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

The True Cost of Being Underbanked

Highlights It’s expensive to be a low income American, driven in part by the high cost of financial services available to such consumers. In this post, we break down where cost comes from, and how fintechs are changing the way working class Americans are able to access affordable financial products. Fintechs have an opportunity to […]

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 […]

Financial Inclusion

Where is Financial Inclusion in the U.S. Today?

At Glenbrook, international financial inclusion work has long been a major focus area. Given the challenges racial equity concerns raises for the U.S., Glenbrook as a firm has returned our focus to financial inclusion here at home. To begin that examination, we look at the state of financial inclusion in the US and what are […]

Cash Payments CDBC Justin Pituch

Will Digital Cash Be the New King of Payments?

  First of a series on Central Bank Digital Currencies Central banks around the world are in the process of developing digital cash, commonly known as central bank digital currency, or CBDC. At Glenbrook, we’re kicking off a series of Payments Views posts that explain CBDC and its implications for various aspects of the payments […]

Payments Views Risk & Fraud

Why Risk Management is a Team Sport

In today’s world, risk management and security are front and center topics for every enterprise. And because money is money, the management of payment risk and security has to be a priority.  In this chapter of our Merchant Payment Operations series, we look at top of mind payment and security risks facing today’s enterprises and […]

Drew Edmond Merchants Payments Views

Merchant Payments Operations: Accounting and Reconciliation

A core component of Glenbrook’s methodology for assessing a merchant’s payments operations includes review of certain processes managed by the business’s accounting team, particularly the level of effort required to reconcile payment activity.  The business’s accounting team is responsible for a variety of fundamental financial activities, including record keeping and reporting, accounts payable and receivable, […]

Cannabis Payments Views

The Latest on Cannabis and CBD Payments

Hosted as part of the Mobile Payment Conference (August 24-26) this inaugural conference brought together fintech influencers, payments experts, and providers to address issues facing financial services companies serving the Cannabis and CBD industry. Setting the Stage I was honored to kick off the workshop with an overview of the cannabis payments market. I stressed […]

COVID-19 George Peabody Glenbrook Payments Views

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 political reaction to it, put these linkages in high relief. The COVID-19 pandemic’s disruptive impact on global trade, national […]

Glenbrook Nicole Pinto Payments Views

COVID-19 and the Income Domain

The Income Domain consists of payments to individuals for salary, benefits, rebates, and expense reimbursements. In the U.S., these payments are made primarily via direct deposit through NACHA’s ACH system, and to a lesser extent, paper checks and payroll cards. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread business shutdown, and as a result, caused mass […]

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 […]

Drew Edmond Glenbrook Merchants

Merchant Payments Operations: Payment Processing

When Glenbrook is Assessing a Merchant’s Payments Operations, the goal is to understand whether the payments environment functions in a way that optimally supports their existing business needs as well as any future requirements. To do so, one of the major Key Assessment Areas that we address is the technical architecture and services a merchant […]

Carol Coye Benson Glenbrook Payments Views

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 with room for my dog sharing the […]

Glenbrook P2P Payments Views

The P2P Domain Gets a Big COVID Push

We have seen relatively immediate and significant effects in payments within the P2P domain, particularly during the economic shutdown, but it will likely persist beyond it. We expect that the convenience and safety of electronic P2P transfers will guide many users toward a permanent behavior change. Further, cost barriers are falling away: the cost of […]

Billers Glenbrook Payments Views Sam Levitt

Will Billers Push Harder for Digital Payments under COVID-19?

As a result of the sweeping stay-at-home orders and shutting down of nonessential businesses, Americans are facing record unemployment. Consumers are struggling financially and those who were living paycheck to paycheck, and many others, are having trouble paying their bills. These individuals have to make difficult decisions and prioritize their spending, which often means groceries […]