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Issue 12 | ThePaytechMagazine
PAYTECH FOCUS 16 Payments pizazz
Riotous colour, vibrant music, sensuous dance and a unique, restless energy, Brazil’s get-up-and-go is filtering through into how it does payments, says PagBrasil’s Ralf Germer
30 New rules of conduct
SmartStream has combined its deep knowledge of regulatory reference data and super-fast, Cloud-based, AI-driven reconciliation, to solve the investment industry’s reporting challenges. And – perhaps surprisingly – digital assets traders are clamouring for it, too, says Jethro MacDonald
55 The rationale for real time
There are various motivations for implementing real-time payment systems. ‘Speed’ merely scratches the surface, writes George Evers, Senior Vice President for Realtime Products at Mastercard
NEW WORLD ORDER 6 Instant gratification
The world of payments is moving at warp speed and providers must keep up, or fade into insignificance, say ING’s Mark Buitenhek and Dome Scaffidi from Volante Technologies
10 One-stop shop
In order to thrive, retailers should prioritise providing their customers with real-time fulfillment in every possible avenue, says Andrew Mitchell from JCB
12 Small world, big possibilities
Payments are driving unprecedented levels of global innovation and connectivity, including in insurance, say Vitesse PSP’s Phillip McGriskin and Mauro Di Buono
THEPAYTECHVIEW
2022»ISSUE #12
THE GUEST EDIT: AGE-FRIENDLY BANKING
The fintech revolution promised us a complete re-invention, not just a revamp or renovation of finance. In many cases it has delivered – but in one important aspect, everything has stayed the same.
Capture customers young and they’ll stick with you for life is age-old banking logic. And it’s a logic that has long worked for incumbents, because finance was always sticky – the incumbents won customers young, but they also held onto them into older age. And those customers played a crucial function – providing wealth. It’s their deposits that furnished lending to the young.
With VC money washing around like soap suds and interest rates at near zero, I can see (if not mathematically square) why fintech has also been all about capturing young customers rather than wealthy, older ones; why it’s been about the low-hanging fruit in the digital native Gen Z and Millennial cohorts. Cool has ruled; not older under-banked boomers.
But times are changing. Some of the neobank business models that looked wafer thin before look positively anaemic now that money’s being squeezed. If fintechs want to grow up and survive, I’d posit that they are going to need to square the circle and create self-sustaining, revenue-generating models. And for that they’ll want to grow not just customer numbers but deposits, too. That means recruiting older users. Either that, or they will really have to reinvent banking and its centuries-old business model.
For any fintechs fretting about the prospects of securing enough funding to see them through to that eureka moment, there’s hope – as we try to evidence in the Age-friendly Banking section of this edition. Boomers may not be budging, but that’s not because they’re happy with their lot from legacy providers. It’s because no one’s trying to speak to them, let alone serve them. Time for challengers grow up and do that?
Guest Editor Natasha de Terán
Natasha has spent a lifetime at the intersection of finance and regulatory and public affairs. She is passionate about improving financial access and literacy, and is co-author of The Payoff: How Changing The Way We Pay Changes Everything. She holds a number of advisory positions, including on the
Payment Systems Regulator Panel and the Financial Services Consumer Panel, and is a member of the Bank of England’s
CBDC Engagement Forum. She writes about and consults on a wide range of issues affecting the payments industry.
Our last issue’s spine tingler, 'By endurance we conquer', is a quote from Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.
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INFRASTRUCTURE 19 Above and beyond
Peter Larsson of Volante Technologies and Kasper Mortensen from Nordea describe how the Nordics are starting to look beyond P27
22 Joined-up thinking
The acquisition of TruNarrative by global risk intelligence firm LexisNexis Risk Solutions has created a new force to help ensure tackling financial crime doesn’t come at the expense of payments innovation, says Edward Vaughan
26 Time to share
Bottomline’s Charles de Rougé and Nicole Coates from PSR discuss how mutual support is the best way for providers to crack the payments interoperability challenge once and for all
FOLLOW THE MONEY: AGE-FRIENDLY BANKING 34 Hey, big Boomer! Spend a little time with me?
‘Meet your customers where they are’ is business logic 101. Why is hardly anyone trying to do that with the silver generation and why fintechs should follow the money
38 ‘Remote’ banking
OneBanks Hub is attempting to restore the ‘face of banking’ with a physical presence in branchless communities across the UK. Founder Duncan Cockburn talks about his mission
40 Spain’s senior moment
Spain is positioning itself as Europe’s ‘centre for silver fintech’. Among those leading the charge are Luis Castillo and Nuria Domínguez Soto of startup SeniorsLeading
42 In with the new, out with the old?
We ask if youthful neobanks have alienated the very generation that could guarantee their profitability
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46 A young country’s view
A reflection from Kenya on how culture and demographics influences the development of financial services
49 Designing for an inclusive future
If banking apps and services were built to be used by your grandparents, everyone would benefit
MAKING A DIFFERENCE 58 Payments pledge
Alex Gatiragas describes how G+D is aiming to save the world, one payment at a time
62 Payments special op
As war continues in Ukraine, the sanctions stakes are getting higher. Companies need to roll out the virtual big guns to identify who they’re really dealing with
FOCUS ON AFRICA 66 Hakuna matatu
Better social mobility is the greatest gift payments can give Africa’s people, says BPC's Frank Molla
69 Out of app-rica!
Africa’s mobile money transfer service M-Pesa has led the world once – can it do it again? Vodacom’s Diego Gutierrez believes so
72 Standing on a platform for growth
Africa wasn’t alone in seeing economic progress set back by COVID-19 and now by war in Europe. But BankServAfrica is pressing on with a programme that promises to lift it out of the doldrums, says Portia Matsena
CRYPTO & BLOCKCHAIN 74 Bit up, Bit down, but still going strong
Bitcoin is now in its 13th year. But will 2022 be a crypt-astrophe for some? asks Ron Delnevo
77 Road to somewhere
Paul Wong from Stellar believes digital currencies and their supporting technology are about to open up a ‘financial superhighway’ that will prove to be a game changer
THEPAYTECHMAGAZINE 2022 ISSUE#12
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Ali Paterson
GENERAL MANAGER
Chloe Butler
EDITOR
Tracy Fletcher
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