Innovation Merchant Acquirers Square

It's Hip to Be Square!

So you really want to be a merchant – and accept card payments simply and easily? Jack Dorsey wants to be your friend. Hope you’ve got an iPhone! Earlier today, Dorsey and friends announced the launch of Square. Dorsey, co-founder and chairman of Twitter, is certainly a celebrity founder and CEO. TechCrunch notes that apparently […]

American Express Card Networks ECommerce Innovation Scott Loftesness

A Revolution in Payments

Today’s announcement of American Express acquiring Revolution Money caught many of us industry pundits by surprise – especially given the $300 MM price tag that Amex paid for the deal. But, upon reflection, and after listening to the Q&A section of Amex’s conference call earlier today, you can see why they were motivated to do […]

Amazon ECommerce Ecommerce Payments Russ Jones

Amazon PayPhrase - One Size Doesn't Fit All

Amazon.com fancies itself, with some justification, as a trialblazer in eCommerce. We spoke with Amazon recently to get a better sense of PayPhrase and how it might be used by today’s consumers. Amazon PayPhrase is a new checkout concept that is designed to provide consumers with a convenient way to use the payment and shipping […]

Conferences & Meetings Investment Strategy Jacqueline Chilton

Investments in the Payment Sector [ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum 2009]

By Jacqueline Chilton Of the Monday morning sessions at ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum 2009, I was particularly interested in the analysts’ views of the payments sector.  The session included perspectives on transaction volumes, impact of consolidation and potential for new M&A activity, and areas the analysts are watching for investment and regulatory changes.  On […]

ATM Conferences & Meetings Debit Cards Jacqueline Chilton Prepaid

Highlights from the ATM, Debit and Prepaid Forum 2009

Glenbrook Partners’ Jacqueline Chilton is attending the ATM, Debit and Prepaid Forum 2009 in Las Vegas this week. Sessions focus on self service and cash management, the debit portfolio and prepaid products. Additionally, non-traditional, alternative payments have a dedicated track. Jacqueline’s posts from the conference are here: Mobile Payments at the Point of Sale The […]

Conferences & Meetings Credit Cards Debit Cards Jacqueline Chilton Security

Justification for End to End Encryption [ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum 2009]

By Jacqueline Chilton The second Keynote speaker for the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum 2009 was Robert O. Carr, Chairman and CEO, Heartland Payment Systems.  Proud of their reputation for full disclosure with merchants, they had to put it to the test with their Jan 20, 2009 announcement of their data breach. PCI compliance is […]

Carol Coye Benson Mobile Banking & Payments

Blinging it Home? A Look at Bling Nation

One of the good things about having a really odd company name is that people do remember it.  We mostly heard skeptical laughs when Bling Nation first emerged from stealth.  But lately we’ve been getting more questions…. I spoke recently to co-CEO and founder Wences Casares. Wences and co-CEO Meyer Malka have an interesting background, […]

Jacqueline Chilton Mobile Banking & Payments Mobile Technology

Mobile Payments Needs a Match…

By Jacqueline Chilton The Bay Area Mobile Payments Series focused on the US market last week with the topic “Is there REALLY a market for mobile payments in the US?”. The event was hosted by the Harvard Business School Technology Alumni Association, Wharton Club of Northern California and Google and moderated by Menekse Gencer of […]

ACH AFP Card Payments Carol Coye Benson Conferences & Meetings ECommerce NACHA

Same Day ACH - Parity With Checks, But What About Cards?

Erin McCune and I attended the Association for Finance Professionals conference in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday. With 4,000 plus “practitioners” and vendors there, and a robust Payments Track, there was a lot of food for thought. A standout session was “Same Day ACH” with Rich Oliver of the Fed (and the champion of […]

Allen Weinberg Card Networks Credit Cards Debit Cards Revolution Money

Interview with Jason Hogg, CEO of Revolution Money

By Allen Weinberg I jumped at the opportunity to interview Jason Hogg, CEO of Revolution Money, parent company of Revolution Card. My colleagues and I at Glenbrook Partners are frequently tapped as a source of information about the very latest goings on in the world of “alternative payments”, but unfortunately, Revolution doesn’t share a whole […]

Bryan Derman Conferences & Meetings Innovation Technology

Finovate2009 - Afternoon Session 1

Resuming my live blogging of Finovate2009 from NYC in a few minutes. AFTERNOON SESSION #1 Yodlee -Peter Hazelhurst, SVP Products New Yodlee dashboard highlighting capabilities that used to be hard to get to Web 2.o interface based on widgets New UI indicates good and bad times to pay bills, based on expected balances New feature […]

Carol Coye Benson Mobile Banking & Payments

The Phone is the Wallet: A Look at mFoundry

Last week, Starbucks announced a raft of new mobile capabilities, with iPhone apps to enable consumers to use their phone as their card in a variety of ways, including seeing a balance and reloading.  For the payments industry, however, the announced test of a usable-for-purchase prepaid card on the phone, using 2d bar code technology, […]

ACH Carol Coye Benson ECommerce Mobile Banking & Payments

Decoupled Mobile? A Look at mPayy

At Glenbrook, we’re fascinated by the topics of mobile payments (in general); the potential for new ACH applications; and the continued growth of eCommerce.  So it was great to talk to Conrad Sheehan, CEO of mobile payment startup mPayy – who has moved his company right into the center of all three topics. To start […]

Allen Weinberg Card Payments Security Technology

Retrofitting Security: Working Backwards to go Forwards

By Allen Weinberg Ashok Misra has an interesting, and certainly provocative, article in the current Secure Payments Magazine.  If you  don’t know Ashok, he is Sr. Manager Payments & Security at RealNetworks, Inc in Seattle, chairman of the European CNP Payment Forum, and a long-time friend of Glenbrook Partners.  In the article, he comments that […]

Allen Weinberg Conferences & Meetings Glenbrook

Glenbrook on Emerging Payments and Many Other Topics (Need a Speaker?)

A little shameless Glenbrook promotion, forgive us. Today our partner Allen Weinberg spoke at the San Francisco Treasury Management Association (the local AFP) monthly lunch about emerging payments: PayPal, Amazon, Google Checkout, and many, many more start-ups nipping at their heels.  The crowd – half bankers and half corporate cash managers/treasury professionals – loved it. […]