’ve been thinking about what it would take to form a relationship with […]

Tags: Chris Uriarte Fintech Risk Management

BNPL Open Banking Security

2023: A Big Year for Regulation in the US?

As we dive into the new year, we at Glenbrook reflect on the key themes and learnings within payments from 2022 and assess what we believe will emerge as key trends in 2023. My colleague Chris Uriarte recently shared his 8 Payments and Fintech trends for 2023 on LinkedIn, where he discussed fraud and embedded […]

Merchant Payments

The Payments Playbook for Challenging Churn

By: Justin Pituch and Drew Edmond Time to Read: 7 minutes If you read Apple’s Q3 earnings report, you may have noticed that the company’s Services business has grown to $19 billion in quarterly revenue. That’s a staggering number, and it represents a complex recurring billing operation. With 860 million paid subscriptions, Apple’s payments team […]

Open Banking

The Open Banking Phenomenon, Explained

Time to Read: 9 minutes Highlights: An introduction to open banking, its key concepts, and implications for payments industry participants  A framework for understanding open banking principles Adoption and usage statistics   What is Open Banking and Why Does it Matter? Over the last few years, the concept of open banking has gained popularity with […]

ACH

ACH is Hot

Time to Read: 8 minutes Highlights: ACH, though a 50-year old payment system in the U.S., continues to grow The ACH ecosystem is evolving to meet modern-day needs: Nacha, the rule-making body, plans to implement a series of enhancements that address shortcomings in ACH usability Dynamic payment service providers (PSPs) and fintech infrastructure players are […]

Financial Inclusion

Raising Women’s Financial Inclusion in South Asia

Zak Kazzaz co-authored this post. Time to Read: 7 minutes Highlights: There is a set of high payoff steps necessary to increase financial inclusion of women in South Asia and other markets Collaboration across the stakeholder ecosystem accelerates female participation in financial services Glenbrook’s framework is an approach to evaluation and roadmapping     As […]

B2B Payments Erin McCune Glenbrook Payments Views

COVID-19 Will (Finally!) Force B2B Digital Adoption

Despite decades of payment industry efforts, businesses have remained stubbornly dependent on checks. Back office processes (and personnel) can be remarkably change resistant despite being mired in paper, regardless of the size of the business.  At Glenbrook we believe the Covid-19 pandemic is a watershed moment for B2B payments.  B2B supplier payments – invoiced, accounts […]

Glenbrook Global Payments Zak Kazzaz

Regulatory Analysis of KYC for Covid-19 in Emerging Markets

Download a PDF version of this document here. Read our introductory discussion here. Regulatory Background The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets global standards for combating money laundering (ML) and the financing of terrorism (TF) and proliferation. While its recommendations are not binding, they are broadly accepted by regulators as guidelines for national rules.  FATF […]

Erin McCune Glenbrook Payments Views Women Professionals

Dispatch from the 2020 U.S. Women in Payments Symposium, February 10-11, 2020

This Women in Payments event has been going on for at least 5 years and this was the first time I attended — I regret that it took so long! Hats off to Kristy Duncan and her team for putting together a substantive event with a refreshing mix of industry insight and professional development and […]

Payments Views

Why Talk About Risk in Payments?

Let’s be honest, risk is not the first topic people gravitate to in payments. It’s much cooler to talk about open banking, fret about PSD2 implications, or ponder the pros and cons of a cashless society. Even risk managers I know tend to keep quiet about risk – especially at social events. So why are […]

Glenbrook Innovation

Creative Tension Shapes the Fintech-Bank Ecosystem

In my last post I covered the proliferation of challenger banks, the mobile-first, digital-only neo-banks and what differentiates them from the incumbents. While the media lens is usually focused on the front-end, the user experience, I’m always curious about what’s powering these operations under the hood. From the traditional banks’ perspective, fintech companies are just […]

Glenbrook

The Apple Card May Not be Revolutionary—But It Offers a Thoughtful Bundle of Features and a Glimpse into the Post-Card Era

Apple’s March 25th keynote event announced forthcoming offerings to further build out Apple’s Services line—video media streaming, print media subscriptions, gaming, and more. Most interesting to us at Glenbrook (surprise!) was Apple’s co-branded credit card launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. The Apple Card, to be released in the summer, integrates consumer controls, […]

Regulation

Madness in Marijuana Payments - Part 2

Since my April 2018 post, there’s been a lot of activity in the “land of weed.” Multiple countries and U.S. states have moved toward legalization. Major non-cannabis industries are investing heavily in cannabis related products and cannabis-based companies. With U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions out, his strict stance against marijuana perhaps no longer holding, many are […]