ACH B2B Payments Erin McCune Federal Reserve Financial Regulators Global Payments NACHA P2P

Countdown to IAT: Are You Ready?

In just 30 days, on September 18th, the new International ACH format – IAT – and accompanying NACHA rule changes go into effect. This is the most significant change to the ACH network in decades, affecting corporate payment initiators, financial institutions of all sizes, financial software companies, and payment service providers. The new rules have […]

Carol Coye Benson Mobile Banking & Payments

Carriers United - a Look at Zoompass

Editors Note: Glenbrook, along with the rest of the payments industry, has been watching developments in mobile payments closely.  A few weeks ago, our partner Carol Coye Benson profiled Boku and CashEdge products.  Today, she takes a look at Canada’s Zoompass (below), Zong, Billing Revolution, and Blaze Mobile. [UPDATE Aug 6th: Be sure to check […]

Carol Coye Benson Mobile Banking & Payments Personal Financial Management

Wallets and Stickers and Phones, Oh My! - a Look at Blaze Mobile

Editors Note: Glenbrook, along with the rest of the payments industry, has been watching developments in mobile payments closely.  A few weeks ago, our partner Carol Coye Benson profiled Boku and CashEdge products.  Today, she takes a look at Canada’s Zoompass, Zong, Billing Revolution, and Blaze Mobile (below). [UPDATE Aug 6th: Be sure to check […]

Carol Coye Benson Ecommerce Payments Micropayments Mobile Banking & Payments Zong

Digital Content & Mobile Phones - a Look at Zong

Editors Note: Glenbrook, along with the rest of the payments industry, has been watching developments in mobile payments closely.  A few weeks ago, our partner Carol Coye Benson profiled Boku and CashEdge products.  Today, she takes a look at Canada’s Zoompass, Zong (below), Billing Revolution, and Blaze Mobile. [UPDATE Aug 6th: Be sure to check […]

B2B B2B Payments Erin McCune Online Banking Payables Receivables Wells Fargo

Guided Tour of the New Small Business Invoicing Product from Wells Fargo

Yesterday Wells Fargo announced a new online invoicing solution for its small business customers that positions the bank to compete against entry level accounting packages. I’ve tried it out and I am impressed: it’s quick, easy, and intuitive. This afternoon I spoke with Richard Weeks, Sr Vice President at Wells Fargo’s Internet Service Group, to […]

Bank of America Card Issuers Carol Coye Benson Debit Cards Decoupled Debit

Why Debit Cards Aren’t a Product

… and Why ‘Decoupled Debit’ Could Change All That I was fascinated to read that Bank of America is now including debit cards in its card payment business line.  Now, for anyone outside of our payments industry, this sounds absolutely reasonable.  But from inside the industry, it’s pretty strange. The financial services industry, presumably like […]

American Express Banking Industry Card Networks Card Payments Carol Coye Benson Contactless Ecommerce Payments MasterCard Visa

Failures of Branding

At Glenbrook, we’re pretty interested in what makes mass consumer adoption of new payments capabilities happen – or not. We’ve been talking lately about “brand as action” – the notion that consumers (and merchants) need a way to express how they are going to pay or be paid. This can be brand with a “capital […]

AFP B2B Payments Banking Carol Coye Benson Commercial Payments NACHA Visa

The Problem with B2B Payments

It’s springtime, and annual payments statistics are starting to bloom. A good time, perhaps, to consider the state of business-to-business (B2B) payments. NACHA recently released figures showing that ACH CTX transactions grew by 15% in the fourth quarter, compared to the previous year. Earlier, Visa disclosed that their fourth quarter commercial volume was 13% ahead […]

Banking Industry Innovation Scott Loftesness

Innovation in Business Models

We often think of innovation as being primarily technology-driven – but there are some great examples of innovations in banking that were simply business model or process changes involving little, if any, new technology. Two examples that have proven very valuable financially to US banks in recent years involve simply the handling of transactions being […]

Banking Conferences & Meetings San Francisco Strategy

Mark Your Calendar: BarCampBankSF2 is April 25-26

Last year I attended the original BarCampBank San Francisco and had a fantastic time (I blogged about the experience here.) It is an unstructured, participant-organized, conference on banking/payments/financial services innovation. BarCampBank events have been held in cities around the world and are refreshingly open and informal. If your budget is tight, your company is limiting […]

Banking Credit Crisis Current Events Financial Regulators

A Guide to the Bank Nationalization Debate

Amid increased government ownership of Citibank, persistent rumors that BofA is next, and announcement of the Obama administration’s budget, there has been increasingly loud debate over bank nationalization. The media pundits and blogosphere are a cry with claims of pending socialism and the “Europeanizaton of America” – which, while provocative, aren’t necessarily true.

Banking Change Management Current Events

Corporate Complexity (an example)

The latest post at the Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger blog hints at the complexity involved in integrating the two banks' services, technology, and products. Let alone the people + organizational structure! I admire their honest, open approach.

Blogging Conferences & Meetings Technology Web 2.0 in Financial Services

Workshop: Web 2.0 Technologies For Financial Services (March 19, Santa Clara)

Workshop on Web 2.0 Technologies For Financial Services FaceBook? Twitter? Amazon Flexible Payments? Mint? Zong? Join me and Scott Loftesness of Glenbrook as we explore the world of Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on the payments industry in this one day workshop (morning plus optional afternoon sessions). What is Web 2.0 and how is […]

Credit Crisis Enterprise 2.0 Technology

SAP and HBR on Enterprise Software, Economic Crisis and Cloud Computing (Charlie Rose)

A conversation with Léo Apotheker, co-CEO and a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG and Andrew Mcafee of the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School on Charlie Rose (aired Jan 6th)   On IT within the Financial Services industry: LEO APOTHEKER:  And you know, what you said about financial institutions […]

Credit Crisis Current Events Erin McCune Federal Reserve Finance Financial Regulators Regulatory Environment

Best Credit Crisis Coverage

At Forte Financial Glenbrook Partners we’ve been gripped by the credit crisis, yet drowning in news and data. We suspect that you, too, would appreciate a guide to the gems of insight and plainspoken verbiage that explain, question, and illuminate these unprecedented times. So we’ve selected the best of the coverage – an admittedly subjective […]