Future of Payments

KEIL HUBERT Why payments tech in the US needs to get with the times

THE PRICE OF BEAUTY Beauty Boulevard’s founders on making payments easier

HACKED OFF How taking a few tips from old submarine movies can help beat the information thieves…

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A chip off the old blockchain SPECIAL REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF PAYMENTS

Matt Smith on how the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin could soon be powering transactions all over the world

INSIDE: Inspector Dogberry discovers the one (wireless payment-based) ring to rule them all!

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By 2020, 90% of smartphone users will have made a mobile payment.

FIND OUT WHY WALLETS ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND ON PAGE 13

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Here in the US, forget the future of payments – I’ll be delighted enough with decade-old tech…

OPENING SHOTS KEIL HUBERT

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HAVE A request: the next time you pay for something with your EMV purchase card, I want you to laugh at us Americans.

Specifically, laugh at how we’ve been fumbling our implementation of smartcard technology. Maybe all the derisive laughter coming from our “cousins” will finally cause major American retailers to shake off their indulgent torpor and get the technology deployment sorted.

My third column for this publication was a “future of payments” article about how the USA was finally goi ng to get Chip-and-PIN, and I wrote that more than three years ago. It’s still considered “future” tech today i n t he States. Even the new cards we’ve received have

been mostly Chip-and-Signature models, much less secure than the real Chip-and-PIN designs.

Example No1: my barber replaced his Point-of-Sale kit a year ago with new Chip-and-PIN models.

To this day, those terminals have a strip of cardstock wedged in the card slot apologising that they can only take old-fashioned swipes.

Examples Nos2-5: my liquor store, takeaway pizza joint, and menswear shop still haven’t upgraded their archaic sales terminals with built-in card swipe readers. Heck, my regular petrol station still has the same swipe-only pay-at-thepump units installed that they had when a criminal installed Bluetooth card skimmers on their pumps!

I’ve asked representatives from each of these businesses why they’re reluctant to get with the times and install Chip-and-PIN readers. Some reps told me that the technology “doesn’t work,” or that it “costs too much to use”. Others said they’d never heard of the technology and don’t understand why it’s such a big deal. I have yet to discuss the

“Maybe all the derisive laughter coming from our ‘cousins’ will cause American retailers to get their technology sorted”

KEIL HUBERT IS A RETIRED US AIR FORCE CYBERSPACE OPERATIONS OFFICER, WITH MORE THAN TEN YEARS OF MILITARY COMMAND EXPERIENCE. HE CURRENTLY CONSULTS ON BUSINESS, SECURITY AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN TEXAS

problem with a shop owner who actually understands the tech, wants to deploy it, and can’t get the gear. The hardware is available, it’s just not being implemented.

This is maddening.

Back in August, I read about a Russian fellow who was convicted by the US Department of Justice for stealing more than 1.7 million American credit card numbers.

The villain used malware to infect vulnerable PoS units across Washington State, forwarded the stolen card numbers to his server in Russia, and used cutout buyers to make fraudulent purchases with the stolen numbers (thereby turning the goods back into happily laundered cash). The DoJ reported that this crime ring netted over $169million (£129m) and affected over 3,700 financial institutions in the process. This was just one criminal mastermind running a relatively small operation, and he got away with enough cash to buy a fully armed F-35A fighter jet… and enough left over to live a long life of decadent luxury.

You’d think the exploits of this cyber-criminal would be sufficient motivation for small and medium business owners across the USA to quit screwing around and replace their old-fashioned, insecure, unencrypted swipe cards. You’d think so… but it isn’t happening.

The only business where I can use an honest-to-God Chip-and-PIN EMV card in my city is at my local Target retail store. Why there?

Probably because Target had over 110 million credit card numbers stolen from its compromised PoS network back in 2013.

So, yeah. I’d like y’all to start making fun of us. Needle us unmercifully. If massive financial losses aren’t enough to get retailers to take action, then maybe embarrassment will finally do the trick. I really don’t care so long as it gets sorted. I’ve had five payment cards compromised since the UK first implemented EMV, and I’m sick to death of it. Forget the “future” of payments – I’ll be delighted enough with getting decade-old tech deployed…

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Contactless payments spend in 2015 and 2016 £11 £10 £9 £8

£billion

£7 £6 £5 £4 £3

Contactless sales surge as transaction costs fall JOANNE FREARSON

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PENDING ON contactless cards in the first half of 2016 has already outstripped contactless spending for the whole of 2015, according to figures from The Cards Association.

There were 1.1billion contactless transactions in the first half of the year, compared to 1.05 billion for the whole of 2015. Some £9.27billion was spent using contactless methods between January and June of this year, more than the total 2015 contactless spend of £7.75billion. Contactless card payments accounted for 18 per cent of total purchases in June in contrast to seven per cent in June 2015. The average contactless transaction was £8.60 in both May and June this year.

Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, said: “Contactless cards are firmly entrenched as the preferred way to pay for millions of consumers, who expect to be able to use them for everyday purchases. We anticipate the use of contactless cards will continue to increase, particularly as charities and transport operators outside London recognise the benefits this technology can bring.”

Payment card spending reached £53.1billion in June, £0.4billion more than in May.

OCTOBER 2016

Both spending and the number of payments increased in the second quarter of the year, with 92 million more purchases and £1.9billion more spending than in the first quarter of 2016.

The number of card payments within the retail sector increased by 5.2 million to 799 million, with spending increasing by £134million to £25billion respectively.

The majority of the increase came from the food and drinks sub-sector.

Elsewhere the British Retail Consortium (BRC) annual payment survey found cash was used for less than half of all retail transactions across the UK in 2015.

The report looked at the methods of payment UK shoppers were using when buying goods in store and online, how this differs from previous years and the average cost to the retailer for handling each method of payment. It found the use of cash fell five percentage points to 47.15 per cent of all retail transactions in 2015 from 52.09 per cent the previous year. This was the largest drop for five years and means that almost 20 per cent fewer transactions were made with cash than in 2011.

Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at BRC, says: “Though the use of cash has been in decline for some time now, this year it has seen a significant dip.

THE INNER GEEK

Crucially, retailers are seeing cash used in under half of all transactions for the first time, marking a real watershed. However, cash remains an important payment method for many customers and will be with us for years to come.

“It seems that more and more of us are turning to our debit cards to make payments, especially as new contactless technology is proving incredibly popular for those lower-value transactions that used to be the mainstay for cash.

“This change has been made possible by retailers investing heavily in new payments technology making it easier and quicker for customers to securely complete transactions in store. Card issuers are also driving this change in customer behaviour, with around 55 percent of cards currently in use now featuring contactless technology.”

The BRC also found the cost of handling debit and credit card transactions for those retailers participating in the survey had reduced by around £159million. These savings were due to early changes made available to some retailers by debit and credit card schemes in advance of the implementation of the new Interchange Fee Regulation. The full impact of the changes under the regulation should be experienced by all retailers from 2016.

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The role of trust in 21st century commerce “Amazon Payments lends the trust that exists in the Amazon brand to other retailers” – Patrick Gauthier, Amazon

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RUST HAS always been at the heart of e-commerce.

However, the new digital environment in which we live and shop, in particular following the adoption of online and mobile technologies, means that customers and merchants need to extend the boundaries of trust further than ever before.

For businesses that recognise the value of having a trusted brand, the rewards are bountiful. Customer trust is ultimately built on repeated positive experiences – and of course the absence of negative ones.

Perhaps the most important area of e-commerce in which customer trust must established is at the checkout. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has worked to build trust with customers to keep their payment and shipping information on file to making shopping on the website faster and easier.

The company is therefore in a good position to provide insight on how best to develop solutions and services for others.

Customers choosing to use Pay with Amazon can use the information stored in their Amazon accounts to pay for goods or services on other merchant’s websites. Customers simply sign in to their Amazon account on the site where they are shopping, avoiding the necessity of entering their credit card or shipping information.

“Amazon has a long history of taking complex things and making them simple,” says Patrick Gauthier (left), VP Amazon Payments. “With Amazon Payments, we’re focusing on the Amazon customer and making it easier for them to buy elsewhere.” Participating merchants in turn can connect with Amazon’s loyal customer base, while also eliminating the need for these customers to create a separate username and password on their website. By making the checkout experience quicker and simpler, merchants can increase checkout

conversions while extending the trust and simplicity of Amazon’s checkout experience to their customers.

Amazon Payments is working with thousands of companies globally, including Moss Bros and BT Fon in the UK. Amazon Payments is also working with AllSaints.com across its US, DE and UK sites – since launching Pay with Amazon in the UK in 2014 the company has reported a 34 per cent increase in checkout conversions, as well as reducing the average checkout time by 70 seconds.

In 2016 Amazon Payments launched a Global Partner Program designed to help ecommerce platform providers and developers extend this trusted shopping experience.

“The Amazon Payments Partner Program provides Partners with the tools and resources needed to extend the trust and convenience of the Amazon experience to their merchant customers,” says Gauthier. “We are working together across geographies and industries to help merchants grow and create experiences that delight customers throughout the shopping journey.”

As members of the Amazon Payments Partner Program, businesses will be able to take advantage of a variety of services that include things like white glove integration, account management, planning support, technical resources and training, and more. Gauthier adds: “Amazon Payments lends the trust that exists in the Amazon brand to other retailers, letting them to focus on building credibility and integrity with their customers to establish the trust flywheel with their buyers through their commerce experience.”

INDUSTRY VIEW

pressoffice@amazon.co.uk https://payments.amazon.co.uk

Access all areas

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USINESSES AND consumers are set to benefit from competition in the payments industry marketplace following work by one of the UK’s foremost payment schemes to open up access to its products and services.

Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) – which processed six billion Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits last year – has developed an Access Roadmap; this sets out how the company plans to place all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) on an even footing when it comes to offering popular Bacs payment products.

The roadmap draws on responses to this year’s consultation, “Payments Service Provider Access: Widening Access and Choice”. Bacs’ resulting approach to opening up access places the emphasis on empowerment: assisting end-users in achieving their objectives without dictating how they do so.

Michael Chambers (right), Bacs chief executive officer, said: “We are determined to provide a fair and competitive environment in which PSPs can effectively offer our services to their customers – widening access to emerging PSPs is central to this, and we are focusing on making this as simple and as cost-effective as possible.”

6bn Number of transactions processed by Bacs in 2015

Two of the five main areas of work surround technical and service access, and substantial headway has already been made on delivering these key elements.

First, in line with Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) thinking, Bacs has developed an aggregator accreditation model, to help overcome the large up-front costs for connectivity to its payment schemes and services. This model will provide a quick and flexible alternative to existing ways that PSPs access the system today.

This aggregator model will mean that third parties – such as payments bureaux

– can provide multiple PSPs with technical access to Bacs, enabling the submission of input to, and, importantly, the collection of output from, the service.

Some aggregators may choose to partner this with settlement services, providing PSPs with a more comprehensive, integrated access solution – a “one stop shop” for technical access, opening up access to all Bacs’ products and services, as well as to the UK’s other payment schemes and to a range of additional services. This will remove one of the potential cost barriers for emerging PSPs which want to offer all or some of

these services to their customers, providing the basis for a more competitive payments industry.

On top of working on solutions to widen technical access to the schemes, Bacs has made changes to service access, first simplifying the way in which PSPs secure banking sort codes. This followed concerns that the old system – where a sponsoring bank (and possibly a competitor) provided new sort codes – could potentially hamper innovation. Sort codes can now be issued centrally, with information and guidance available from www.sortcodesinfo.co.uk This all paves the way for future work to open up these important payment schemes still further, ranging from modernising the contractual framework for membership of Bacs and introducing a more flexible participation model to aligning messaging standards. Bacs is also working collaboratively across the industry to look at common models and rules for all UK payment systems.

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More information on the work around access is available at www.bacs.co.uk/access

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Beauty – and success – is in the eye of the beholder R Joanne Frearson talks to Beauty Boulevard’s founders about rejection on Dragons Den and how they built a successful online store with a payments system that can meet high demand

“We said to our friends: ‘We brought this new product out, and we want you to go and try to buy it and tell us what the experience was like” – Rachel De Caux, Beauty Boulevard

ACHEL DE Caux and Paula Shor t may have lef t Dragon’s Den empt yhanded after their pitch for a £65,000 investment in their Glitter Lips product failed, but life has been crazy for the pair ever since appearing on the show.

De Caux and Short co-founded Beauty Boulevard three years ago after being inspired by catwalk trends but finding it difficult to purchase the same types of products in the stores.

“We thought maybe we could produce a product ourselves,” De Caux says. “We produced it for our own hair and beauty salon, really. We were working full-time in the salon so we thought it would be quite a good little hook to get new customers in. We created the product with a really small order to begin with.

“We launched on the December 6 and by December 31 we averaged selling one an hour. Our hairdressing salon is a tiny little place, blink and you would miss it, but we found people were coming in and asking, ‘Are you the people that sell the Glitter Lips things?’”

Buoyed by the interest, the pair decided to launch an online store to cater for the growing demand. But sales were slow at first, De Caux says. “We’re beauticians and hairdressers so building websites and selling products wasn’t our thing.”

The pair initially used PayPal to sell the products online, but sales rocketed when they were featured on ITV’s This Morning, and they found they needed to upgrade their payment systems.

“We knew it could create a big spike,” De Caux says. “We took advice and looked at people being able to pay using credit and debit cards on our website. We did a bit of research to try to find the best ways of doing it and the best prices.

“We wanted it to be as basic as possible to make it easy for people to buy. We went with Barclaycard who were really good to us – they were the best price and easiest to install and use and get feedback from.

“When we started using card machines for payments for beauty shows they gave us something called Barclaycard Anywhere, which is portable – you can plug

Paula Short (left) and Rachel De Caux of Beauty Boulevard

it into your phone and it’s quite mobile. They had lots of other additional products that were helpful to the business at the time and still are. We have a proper terminal now, though, through Barclaycard.”

A good payment system is obviously important to Beauty Boulevard as it smooths out the customer experience.

De Caux says: “Every now and then we will get different people to go online and buy something.

We said to our friends: ‘We brought this new product out, and we want you to go and basically try to buy it and tell us what the experience was like – what annoyed you – and then we can go and tweak that. Creating a good customer experience is about making everything as easy as possible.”

Beauty Boulevard also has systems in place to cater for things like abandoned shopping carts.

“They may have really wanted to buy the product, but it has gone out of their head and by the time the weekend comes, they think they were meant to order Glitter Lips,” De Caux says. “We use Remarkety, which is an email that after a certain length of time will be pinged to the person to ask if they needed it for the weekend.

“It is trying to make it personal to the customer. If they put a product in their basket on their

98% Percentage of Beauty Boulevard products that are bought using mobile payments

Mac then go to work and think, I wanted to buy that, if they log in on their phone it should be still in their basket. It is trying to make the buying process as easy as possible for the customer.”

According to De Caux Facebook has been a popular way for customers to buy the product, and 98 per cent of their sales are done through mobile rather than on a PC. What Beauty Boulevard does is sponsor a post or a video and put a link at the bottom so customers can buy the product.

She says: “We are in a mobile era – everyone is attached to their phone and social media is massive.

With Facebook we found people would see the video – if they were on the bus, say – then press the Buy Here button, which takes them to the website where they can enter their details.

“We also do an advert on Facebook which we change depending on what is going on.

If Strictly Come Dancing has just started, we’ll put that in front of the audience and get them on board. You can pick and choose who your audience is and you can tweak it if it does not work.”

The pair view Twitter as an untapped resource. De Caux says: “There is potential there. We are looking into Twitter. They have kind of upped the game, with regards to Twitter advertising.

They do a Twitter card, a little

advert for your brand – there is more to come from that.”

Since the two appeared on Dragon’s Den things have certainly been busy. De Caux says: “The day after it was aired we got a phone call from somebody who offered us all of the money. It has opened up a lot of doors for us – we have had a lot of big brands approach us wanting to collaborate.

We have got about three or four that we never have dreamt would have contacted us.

“There are a lot of things in the pipeline that are happening – obviously glitter is big for us all year around, but the festive season is on the way and Christmas is just absolutely crazy. We were selling in Superdrug before Dragon’s Den, but we’re now looking to roll it out with a lot more stores, with a bigger brand presence.

“We have had people who had wanted to collaborate and create products with our name and their name on it. We are looking to work with other brands in that way. It’s a top secret project though, so I can’t tell you who and what.”

Although Beauty Boulevard didn’t get the investment on Dragon’s Den, Glitter Lips has been catching on all around the UK since – no doubt helped by a desire to put payments and the customer experience at the centre of what they offer.

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Putting it on the plastic The Bank of England’s new polymer fiver is more secure – and tea-proof, too JOANNE FREARSON

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HE BANK of England has launched a new plastic £5 note, featuring a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill on the reverse and extra security measures to help protect against counterfeits.

The polymer banknotes are cleaner, more secure and more durable than current banknotes, which are made from cotton paper, and will provide enhanced resilience to counterfeiting. The additional security features include a see-through window and a foil Elizabeth Tower, which is gold on the front of the note and silver on the back.

Although the number of counterfeit notes in circulation is tiny – 0.0075 per cent in 2015 – the Bank of England wants to stay a step ahead of the counterfeiters, and the new security features will help it do so. Each new polymer note is also expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper notes.

Polymer banknotes are more resistant to forgery, as is the new £1 coin (below), released next March

T h i s i s bec ause polymer is stronger than paper, meaning the notes can better withstand being repeatedly folded into wallets, scrunched up into pockets, or even dipped in cups of tea.

To be able to process the notes retailers are also having to upgrade their equipment to be able to recognise them, including selfservice check-outs, desktop counters, ATMs, ticket machines and any other device that weighs, counts, sorts, accepts, dispenses or recycles banknotes. Software updates may also be required.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said: “Like Churchill, the new polymer note will also stand the test of time.

It is cleaner, being more resistant to dirt and moisture. It is safer, with better security features. And it is stronger, making it longer lasting and more environmentally friendly.”

The polymer notes are also better for the environment because they last longer, meaning fewer have to be printed and less energy used in manufacturing and transportation.

When a polymer note has reached the end of its life, it will be recycled into new plastic products.

The new fiver is the first of the Bank of England’s new series of polymer notes, with the £10 and £20 notes to be replaced with polymer designs over the coming years.

The £10 note will be issued in summer 2017 and the £20 note by 2020. Consumers can continue to spend paper £5 notes as usual until 5 May 2017. After this they will cease to be legal tender.

Three Scottish banks are also printing their next £5 and £10 notes on poly mer – Clydesdale Bank, Bank of Scotland and RBS. The Royal Mint will also be issuing a new £1 coin in March, which will be harder to fake. The Bank of England periodically replaces notes to introduce the latest new security features and stay ahead of counterfeiters.

Banks more trusted in biometrics, research claims

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RITONS ARE placing their trust in banks over government agencies to protect their biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scans, according to research from Visa.

The research showed consumers are nearly twice as likely to trust banks to keep their biometric information safe (60 per cent) than they are to trust government agencies (33 per cent).

When asked who they would trust to offer biometrics authentication as a service to confirm identity, the largest percentage selected banks (85 per cent) and payment networks (81 per cent) ahead of global online brands (70 per cent) and smartphone companies (64 per cent).

Kevin Jenkins, UK & Ireland managing director at Visa, said: “Banks have a tremendous opportunity in this payment revolution. From trialling voice recognition to behavioural biometrics for authentication, we’re already seeing banks – both high street and challenger banks, alike – making positive steps to adopt this technology in a variety of use cases.

“This consumer confidence in both authentication as well as the storage of their biometric data gives banks the perfect win-win scenario, enabling them to provide a service that the public wants which will also benefit the banks, themselves.”

This level of trust has grown significantly in the past two years, up by 20 percentage points

from 65 per cent in 2014, when the Visa Biometric Payments study was first conducted.

Nearly two-thirds of consumers (64 per cent) want to use biometrics as a method of payment authentication and familiarity is increasing the comfort level of British consumers. The growth in fingerprint authentication for mobile payments is bringing to life the benefits of biometric authentication, which is why 80 per cent of the people surveyed said they were the most comfortable with fingerprint recognition.

Fingerprint authentication (88 per cent) is also viewed as the most secure form of payment, ranking higher than other biometric authentication options such as iris-scanning (83 per cent) and facial recognition (65 per cent).

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Data breaches, like that suffered by Yahoo in 2014, could give hackers enough information to crack all kinds of security systems

Bringing the hackers to account Joanne Frearson talks to OneLogin’s Charles Read about how hackers are playing the long game with consumers when it comes to information breaches

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HE YAHOO breach of 500 million accounts has brought hacking under the spotlight again. It was the largest known breach at a single company, with hackers stealing names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords.

Although the breach did not include payment card and bank account data, the information the culprits did steal is commonly used in social engineering attacks, where hackers build up a profile of a user in a bid to gain access to their financial details.

“Over the last 18 months or so attacks have been entirely prevalent around getting more access,” Charles Read, regional director of UK, Ireland and Benelux at OneLogin, told Business Reporter when we talked to him about social engineering and current trends in cyber-crime.

“They want access to your account, particularly your email, because in that there is probably a whole plethora of other information that they would like to have, such as password reset links from an account you have forgotten your password to.

“We see breaches that lead from phishing attacks. Criminals sit on these credentials for a long time and then a year later or a year and a half later they start feeding out. Nothing happens after a breach so people forget about it.

“Hackers use the information years later to go after some more data, then use it to get more data still, and build it up until they have enough data from a criminal perspective to do something meaningful with.

OneLogin’s Charles Read says hackers are using consumer email accounts to gain access to more lucrative information

“This can open up huge problems for companies – phishing attacks that are driven from stolen credentials. It is quite a broad subject but this is very much the theme everywhere at the moment.”

The main information hackers are after besides usernames and passwords, says Read, is dates of birth and addresses, because this allows them to take the attack to a different level.

He says: “Hackers could then spoof a person’s identity, which might give them access to financial information.”

“The current trend for when hackers do gain access is to take discreet amounts of money instead of the big cash, as it is less likely to raise suspicion.

“We have seen a couple of cases recently where they just take a penny off each person’s account or two pennies here and there,” he says. “The idea being, if you have 10 million users and you take a penny from every user, that is quite a bit of money.”

Read says that, for example, if a hacker can build up information on someone that they are

“People laugh at The Hunt For Red October thing, where the submarine needs four keys to gain access at the same time. But IT systems are built the same way.”

– Charles Read, OneLogin

a prolific online shopper, that person might not notice if there are 10 transactions instead of nine on a bank statement. They are considered easy prey by hackers, as some shopping websites do not have the same level of security as a bank.

According to Read, the best way to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks is two-factor authentication, and designing a system whereby if a criminal gets into one part of it, it does not mean they can get into other parts.

“People laugh at [the Cold War submarine film] The Hunt For Red October thing, where it needs four people with keys to gain entry at the same time. But IT systems are built the same way – you have to have a lot of different people in the company all working in collaboration to engineer something bad.

“It is the same from the external hacking perspective. Hackers would have to get into a whole bunch of different parts of the system to actually get to the point where they could use that data in any meaningful way.

“Once hackers are inside the environment they can get information out very easily, but generally the information which gets exposed in a lot more recent hacking attacks has been personal information that could be then used to leverage other forms of attack.”

Cyber-criminals are certainly getting more sophisticated in their attacks, and the Yahoo breach – among others – has highlighted how vulnerable companies and consumers can be.

So it is important that in the face of social engineering, companies and consumers have a plan in place to protect against this.

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Balancing the books with blockchain Business Reporter speaks to CTO Stephen Holmes about how the open-source Bitcoin technology could make payment, credit and many kinds of transactions transparent, simple and secure

SPECIAL REPORT MATT SMITH

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LOCKCHAIN, THE technology that began life as the backbone of Bitcoin, is branching out into new areas, both in mainstream payments and beyond.

At its heart, the system is a permanent digital ledger that keeps records of transactions in an encrypted “chain”. Many copies are kept – any forged entries are rejected because they do not match the originals – and anybody can check the records.

The added security and transparency offered by the technology means it has many innovative potential applications beyond Bitcoin. We spoke to Stephen Holmes, CTO at VirtusaPolaris’s FINTech Banking Lab, about what might be on the horizon…

Payments and small businesses

“What we will start to see from a consumer perspective is that it will give you more opportunity to buy micro-products that you can’t buy today because the cost of delivering them is too expensive” – Stephen Holmes, VirtusaPolaris

Given that blockchain technology was designed to support Bitcoin, it comes as no surprise that one of its primary uses is to support lowcost money transfers.

“What we see is that there are various ways of using the Bitcoin network,” Holmes says. “But there are some challenges with this, particularly with respect to the speed.

“It’s not a fast payment solution, if you like, but it does give you a lot of transparency. You have a permanent record of ever y transaction.

“The challenge is if you are a new company, a start-up company, trying to sell to larger companies, you are often too small to be trusted,” Holmes explains. “If you have a blockchain where the record is public, which is permanently recorded and cannot be changed, even if a company disappears, the record is still publicly available. So we think this is one of the areas

blockchain can help with. You can see there’s an equaliser there for smaller companies and SMEs.” By cutting out the third party needed to process traditional payments, the transaction’s cost can be reduced. And a blockchain can hold data on any asset, not just money.

much it has been used and how well it is being maintained. Holmes says these factors can be measured by connected devices and stored on a blockchain.

“The usage of the asset and the maintenance of the asset – you can actually get that from the internet of things,” he explains. “We see a huge potential to actually combine not only the blockchain, to not only hold assets and particularly capital assets like these, but also to combine that with the IoT to calculate a net present value of that asset.”

Further to this, he says the transparency and security offered by the blockchain’s permanent record of transactions could facilitate a peer-to-peer lending marketplace.

“What it also enables is the ability of banks to offer a marketplace for people wanting to borrow money and people wanting to loan money,” Holmes says.

“So the P2P-type scenario could also be something that the actual consumer could experience in a much more enhanced way than they do today.”

Asset finance Blockchain technology could also aid asset financing for young people looking to start businesses, because it offers banks enhanced ways to track their investments.

“You can imagine the millennial wanting to go to the bank and wanting to actually have a loan on an asset,” Holmes says. “They don’t have a credit rating, but the asset has value.

“One of the things we think is really important is we think you can actually also use – on top of the blockchain, which has the asset and all the contracts relating to that – you can have a smart contract sitting on top of that.

“The smart contract is not just something you sign at the beginning, but it is something that can automate the execution and checking of the case.”

In order to keep track of the agreement, the lender needs to monitor how old the asset is, how

The sharing economy

Stephen Holmes, CTO at VirtusaPolaris’s FINTech Banking Lab

Similarly, blockchain technology could benefit the growing sharing economy, providing another level of trust between individuals making small transactions with each other.

“If you look at the new sharing economy models, people are actually paying for access to resources rather than actually owning those resources,” Holmes says.

“Having a blockchain to record the contracts and doing microcontracts using smart contracts is a very cost-effective mechanism of doing that.

“So we see huge potential with blockchain technology, not just in terms of the payments sphere, but

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Uptake of blockchain in the fintech sector

30% …of fund transfer/ payments institutions say they are very familiar with it

57% …are unsure or unlikely to respond to the trend

56% Fintech firms that recognise the importance of blockchain, but…

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SOURCE: PWC

looking beyond that and combining this with other technologies to come up with a way of addressing the millennial market.”

This could be complemented by more bespoke services from established businesses, as the blockchain makes it easier to create and monitor tailor-made deals.

“One of the issues we see is that there are lots of micro-contracts that I as a consumer might want to take out today,” Holmes says.

“If I rent out my house on Airbnb, for example – if there was a product that provided insurance there, that would be really good.

“But it’s difficult for an insurer to not only create a product, but actually come up with a contract for that in a cost-effective way.

“So what we will start to see from a consumer perspective is that it will give you more opportunity to buy micro-products, like micro-insurance policies – things that you can’t buy today because the cost of delivering them is too expensive.”

Reward points For all their new and innovative uses, blockchains could also be implemented to make existing systems more reliable. Retailers, for example, could use the technology to make it easier to keep track of their reward point schemes.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of retail-type organisations wanting to have reward points in a way that they can control,” Holmes explains.

“Traditionally, that’s been done in terms of card payments and having accounts, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be a cryptocurrency or even a currency that’s unique to an organisation, because with blockchain you can create your own currency, essentially.”

“It’s not a fast payment solution, but it does offer a lot of transparency” – Stephen Holmes, VirtusaPolaris

This kind of system could also be employed in other instances where self-contained points systems are used – for example, when airlines reward passengers with air miles.

Regulation needed But for all its potential, for blockchain to be used for mainstream, real-world financial transactions it will need to be regulated and standardised.

Holmes says there is currently an “evolution happening in the industry”, with the banking sector working to define “standards for interoperability” so all organisations are on the same page when they use it to process payments with each other.

“What we’re starting to see is that the first blockchain-in-production products will be internal to an organisation. The second generation will be between an organisation and a supplier or partner, and the third generation will be truly between multiple parties,” he explains.

“Where we see it right now is that most of the banks are working on the first generation, and they’ll very quickly move to generation two and generation three as the standards are ratified and rolled out.”

Once all this is ironed out, however, Holmes believes blockchain technology could open up new opportunities and help businesses to better serve their markets.

“I think what this is is a fantastic enabler for us to generate new products that are in line with particularly the millennials’ requirements for new services,” he says.

“So I think that is how we’ll start to see things rolling out.”

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Business Reporter UK

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Payments: making life easier for business owners T HE MAJORITY of small business owners are driven by passion, with our latest research showing that 87 per cent love running their own business. However, heading it up is hard work, and the challenges SME owners face in providing payment solutions is significant as the expectations of their customers grow.

Despite leaps forward in technology, payments and processes can still present a challenge for business owners. In our research, 65 per cent of respondents worry about their cash flow and 58 per cent spend more than 14 hours a week on administration.

Consumers increasingly want a personalised retail experience – this is especially true for millennials who are used to brands going the extra mile to win their loyalty. Technological advancements have left customers expecting a hassle free online experience.

Customers want to feel empowered. Because of this, even smaller retailers need to be on top of their game 24/7.

Providing an efficient and fully integrated payment experience is a way for SMEs, often operating in a competitive environment, to win the hearts of customers. Retail has

undergone a dramatic shift in the past ten years – to an always on, multi-channel experience – so SMEs cannot afford to be left behind. Payments should be an enabler.

They should act as an efficiency driver, a source of data and a business management tool. In order for SME owners to spend time doing what they love, payments should not be an obstacle.

SMEs need to take note of trends towards ePOS and tablet-based payments solutions.

These allow better oversight of the business via useful data which feeds into more informed growth plans. These solutions also improve customer experience. Customers want to pay quickly and simply and they will thank any business that allows them to do this, often with long-term loyalty – something SMEs should always be looking to foster from customers.

INDUSTRY VIEW

Hannah Fitzsimons is managing director, UK and international corporate at Elavon Merchant Services 020 3788 2125 www.elavon.co.uk/smallbusiness

Connected living: a revolution of payments is coming soon

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IGITALISATION AND increasing connectivity considerably influence the way we live and pay – with a rising trend: diverse fields profit from digitalisation, writes Christian von HammelBonten, executive vice president, product strategy at Wirecard. From connected driverless cars to healthcare trackers showing a 3D display of your heart over interconnected workplaces to iris recognition tools, the possibilities are countless.

Obviously, this development leads to an evolution of payments, new processes, new types of transaction and a much higher level of automisation, as well.

People envision an era of no restriction with their payments In 2016 the installed base of consumerfocused connected things will reach four billion units. In 2020 this will grow more than threefold, to 13.5 billion units.

Spendi ng on ha rdwa re for t he consumer internet of things will take up from $546bn in 2016 to $1.534bn in 2020.

Today’s customer wants to buy anything, anytime from any place with just one mobile tap. This naturally causes a steadily growing number of global cashless transactions.

Contactless payments to hit the mainstream in Europe by 2020 It’s not just devices at home that are becoming part of the cashless revolution: the number of connected cars worldwide which will be able to automatically pay for parking fees and tolls will more than quadruple by 2020. And the online booking volume for flights, trains and buses is also predicted to grow, by almost 50 per cent by 2020.

Fewer and fewer people will employ the services of travel agencies to save time on bookings.

Smart home, smart living While still in its infancy, the number of smart home products is also rapidly growing: “On-tap” orders with Amazon Dash, voice controlled homes with Google Home and Amazon Echo are already in place, as well as intelligent appliances which automatically reorder day-to-day products via smart assistants.

But digitalisation and connectivity reach far beyond influencing our lives at home from where people already spend their money: consumer expenditure on smart home technology is expected to grow by almost one third (29 per cent) each year by 2020. Global connected home

device shipments will grow at an annual rate of 67 per cent until 2019. Global smartphone penetration will further accelerate these developments.

Entertainment and media: connected but customised The entertainment sector will certainly experience higher growth, with consumer spendings for premium digital video content expected to double by 2020. Connected entertainment and media technologies have not only transformed the way content is consumed but also paid for: mass customisation leading to smart subscription models with individual, flexible and automated pay-off processes. The growing number of connected smart devices will significally boost digital payment in store t ra n sac t ion s a s wel l a s on l i ne purchasing.

From refrigerators that order groceries, connected cars to home entertainment hubs, the internet of things is opening up new frontiers of convenience and lifestyle choices.

INDUSTRY VIEW

sales@wirecard.com www.wirecard.com

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Inspector

Dogberry Hmm. On second thoughts, perhaps I could wear one on my tail…

Making payments at Mount Doom retail outlets will be much easier with NFCRing The Inspector may not have much use for such things, given that he doesn’t have “fingers” in the traditional sense, but he is nevertheless pleased to hear that NFCRing has introduced the world’s first EMVCocompliant payment ring, based on a contactless security chip from Infineon Technologies.

Shelly Silverstein, CEO at NFCRing, says: “The Infineon security chip is the only solution available on the market that allowed us to realise the NFC payment ring, while still meeting EMVCo’s toughest contactless performance requirements.

“NFC Ring users now have a secure and convenient, payment experience with a

fashionable accessory in an attractive design.”

The waterproof wearable technology works like a contactless payment card, where users pay by holding the ring close to the terminal.

Thomas Rosteck, vice president and general manager of Infineon’s secure mobile and transaction business line, says: “Our chip technology makes paying with smart wearables as functional as paying with a bank card, but also much more convenient.

“Proximity payments based on NFC technology are clearly on the rise, and payment solutions with smart wearables will accelerate this trend with consumers not even having to reach into their pockets to pay.”

BY MATT SMITH, WEB EDITOR

With a third of millennials too scared to check their bank account, British technology firm Intelligent Environments has developed the world’s first internet of thingsbased bank account, which includes a rather unique form of overspending deterrent. Indeed, Dogberry is quite literally shocked by the exact manner of its function.

The IoT bank automatically detects overspending, and then gives users a mild electric shock if they go over their limit, which is delivered via a wristband. The Pavlok system works by users connecting their device to a set spending limit. If they are near their self-imposed spending limit, their phone will display a notification, but if they go over their limit, Pavlok will zap them.

If shock treatment isn’t quite your thing, though, you can also use Pavlok to connect to a range of other smart devices such as the Nest Thermostat – the technology can save users hundreds of pounds on their utility bills by switching off the heating when they don’t need it.

Inspector Dogberry will soon be able to make payments on his iPhone by using “Hey Siri.”

Apple developers are in the preview stages of previewing new Siri integrations for payments where you can ask Siri to send money using Square Cash or Monzo.

With Square Cash, you can easily ask Siri to send cash to someone, whether you’re splitting the dinner bill, paying rent to your landlord, or sending your roommate money for utilities. Monzo, which aims to build a bank of the future for people who hate banks (what a strange notion), will let you ask Siri to send payments to fellow Monzo users, authenticating them with the touch of a finger with Touch ID.

Wirecard Blog

https://blog.wirecard.com

Payments specialist Wirecard writes about issues affecting the future of the industry on its blog. Browse through its recent posts to find out how the internet of things is set to transform payments and why connected living and mobile payments are set to get easier.

Talking Payments

www.talkingpayments.com

For all the latest payments news and opinions look no further than the Talking Payments site, which covers all areas of the sector, including

the growing use of contactless payment technology and how consumers want to see it improve and develop in the coming years.

PaymentBrain

http://blog.paymentbrain.co.uk

UK payment processor comparison site PaymentBrain runs a blog helping businesses to get the best from their payments setups. Check its recent posts for a guide on how to get an Apple Pay button for your website, so your customers can pay with their smart devices.

Braintree

www.braintreepayments.com/ blog

Apple Pay (Free – iOS) Still the benchmark that

mobile payments systems are measured against, and soon to allow customers to make purchases on the web.

Starbucks (Free – iOS, Android) A top example

of how brick-and-mortar businesses can make the most of mobile payments, giving customers an easy way to order.

On this site, PayPal-owned Braintree provides what it calls “a collection of facts, tidbits and musings about our world and industry”, including news on the latest developments and tips for businesses to get more from their payments setups and better serve their customers.

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Business Zone

Four pages of analysis and expert comment

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Business Reporter UK

@biznessreporter

Merchants know that mobile is the future of payments – but it is the future of fraud too

M Keeping up with the pace of changing payments

T One in four Nationwide point-of-sale transactions is contactless

HE WORLD of payments is changing at rapid pace – within the last few years we have experienced a complete sea change in the way we make financial transactions.

In 1880 the first “credit voucher”, a precursor to credit cards, was introduced in the UK, but it wasn’t until 1951 that the first “charge card” was introduced.

This card would be quite familiar to debit and credit card users today, although of course authentication then was all done by signature.

Sixteen years later the first cash machine was installed in Enfield, London, with Chip and PIN at point of sale following, slowly, in 2003.

By 2004, UK card expenditure exceeded cash expenditure for the first time. The last decade has seen the launch of Faster Payments, contactless cards and mobile payments and with each new launch the speed of widespread mass adoption dramatically increases.

Figures released from the UK Card Association showed that, in the first six months of 2016, more contactless payments were made than in the whole of the previous year. Nationwide Building Society now has more than five million contactless cards in circulation and today one in four point-of-sale transactions made by our customers are contactless – this time last year it was one in 20. Despite only launching new mobile payment services a little over a year ago, Nationwide customers have already made 6.1 million payments using their mobile. We can expect this to be a mainstream method of payment in the next five years – the shortest time from launch to mass adoption of any payment method yet seen.

The current focus for the payments industry is “open banking”. The easy access to data – to help customers compare products, speed through application processes and take the friction out of transactions – is something both UK and European regulators are driving payment service providers and financial institutions to accelerate.

We will see the first instance of what’s known as API (Application Programming Interface) technology providing new opportunities in 2017 and Nationwide is seeking the optimum ways in which members can benefit from these new developments.

The future of payments may also lie within biometric technology.

There is nothing more exceptional than your own attributes. Already today our customers are opening their phone and mobile banking apps using fingerprints and across the industry trials are taking place using blood flow technology and iris recognition. Who’s to say that one day in the near future we can’t walk out of a shop and pay for our purchases by the system recognising the contours of our face, the swipe of our hand or the unique way we move.

Customer behaviour and expectations of their financial services providers are developing rapidly. Organisations must focus on the comparative value of products and personalised services and determine how to best to integrate services and information seamlessly into customers’ lifestyles, enabling quality digital experiences.

INDUSTRY VIEW

Twitter: @AskNationwide www.nationwide.co.uk/ways-to-pay

ORE THAN half the UK population uses mobile for shopping and paying bills, and it is the fastest growing platform for commerce. There is no doubt that mobile is the future of payments.

Yet in the rush to prioritise mobile channels and make mobile payments easier, our research has shown that security is not being given the focus it requires. More than 82 per cent of merchants actively support the mobile channel today, up from 54 per cent at the time of the inaugural survey.

Mobile commerce is more vulnerable to fraud than any other channel. So security must be made a priority. Our research, though, shows that this is not happening.

Fewer than half the merchants we speak to knew what fraud comes from mobile. And even fewer merchants thought it was important to detect mobile transactions or that there should be specialist tools to detect m-commerce fraud.

These trends are concerning because they represent falsehoods. Knowing which channel a transaction comes from is critical to detecting fraud and m-commerce fraud needs m-commerce fraud fighting tools.

Kount’s all-in-one solution simplifies fraud management and maximises effectiveness by providing: • Real-time mobile device detection • Additional real-time data elements on risk enquiry call • Two-factor authentication through SMS or Voice PIN • Rules engine mobile device capability • Mobile reporting and search • Mobile SDK for easy development If your business prioritises mobile, it should prioritise mobile security too.

INDUSTRY VIEW

Brad Wiskirchen is CEO of Kount bjw@kount.com www.kount.com Changing trends in mobile fraud protection 2015

2016

Change

Merchants aware of share of total fraud coming from mobile channel

40%

43%

+ 7.5%

Merchants who consider it very important to detect mobile transactions

46%

42%

- 8.5%

Merchants who believe that existing e-commerce fraud prevention tools are suitable for m-commerce

28.5%

36%

+25%

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The power beyond payments 93% percentage of Zapper users who leave instant feedback when paying with the app

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AN A simple payment platform really improve business performance and deliver a top-level customer experience all in one go?

The short answer is yes.

With more and more consumers using their smartphones to make payments, it’s essential for businesses to keep up with demand. By using Zapper’s complete customer insight and marketing platform, businesses can not only future-proof their service but also directly communicate with users, increasing brand awareness and improving customer experiences.

Gerry Hooper, CEO of Zapper UK, says: “Our goal is ubiquity.

Zapper users are able to make payments in different environments throughout their daily routine. The power is beyond the payment and businesses can now use this simple solution to understand individual customer habits to inspire more visits. With influential brands such as Alipay, epay, WoraPay, i-movo, Palmer & Harvey, Nisa, nGeneration, RDP (EPOS supplier to Booker Premier), Harvey Nichols and local councils all recently partnering with Zapper, our solution is seen as a real gamechanger for the industry.”

While Zapper has been disrupting the global hospitality industry for the last 18 months, it’s now expanding to other sectors, mainly retail. With a host of convenient features all included within the app, consumers around the world

The world’s largest trustbased tech event hits the Riviera

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are able to ditch their cards (not to mention their wallets!) completely, and pay using their smartphone either at home or out and about.

Enabled by using the Zapper app to scan a unique QR code, the bill is instantly uploaded to the user’s smartphone for secure payments, bill splitting, tipping, voucher redemption, loyalty rewards and review features. Zapper gives businesses a smart way to increase future spend by creating bespoke promotions and rewarding loyalty through

in-app offers, push notifications and beacon technology.

Due to its simplicity, Zapper is gaining momentum across the US, Europe and Africa, partnered with over 12,000 businesses. Easily adapted to any payment environment, it seamlessly provides industries such as hospitality, retail, bill payments and transport with a simple all-in-one solution to engage with individual customers.

Anish Keshwara, director of Keshco Limited, owns several Nisa stores around

Peterborough and launches with Zapper this month. “We are always looking for innovative ways to improve our customer experience, understand our shopper habits and deliver real value,” he says. “With Zapper’s next-generation marketing solution, we believe this is the future for retail convenience.”

INDUSTRY VIEW

The Zapper app is free to download for Android, iOS and Windows platforms. For more information call 0333 370 4414 or email scanpaygo@zapper.com

Telemarketing with a difference

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ELEMARKETING IS one of the most cost-effective and quickest ways to accurately identify contacts at firms interested in purchasing your products and services. It works so efficiently because it requires an immediate response; you have the attention of a live person on the phone who can identify the correct contacts, answer questions, discuss their budget and overcome any potential barriers.

There are lots of telemarketing companies up and down the UK offering lead generation – you need to find one that does more than that.

The supplier you commission should

be able to send you qualified leads that convert into new customers.

This is what Trifle Solutions excels at – it drills down to ensure that the generated lead has the budget, the authority to buy, has a need for your product or service and knows when they will be making their purchase.

Trifle Solutions passes these “closing leads” on to you straight away so you can make the sale.

Based in Reading, Trifle Solutions (www.triflesolutions.co.uk) has provided expert intelligent telesales and marketing for more than 15 years. It works B2B, offering dedicated telemarketing but also

high-quality prospect data and telemarketing training for inhouse teams.

Trifle Solutions is different because you can try it before you commit for just £149. The team personally meets you to prepare your detailed specification and you experience the team in action.

Once you sign-up as a customer, if you are not satisfied with your service, quality or volume of leads, you do not have to pay.

INDUSTRY VIEW

0845 0559625 hello@triflesolutions.co.uk

RUSTECH INCORPORATING Cartes is the largest international event dedicated to trustbased technologies, with unprecedented net working opportunities and not-tobe-missed keynote speakers.

As announced in 2015, Cartes events have become TRUSTECH – Pay, Identify, Connect and Secure. Secure payment, identification and connections are the buzzwords for a three-day event offering unrivalled networking opportunities and keynote speakers.

At TRUSTECH 2016, industry experts will speak on the most current trending topics: blockchain, fintech, data management, e-ID and e-government. Cannes and its famous Palais des Festivals has been hand-picked as the new venue for the event.

For three days, TRUSTECH incorporating Cartes will be taking over a town that attracts over 300,000 attendees per year, making it France’s No2 destination for business tourism. What’s more, the venue is tailor-made for entertaining, networking and after-hours relaxation.

TRUSTECH will include, among other things, a selection of start-ups and fintechs who will showcase their latest innovations for the payment and identification industries.

TRUSTECH incorporating Cartes gathers together, in Cannes on the French Riviera, 18,000-plus attendees from more than 130 countries, as well as in excess of 1,800 CEOs and more than 400 exhibitors and sponsors and 250 speakers.

INDUSTRY VIEW

To register for a conference pass, a free visitor pass, or to exhibit, consult www.trustech-event.com

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The debate What more can be done to support merchants accepting new payment types as they emerge?

Paul Horlock

Hannah Fitzsimons

Patrick Gauthier

Justin Payne

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T

T

F

Head of payments Nationwide HE CUSTOMER is at the forefront of everything we do at Nationwide and it’s imperative that we articulate the value that new payment methods bring to customers.

This will drive usage and help build the business case for merchants to start accepting the technology.

In addition to our support, it’s essential for merchants that their customer-facing colleagues are trained. If they aren’t confident in using payment technologies, then it will be difficult to promote options and help customers embrace new ways to pay.

At Nationwide we have a network of specially trained “Digital Aces” across our branch network to help our employees and members embrace new technology. Essentially, we focus on new payment types which increase convenience, security and the ease of everyday life for our members – a contactless payment helps skip the Tube ticket lines, Paym helps you split the bill and Apple and Android Pay give you the power of your wallet on your mobile.

INDUSTRY VIEW

Twitter: @AskNationwide www.nationwide.co.uk/ways-to-pay

MD, UK and international corporate Elavon Merchant Services HE RISK of major impact to small businesses presented by payment fraud means security must be taken seriously. As payment types evolve and mobile payments begin to achieve scale, security measures need to adapt. The more complex your payment ecosystem is, the harder it is to secure.

PCI compliance has long been associated with complex form filling, taking valuable time when businesses should be focussing on their core business. Easy to understand, online PCI self-assessments, expert support and handholding throughout the compliance journey will make it easier for retailers to understand their obligations and protect their customer data, while minimising the resource required.

Interesting times lie ahead, as tokenisation and encryption become more accessible to smaller businesses, and with biometric technology already being used in millions of mobile devices. Payments providers must ensure that no matter how complex these solutions, they are communicated simply and delivered with the right support, to help smaller businesses to align their security with the rapid pace of payment innovation.

VP external payment services Amazon Payments HE NEW digital environment in which we live and shop, following the widespread adoption of online and mobile technologies, means that merchants need to extend the boundaries of trust further than ever before – nowhere more so than at the checkout. For merchants that recognise the value of having a trusted checkout experience, the rewards are clear to see.

By adopting quick, simple and trusted checkout solutions, merchants can build integrity with their customers by offering a trusted shopping experience. In order to support merchants adopting new payment types, payment providers can work with their new partners to provide white-glove integration, account management, planning support and technical resources and training.

This way payment providers can help merchants to grow and create experiences that delight customers throughout the shopping journey.

INDUSTRY VIEW

pressoffice@amazon.co.uk https://payments.amazon.co.uk

Campaign director Business Reporter OR MERCHANTS to want to make the effort to accept new payment methods, there needs to be a clear business benefit to them.

The benefits are many. It could be a lower cost of transaction processing, the increased speed of when funds hit their own account, the improved customer experience they can offer by speeding up the payment process… the list goes on.

With many mobile payment apps working through NFC, simply having a contactless card reader opens up many new payment types to them and their customers.

So how can we support their adoption?

Simple things like supplying display materials to promote the many payments types they can take will help build familiarity with the consumer. Education is also key – many people fear change, and this counts for both merchants and consumers.

By promoting the positives to be gained from contactless and mobile payments, as well as the security their transaction enjoys, we will see adoption levels continue to grow on both sides.

INDUSTRY VIEW

020 8349 6488 j.payne@business-reporter.co.uk

INDUSTRY VIEW

020 3788 2125 www.elavon.co.uk/smallbusiness

The future of the payments industry

O

VER THE past decade there has been a flood of innovative technology that is changing the payment industry. Gone are the days of slow, expensive and outdated methods involving paper, clunky cash registers, and even physically swiping your card.

Cheques and cash are on the decline, replaced by electronic methods that are less expensive, faster, and more secure.

As shown in the 2016 Capgemini review, today’s payments industry is in a state of flux, with several technological, economic and demographic factors cutting across the length and breadth of the value chain. The industry is witnessing rapid growth in innovations across the value chain, thus making it more

fragmented. Growth in the adoption of digital payments, entry of non-traditional players, technological innovation, and proliferation of immediate payments are largely driving the dynamics of retail payments.

MoneyNetInt LTD is a UK-based company active in the payments market since 2004.

It is regulated in the UK by the FCA and authorised under the Electronic Money Regulations for issuing electronic money.

In 2016, MoneyNetInt became an Ecommerce Europe Business Partner and a SWIFT member, allowing it to expand services by connecting to a secure network and exchange financial information with others, including financial institutions and corporations.

MoneyNetInt is a global payments system providing a range of services – eWallet, international money transfers, payment gateway, local and global payouts, currency exchange, prepaid cards and designated accounts. Director Raphael Golan says

MoneyNetInt has taken another step forward towards gaining a banking licence, which will be granted by 2017.

MoneyNetInt’s vision is to become one of the leading Fintech companies in the world, by offering a variety of financial services to its customers that will obviate the dependence on traditional banks, bringing added value for customers and always being a step ahead of their needs. Golan adds: “This is just the beginning for MoneyNetInt in this long financial journey!”

INDUSTRY VIEW

+44 (0)20 8819 9842 www.moneynetint.com