Business evolution—whether it’s automotive, bioscience, or in the payments industry—proceeds along a predictable path of incremental improvements and optimization. Until it doesn’t and a step function takes effect. Last year was sleepy compared to what we can...
Last week’s news that MasterCard was exploring an investment or outright acquisition of VocaLink really lit up the “News” channel on our Slack system at Glenbrook. For those unfamiliar, VocaLink is a company currently owned by 17 large U.K. financial institutions,...
Glenbrook’s Allen Weinberg wrote a few weeks ago about his view of the Grand Challenges in payments…. a daunting list, and one I agree with. But I want to extend his discussion on one of his challenges: “Realigned value chain economics in a push payment world”,...
Over the past few weeks I’ve had a chance to talk about the prospects for faster payments in the U.S. with representatives from both The Clearing House and the Fed. Both groups, as I’m sure you know, are actively working the space: the Fed with its...
Former Sen. Chris Dodd, ex-Chair of Senate Banking Committee, probably needs no introduction to anyone in payments. In his keynote address to the annual meeting of the ETA this morning, he commented on the Durbin Amendment: Excluded interchange from original bill...
Point of sale (POS) steering isn't really part of the payments industry dialogue right now as various stakeholders praise, argue, and criticize the proposed Federal Reserve rules on debit card interchange and network routing. But, I think it could be a big part of...
After months of speculation and hand-wringing, last Friday we finally got a relatively complete reading on how the Federal Reserve will likely implement the prescribed regulation of debit interchange and debit network competition. My partner, Carol Benson, has also...
At Glenbrook, we think (and teach!) about the payments industry by domains (the purpose of the payment) and players (users and providers). Our quick take on the impact of yesterday’s proposed rules on each is below. One general assumption I’ve made here is that the...
Last June, in an article titled "The End of Interchange", I wrote about the then yet to be passed Durbin amendment - and how it might affect debit interchange fees. Earlier today, we got the first glimpse. The point of my earlier article was focused on the...
There, did I get your attention? ... Tonight's headlines say it even more clearly - see this Wall St. Journal story titled "Merchants Win Debit-Card Fee Battle". Or, see this post on PaymentsNews.com about the Durbin compromise announced earlier today. Seriously,...
