PCM Volume 3 - Issue 9: The Big Fintech Sweep

Vol 3. Issue 9 | September 2017

YOUR GATEWAY TO THE WORLD OF PAYMENTS

THE BIG FINTECH SWEEP Looking at the interplay of innovation & regulation

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Contents STORIES 4

PSD2, from a retailer’s standpoint

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There’s never been a better time for payment vendors to up their partnership with retailers

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Raise the bar

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Accelerating Digital Disruption: an Interview with Gregory Cronie

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Start-up Spotlight: Cheddar Up

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PSD2: Challenges & Opportunities from a Merchant PoV

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Why is PSD2 exciting for you?

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A Winning Transformation

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Can we bridge the Atlantic?

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Hot Jobs

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Industry Events Calendar

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

PSD2, from a retailer’s standpoint by Market Pay (Carrefour Group)

by Frédéric Mazurier

We are dealing with an ecosystem that is hard to understand, a market that is no longer the preserve of banks, one that has fragmented between a large number of players offering more or less comprehensive solutions, a complex and moving system where there are considerable economic, security, regulatory, and technical challenges, without including international disparities and retailers’ requirements, which vary depending on business activity, location, size of network, and type of customer.

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With major challenges for companies: absolute security, the need for new payment solutions with systematic research on cost optimisation, the obligation to adapt to new purchasing behaviour (consumers are increasingly sensitive to innovation and increasingly used to getting everything for free, etc.), a need to increasingly generate greater preference and loyalty (in services, the shopping experience, etc.).

The impact of the revision of the Payment Service Directive (PSD2) on the European ecosystem is therefore significant.

This new directive will encourage competition and innovation by creating new prospects for non-banking operators, with the continuing aim of improving customer experience.

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e are seeing a very strong trend where payment is concerned: a digital revolution, increasingly dominant security aspects, regulatory changes, and new purchasing behaviour all of which are driving innovation in payment solutions (technical and service innovations, etc.) to make this switch less painful, smoother and more secure.

Payment will become the strategic point of interaction for value creation and driving the customer relationship From harmonization to innovation PSD2 takes account of these technical developments and new practices that have appeared in the payments market since the adoption of PSD1 in 2007, and defines certain rules regarding new intermediaries in the payments market namely ThirdParty Providers, the importance of whom has increased rapidly over the past few years, and who are profoundly changing payment codes.. The boom in payment service providers (PSP) and bank data aggregators, and in new payment practices (mobile) or payment methods (contactless, instant payment) will change the payment service sector.

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“PSD2 goes beyond harmonisation; it promotes innovation in all payment services. Mass-market retailing knows how it will take up its place in this new ecosystem.“ But Open Banking and APIs have no value in themselves. These are quasi amenities made compulsory by the regulations and by technological innovation. The challenge is not the technical connection, but the ability to imagine and market on a large scale new and useful marketing services for customers.

THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

Frédéric Mazurier

CEO, Market Pay (Carrefour Group) Frédéric’s career has been focused on the Financial Services, oriented merchant and client vision, with an emphasis on building value through strategic products development. He was heading the business development for Carrefour Banque and bringing the innovation on the Carrefour payments world with the launch of the first Mastercard Only and Contactless card on the French (2009) and Spanish (2013) markets. He created and coordinated the issuing paneuropean payment platform currently extended to acceptance and acquiring.

As CEO of Market Pay, from January 2016, he is driving one of the most important European payment institution.

Customer relationship at the heart of the future success of PSD2

Nevertheless it will be a while before this new trend is accepted

Payment is an engaging and powerful interaction point between the company and its customer. A ‘transaction’ may enhance, or on the contrary undo the ‘customer relationship’.

PSD2 gives power to the customer, and requires us to work on the best possible payment solutions, which boost the company’s performance and its relationship with the endcustomer. Payment will no longer be an isolated act: we need to look at the purchasing experience as a whole, in a personalised way, and create cross-channel solutions that allow you to interact with your customer before, during, and after the payment transaction.

PSD2 will make it easier to create innovative and valuable customer experiences by pooling the collective knowledge of banks and retailers. However, in order to respond to the impetus given by the European regulations, certain technical, operational and business elements have to be clarified/ constructed:

This means that customer knowledge is crucial, and that retailing is no longer only about products on shelves. With 55 million loyalty cards, 6.5 million credit cards, and 13 million daily transactions at Carrefour, Market Pay must explore new territories, imagine new experiences, and adjust to, and meet the new challenges and requirements of Carrefour customers.

Market Pay must draw up and implement the best payment solutions, designed according to market standards and enable the Carrefour retailer and the Carrefour Banque to turn this interaction point into a genuine opportunity for enhancing the customer experience.

Maximum data security Security aspects must not be neglected, as payment security and data protection are important issues, especially where customers’ trust and fraud prevention are concerned given that the use of new technologies multiplies the number of risk scenarios, e.g. identity theft, the risk of malicious behaviour, and information leaks. Strong authentication or two factor authentication is a major measure in PSD2; on the other hand a compromise must be found between authentication measures and a simple and smooth customer transaction path because the customer experience must not suffer as a result.

Furthermore, we must not underestimate the link between PSD2 and the GDPR, both of which are pushing companies further still in their obligation to assess and handle risks relating to the processing of personal data. As is the case for PSD2, the regulation on personal data puts the individual back at the centre of decisions, raises their awareness, gives them control over the use of data that concerns them, and allows them to benefit from the use of their data. All in all, a great challenge to meet, which could well be the key vital to winning our customers’ trust.

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Create a common solution at a European level. A marketled standardization effort is required to supplement the legal framework provided by the PSD2 and the EBA RTS.

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Guarantee access for a minimum cost to the APIs (if not, there will not be market developments, marketing innovations, and new players)

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Educate clients (pedagogy on the new services)

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Create a big data economic model

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Protect the confidentiality and integrity of data (data security will be at the heart of our concerns - when it comes to transmitting banking information, it is crucial to keep a close eye on security issues).

In the months between now and the entry into force of PSD2, there is likely to be a lot of twists and turns in the transposition of the directive at national level and the interpretations that will be made.

Market Pay Created to support the brands of the Carrefour Group, Market Pay develops and operates custom solutions to boost the business and improve the customer relations. The payment institution, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carrefour Group, combines all of Carrefour’s electronic payment systems, such as Carrefour cards, POS terminals and online payment solutions, and centralises payment acceptance and acquisition services for all of the retail channels.

Market Pay enables the set-up and management of customised, secure, high-performance payment solutions. It will improve the security of payment data collected from customers of Carrefour banners and develop new payment solutions for the Group.

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Having data dilemmas? Please contact: simon@digitalsource.io Digital Source | Herengracht 576 | 1017 CJ | Amsterdam | The Netherlands | +31 (0) 202 373 639

THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

RetailNOW Reflections: There’s never been a better time for payment vendors to up their partnership with retailers

by Georgina Nelson

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his year’s RetailNOW event may have taken place in Las Vegas, but the theme seemed to be centered more around finding sure fire bets than uncertain gambles. Organized by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), there were some compelling speeches, debates and conversations, and I found very similar questions emerging throughout. Where does the future of retail lie?

What are the challenges retailers are facing? And what are the innovations that can help retailers turn these challenges into opportunities?

A major theme to emerge from the event was that of how, in the payment technology landscape, the key to attracting and retaining customers is differentiation. As keynote speaker Bill Garcia said: “There’s a misconception in the world that price is all that matters. Don’t chase to the bottom. Differentiate to add value.” A panel discussion on the topic of “Value-Added Solutions – The Key to Customer Retention” further highlighted the importance of diversifying product offering, particularly in today’s market of relatively inexpensive POS systems, and looked at how those value adds can impact a provider’s bottom line.

So what value adds can the payments industry offer to the retailer that can really make a difference?

are dealing with today is that of understanding the customer experience, and building on that understanding to develop all areas of their business – stores, ecommerce, product lines, marketing campaigns. As Christy Thompson of ScanSource said in her digital marketing breakout at RetailNOW: “The days of Don Draper advertising are over. The campaign was king and built on gut instinct, not data. You need to validate why your customers engage with you. Then you can build your communication strategy.”

While in the past, retailers have turned to marketers to help them assess and inform customer experience strategies, payment providers now also have a stake in this game. In fact, the payment industry is uniquely positioned to build its partnership with merchants by enabling access to some of those technologies – particularly when it comes to data collection.

Traditional methods for collecting customer experience data – receipt surveys, for instance – tend to yield a very low response rate, which makes it problematic to use the data collected in order to develop actionable insights. Without the data to tell them what their customers think, how can companies make informed decisions – from high level strategic decisions to something as simple as “should we change the chairs in the restaurant?”

One of the biggest challenges – and opportunities – retailers

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THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

Georgina Nelson

Founder & CEO of TruRating Georgina began her career as a leveraged finance lawyer at Clifford Chance. Georgina then joined Europe’s largest consumers’ association, Which? where she was responsible for advising the EU and the UK government on their technology strategy, as well as advising internal teams on their online propositions. It was in this role where she identified a market need for mass, representative, reliable consumer ratings. She saw how this need could not only serve to improve the world of business but also be valuable to consumers alike. With this vision, she set about realizing the huge potential of TruRating by bringing together a wonderful team, exciting customers and partners in the payments industry with the ultimate objective to bring the truth back to ratings.

This is where TruRating can help. It gives merchants the opportunity to ask a single question at the point of payment, and the ease and simplicity of this method of data collection means they are seeing response rates of up to 88%. This level of data, which is available in real-time and, crucially, links sentiment to spend, is providing retailers access to insights that have never before been available.

Success stories like the above are one of TruRating’s biggest goals – to equip our customers with the means to improve, by empowering their customers to speak to them using the POS. Our win at the RetailNOW ‘Shark Tank’ challenge is perhaps reflective of the industry’s interest in technologies that enable them to provide the experience that answers – and exceeds their customers’ expectations.

We’ve achieved over five million ratings for our customers, and in doing so have learned a great deal about how gathering customer data can be used to drive changes within the business.

Changes that make customers happier, and it may sound obvious but it bears emphasizing: happier customers spend more. Our data shows that retail customers who are impressed by their overall in-store experience spend a whopping 43% more on average that those who are disappointed.

Outgoing RSPA Chairman of the Board Tom Reichart said at the show, “The retailers who are changing are those who are winning.” But the key to success also needs knowledge of which changes are going to be the right changes – otherwise you’re just gambling. The payment industry has the potential to be a significant partner in helping the retailer identify those key success factors, by unlocking access to unprecedented levels of data and customer insights.

In a more specific example of how this data can be used to make positive changes, one of our clients asked their customers to rate their product range. In response to their findings, they changed not the range itself but simply the way that the range was displayed, with new promotional displays and a change in layout. This resulted in happy customers spending 12% more – a fantastic return on a very simple and inexpensive investment.

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TruRating TruRating is the first mass point-of-payment consumer feedback system, providing accurate ratings from 88% of validated customers. By asking one anonymous question via the payment terminal, TruRating enables every customer to instantly feed back on an aspect of their experience. Businesses benefit from timely insight that links sentiment to basket data.

- NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER -

When successful anti-fraud risk manager, Edoardo Fiorentini is approached and asked to help find a way to carry out a fraud successfully, it is the beginning of a journey into the secretive world of e-commerce fraud with some astonishing outcomes.

THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

Raise the bar

by Edoardo Fiorentini

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find it ironic that my book title got misinterpreted as a guide for actual fraudsters. The English say goes exactly “never judge a book by its cover” and many fell into this small marketing trick. Nevertheless, the stories in the book are meant to be a wake-up alarm for all e-commerce business owners and managers who deal with fraud.

Fraudsters are highly evolved and it’s been many years that I hear people in the industry stating that the good fraudsters, you will never catch. But it’s time to stop.

Established businesses have decent rates in preventing fraud to be an economic issue for the company, but smaller ones need to outsource to third parties. Others are still convinced that when you have a valid authorization, you will never get a chargeback.

I’ve been providing trainings to Risk people for years and at the time, everyone just works individually for his company.

People at conferences and meetings were surprised on how freely I gave space to my mouth, sharing methods, processes, rates and ideas. For free. But this happened only inside this industry, basically pushing fraudsters towards less sophisticated e-commerce webs.

DIt’s time to stop. How am I not responsible for the fraudster I pushed away, when he targets a small shop who barely makes the end of the month?

Fraudsters and the information they use, should be blocked globally, to be effective. And while there are tons of initiatives

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and “vertical” specific solutions, we are still just trying to push fraudsters “somewhere else”.

I’ve decided I had enough and I won’t be an accomplice of fraudsters going to their second on the list.

We need to stop their attempts on a global level. Everyone in the industry needs to implement some fraud prevention system — or hook to an existing one. Funny how this message can be extrapolated also from the PSD2 directive…

While I have no doubt that many providers will comply getting some sort of risk detection in place, many merchants will be late for this train.

The book is for them. It’s my expert opinion of years spent networking in this industry. You should be scared! You need to put something in place to prevent AT LEAST these obvious cases.

Many small merchants, however, won’t be able to react quickly.

The B&B on the green hills of Tuscany doesn’t have enough volume to justify a fraud solution. And fraud providers need a minimum transaction volume to justify the expertise, so he can’t get anything? Or should he transform himself into an antifraud expert?

Of course not, but reading my book should give them a general sense of what is going on and how they should modify their processes, just to be safe…

THOUGHT LEADERS CORNER

Edoardo Fiorentini Risk Management Expert Edoardo Fiorentini, known as Edo in the industry, is a risk expert with years of experience with some of the biggest players in the market.

After publishing this book, he co-founded AI Detection, the smart fraud prevention that regroups all e-commerce buyers, sellers and solution providers to build a safer web.

The book is a collection of fraudulent methods and the most obvious ways to prevent them. If there is even a single point in the book that makes you want to go back to your office and implement something, then you may need additional help from some of the leading companies out there.

If you just had some laugh instead and nodded in few chapters, congratulations, either you are not the responsible of a risk prevention department, or you already knew it all!

This book is not a guide but it may still teach a couple of things.

Hopefully on how to protect your business better.

Of course, names, places and companies had to be redacted to protect the innocents!

I’ve asked few friends to write a story about a smart fraudster, how they did it, how they caught him. Many decided to go public with their full name. Others smelled possible issues with their companies and opted to be anonymous. Regardless of their specific name, you have few of the best stories out there, written by experts who are leaders of their markets. I want you to understand how smart fraudsters failed and I’m not challenging any fraudster here, I know how good they can be, but the others?

The messages are simple: To my colleagues: watch out! You need to get better.

To the wannabe-fraudsters: don’t even bother trying!

Of course, AI is the vibe of the moment. Everyone has it or is planning to implement it. You can imagine my face when I asked for clarifications and got fed back a ML description.

An Artificial Intelligence can LEARN and guess what, it’s a Machine. But then it will follow what it wants to do.

I know that if I need a smart robot, I won’t give him too much freedom (Terminator anyone?), but if the AI is designed to be interested in something.

The last few weeks saw me busy finding the right path towards this direction. An AI who thinks freely. An AI who can request access to different sources — “to check an idea”. An AI who can properly give a risk score based not only on data, but on intelligence. And I want it to be free for all the ones who can’t really afford an external provider.

The first results are so encouraging that we had to check multiple times that were correct.

If AI is the way to go, it becomes as important as having the right fraud analyst to support its continuous training.

Therefore, I added few articles published before on the subject.

You need to remember that your people are your treasure, your richness, the historical knowledge of your platform. Let them read my book if you think will help and hear them out.

They may actually have some good ideas for your business!

I doubt this will be the winning approach if we don’t get better in detecting and preventing fraud. I heard talking about Machine Learning and few more innovative solutions. I also tested few solutions and indeed, if you still have an old IBM System from 1980, these represent awesome improvements.

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Easy online collections for organizers

Cheddar Up gives organizers the toolset to collect online for just about anything—for free.

EASY START. EASY HANDOFF. Ditch the three-ring binder

MOVE FORMS ONLINE Payments + forms? Eureka!

www.cheddarup.com

AUTOMATIC TRACKING No more data entry

EXPERT INTERVIEW

Accelerating Digital Disruption: an Interview with Gregory Cronie Gregory Cronie is a Payments and Financial Supply Chain professional with 20+ years experience in Finance and Treasury, Financial Supply Chain and Payments. Last 10 years he worked for companies like ING Commercial Banking and PayPal. He is a mentor at Startupbootcampamsterdam for the Fintech program and also the founder and owner of 2knowlab.

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rapidly changing payments i ndus t r y is t h reaten i ng incumbent banks’ payments re venues a nd cu s tomer ownership. In addition, the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is driving European banks to a defining moment. The directive is set to accelerate the digital disruption that is reshaping the financial services industry. However, this does not only pose challenges but also opportunities which can be seized.

Therefore, we interviewed Gregory Cronie, CEO & Founder of 2knowlab, a niche consultancy that focuses on the payments, financial supply chain, and FinTech industry.

PCM: Can you tell us about yourself and your organisation?

Gregory: I’m a Payments and Financial Supply Chain professional with 20+ years experience in Finance and Treasury, Financial Supply Chain and Payments.

Last 10 years did work for companies like ING Commercial Banking and PayPal. I’m a mentor at Startupbootcampamsterdam for the Fintech program. I’m the founder and owner of 2knowlab.

2knowlab 2knowlab was founded in December of 2016. We see ourselves as ‘business

navigators’ that accelerate businesses based on knowledge sharing, ideation and gamification. We give expert guidance with a personal touch based on a hands-on mentality. Currently we primarily focus on three domains: Financial Supply Chain, Online Payments and Fintech.

PCM: As 2knowlab also focuses on FinTech, how do you evaluate the FinTech ecosystem in Europe? How do you evaluate the position of Amsterdam (Netherlands) regarding to FinTech ecosystem in Europe?

Gregory: Although the US is attracting the largest investments in Fintech and is also well represented in the list with the highest valued startups, Europe as a region is also performing well. On the one hand one might say that it’s a pity that the European Fintech ecosystem is spread over several hubs like London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Stockholm.

On the other hand this also ensures that Europe has quite a diverse population of Fintech startups centered around different topics. Also the fact that Europe has multiple Fintech startup hubs gives startups the possibility to choose the hub they think is best for them and their idea.

I think Amsterdam is doing a really good job as a Fintech startup hub. It’s a good thing that we have established Fintech companies like Adyen, Backbase and Payvision that really have a global reach and set the stage for the new challengers that recently have been founded or will be founded in the near future. I’m also excited by the fact that Amsterdam hosts a Fintech bank like Bunq.

I do like the underlying principles of Bunq and am really curious to see how successful they will be over a longer period. I also would like to mention that Startupbootcamp Amsterdam is also a strong force in creating the right basis in Amsterdam for Fintech Startups to be successful. And the way that Holland Fintech is facilitating the Fintech ecosystem in different ways is also a contributing factor to make Amsterdam a hotspot for Fintech startups.

PCM: PSD2 will have a direct effect on all EU member states from 13 January 2018. How would you advise merchants to prepare for this regulatory hurdle?

Gregory: When talking about PSD2 there are many topics we could focus on. I would like to call out two things.

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EXPERT INTERVIEW

The first one is the change of scope for commercial agent exemption per 13 January 2018. This change of scope does impact online merchants that operate a marketplace i.e. online merchants that sell goods on behalf of a 3rd party. In short: these merchants need to become a Payment Institution or need to change their payment process in a way that customer funds doesn’t settle on the merchant bank account or specially created trust bank account. My advise to these merchants is to make an assessment as soon as possible to see if this also applies to them since time is short to implement the necessary changes.

The second one is related to the new requirements related to strong customer authentication. The new rules that have been published in the guidelines are likely to cause friction for consumers in the check-out process. To be prepared on try and mitigate the impact I do advise merchants to work closely with their PSP’s and acquirers to understand how the strong customer authentication guidelines will be implemented by them and try and understand how it will impact their business and their processes.

PCM: With the rising trend of FinTech in general and implementation of PSD2 in particular, what are the threats and opportunities for banks and FinTech companies in the upcoming years?

Gregory: The ‘new’ landscape that is being shaped by the rise of Fintech and implementation of new regulations like PSD2 means different things for different players in the market.

However, one thing can be said for sure: the role of banks and Fintech will change. To what extent, will depend on how players will deal with all the new dynamics. Will they act proactive or will they act reactive?

Looking at banks one of the biggest

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threats I anticipate is the risk that they will be disintermediated by Fintech companies and their role in the value chain. It could even be that their position will be diminished from currently being customer facing and in the lead turning into non-customer facing and becoming only an ingredient of the customer experience.

My expectation is that the banking industry will transform from an industry with vertically integrated players that offer lots of products and services themselves to an industry with horizontal platforms where many different providers can offer their products and services through API’s via the platform to consumers.

In this scenario, the platform will be responsible for the consumer onboarding and experience and not the service/product provider (e.g. bank).

The main question for banks is whether can they act quick enough and become one of the leading horizontal platforms where they sell their own and 3rd party products and services or if they will become a 2nd tier player and transform into factories that only produce products and services that are sold through 3rd party platforms.

Fintech companies also might become one of these horizontal platforms or a service provider to one of these platforms. For Fintech companies the challenge will lie in elements like: can they create a seamless customer experience that really meets customer demand, can they create enough ‘trust’ for consumers to interact with them, how do they overcome consumer acquisition challenges etc. ?

PCM: What would be the role of regulatory bodies in bridging the gap between FinTechs and Banks?

Gregory: In an ideal world the regulator or legislator would try to create a ‘level

playing field’ where Banks and Fintechs can compete and work with each other in a fair way so that consumers can benefit from innovative products are relative low costs. I know the European parliament has published PSD2 with an intend to create a ‘level playing field’ and a foundation for what is called ‘open banking’. Though the reality is that with the way the EBA (European Banking Authority is mandated to draft technical guidelines) has drafted some of the requirements that relate to access to account. In particular what is called screen scraping and the availability of a dedicated interface, banks are still in the lead and have means to slow down innovation and open banking as such. Taking this into account I’m afraid that PSD2 might not bring all the benefits that the market is expecting with regards to access to account/open banking.

PCM: Next to PSD2 blockchain is also one of the trends with big impact on the financial industry. What is your view on that?

Gregory: In my opinion blockchain is a very interesting technology that can bring lots of benefits to the financial industry when used in the right way.

Also do I think that it can be very disruptive. Especially the application of smart contracts in combination with the fact that the system operates on a decentralized basis makes it very powerful tool for innovations in the financial sector. It will definitely be a driving force that will help creating these horizontal platforms I mentioned before.

Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if in the medium term some of the problems & friction related to access to account and strong customer authentication will be resolved by solutions that are blockchain based. Though I also want to emphasize that blockchain is ‘just’ a technology, the success and adoption do depend on using it for the right use cases that really solve customer pain points.

EXPERT INTERVIEW

PCM: What are your recommendations for FinTech companies and start-ups to take advantage of these major changes?

Gregory: Focus on the customer: don’t focus on just technology and user experience. It’s very important that your solution really addresses a customer pain point which is solved by your solution. Understand how your solution will bring value to consumers and how you can charge for it. Also, don’t see banks as your enemies. Even though they are the incumbents there is still a lot that can be learned from them. Also, don’t forget that how innovative your solution might be, there is a big chance you need to integrate it with a bank or a financial institution in some sort of way to deliver your solution. So, you also better understand how they work as well. And especially if you want to do something in payments: do take the time to understand how the ecosystem

works and which place you want to take in the value chain.

2knowlab 2knowlab was founded in December of 2016. We see ourselves as ‘business navigators’ that accelerate businesses based on knowledge sharing, ideation and gamification. We give expert guidance with a personal touch based on a hands-on mentality. Currently we primarily focus on three domains: Financial Supply Chain, Online Payments and Fintech.

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Spotlight You think you have what it takes to start a business in a super-hot market?

PCM takes a close look at some of the most innovative and promising startup companies in the payment industry.

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

“CHEDDAR UP IS REINVENTING

HOW ORGANIZERS COLLECT. THE PLATFORM HELPS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ORGANIZERS MOVE AWAY FROM PAPER AND CLUNKY TOOLS AND OFFERS A LOW-COST, USER-FRIENDLY PLATFORM TO MOVE ONLINE, MANAGE COLLECTIONS, AND SAVE TIME. ”

Nichole Montoya, Co-Founder & CEO of Cheddar Up

C

ollecting money from a group of friends for joint gifts, trips, or dinners is usually a trying experience. In almost every case, someone needs change for a large bill, someone claims he’s already paid his portion of the tab, and someone asks if he can pay at a later date. We talk to Nichole Monoya, co-founder & CEO of Cheddar Up which is a web-based tool that simplifies the process of settling group payments without relying on cash or checks.

PCM: Tell us about Cheddar Up. How did this idea come to be?

Nichole: Cheddar Up was born out of the need for an organizational, payment-focused toolset. I was looking for a payments-forward, evite-like tool, but it didn’t exist. I was writing a lot of checks and filling out a lot of paper forms, and it was slowing me down. And I was just on the paying side of it. I imagined being the organizer – who was receiving all those checks and paper forms – and quickly understood the administrative burden of it all that needed to be solved.

I studied the market and surveyed my peer group and they all had the same challenges. So we set about creating and growing Cheddar Up.

PCM: Why is it called Cheddar Up? Nichole: Our name is sort of a play on words. “Cheddar” is a slang term for money, and the concept of settling “up” refers to paying someone. The combination of those two combined

created a brand that we felt was just playful enough to solve this universal problem. It’s a light-hearted name and brand that takes the once cumbersome task of collecting from many people – and makes it easy and approachable. It’s also a brand that can appeal to just about any demographic or use case.

PCM: Why is Cheddar Up needed?

Nichole: Cheddar Up helps organizers simplify collecting. An “organizer” can be just about anyone – PTA volunteer, booster club president, HOA treasurer, team parent, direct seller…the list goes on. But they typically have a few things in common.

They need a tool that: • • •

Can accommodate changing and ongoing collecting needs Can be easily handed off to the next person taking over Can centralize and organize payments and information from many people (avoiding payments coming at them via many different payment methods)

PCM: What makes Cheddar Up different?

Nichole: Many things make Cheddar Up different. In addition to payments and forms, one-stop track-ing, and easy start and handoff…Cheddar Up has low fees and anyone can pay on Cheddar Up WITHOUT having to download an app or become a registered user. We’ve eliminated all barriers to entry for both organizers and payers.

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STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

An easy way for the collection of funds from a group

PCM: What were some of your biggest challenges for launching this business?

PCM: What are the 3 things you want people to know about your company?

Nichole: We’ve been doing this for several years and are now the leader in the space for this type of group collecting.

Along the way, through extensive testing and iterating, we’ve become crys-tal clear about the problem we’re solving, how we acquire users, and how we make money. Our patience and responsiveness on these regards has resulted in the high growth that we’re currently experiencing.

Nichole: I think the 3 things that people should know about Cheddar Up are:

PCM: Tell us about your expansion plans and how you go about choosing the next region you expand into?

Nichole: In terms of geographic expansion, we are currently focused on the U.S. and Canada markets. We base our geographic expansion plans on market need and the needs of our growing number of strategic partners.

We’re also expanding our product offering – adding high-value features for our power users who subscribe to Cheddar Up’s monthly plan options. Continued enhancements to our subscription features is currently a high priority.

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We are a payment toolset and platform that helps organizers collect. You can be up and running with a custom collecting page in minutes…for free.

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We don’t compete with Venmo. We are solving a different, very important problem that involves a lot more than just payments.

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Cheddar Up is EASY and people love it. We recently launched a brand-new platform and the response has been phenomenal. If you haven’t used it yet, chances are you will shortly in some capacity.

Payment Collective To get a more complete view on the all businesses in the payments ecosystem, in this rubric PCM showcases how merchants deal with payments and fintech challenges.

Andreas Schulze Director of Payments at Gameforge Andreas Schulze owns the position as Director of Payments at Gameforge 4D GmbH, one of the leading MMO online games publishers in Europe.

In this role, he is responsible for Gameforge’s payment strategy. In his 16 years in the payments industry he worked for various companies. In doing so, he has built up a strong background in strategic business planning, designing payment systems and schemes, international patent applications as well as dealing with regulatory requirements

PAYMENT COLLECTIVE

PSD2: Challenges & Opportunities from a Merchant PoV

I

n this month’s Payment Collective we interviewed Andreas Schulze, who is the Director of Payments at Gameforge. He points out how PSD2s is influencing the industry from a Merchant PoV. Moreover, Andreas shares some advice on how to keep up with the changes.

PCM: Tell us a bit more about yourself (your background and what has led you to pay-ments & Gameforge specifically)?

Andreas: I currently own the position “Director of Payments” at Gameforge 4D GmbH. In this role I am responsible, endto-end, for Gameforge’s payment services, online shops and our anti-fraud ecosystem, which covers ninety countries, fifty languages and 100+ payment methods worldwide. Our payment portfolio is based on 40+ payment and anti-fraud service provider partnerships. During my 16 years in the payments industry, I primarily worked in strategic product management roles for companies like First Data Interna-tional, Qpass (now Amdocs), debitel and 1&1.

PCM: What impact will the EBA Regulatory Technical Standards on Strong Consumer Au-thentication (SCA) have on retail payments (the payments ecosystem in Europe) in your opinion?

Andreas: PSPs (Payment Service Providers) and PISPs (Payment Initiation Service Providers) will have to develop SCA (Strong Consumer Authentication) strategies, which in the end will enable customers to choose their preferred way to authenticate.

This will be the key for the service providers to maximize user acceptance and to be competitive.

Depending on how SCA will be accepted by the users, offering non-SCA payments may become a competitive advantage.

TRA (Transaction Risk Analysis) as a measure to reduce fraud and therefore to achieve exemption from SCA will increase the costs of PSPs, at least due to EBA fraud reporting and audit requirements. However, it will also create new revenue opportunities, e.g. new anti-fraud services for merchants.

The same applies to anti-fraud services or solu-tion providers.

On the other hand, in most cases merchants will have to pay to benefit from these services i.e. if they want to further reduce fraud to fulfill the RTS SCA ex-emption requirements and at the same time carefully apply the anti-fraud measures to prevent an increase of their false positive volume.

a value less than 30€ - at least temporarily.

PCM: The second Payment Service Directive (PSD2) is a fundamental piece of payments-related legislation in Europe. What are the main opportunities and challenges from a merchant point of view?

Andreas: In terms of opportunities, competition will get tougher in the payment services industry caused by new players entering the market, especially new PISPs, who will drive lower merchant payment costs because card payments will lose relevance and therefore the amount of acquirer and scheme fees to be paid, will decrease.

Due to the low fraud risk in bank-to-bank money transfers, costs related to fraud and chargebacks will decline if users switch to these payment methods offered by PISPs. It will also push the innovation of more user-friendly payment funnels and user authen-tication options.

If we finally add instant payments, PSIPs are an even harder challenge for the payment cards industry, since funding risks for merchants will be reduced to almost zero.

The past has already shown that whenever new PSIPs enter a market, they quickly gain market share, while card payments show decline in growth.

As for Challenges, in the future, there we will see numerous new players in the market. As a result, the risk of selecting the wrong service provider will increase.

The higher complexity from a service offering, fees structure and market coverage per-spective requires increased efforts for screening and evaluating PSPs/PSIPs to mitigate the risk.

Since the SCA strategies of merchants will differ, users will ask “why do I have to pass a SCA procedure for merchant A but not for merchant B”, so customers might switch their merchant of choice.

Subscription service revenues will suffer from too strict recurring transactions regula-tion and the related cumbersome procedures users have to pass.

The exemption from SCA for “Low Value Transactions” may require new pricing strate-gies e.g. for digital goods merchants, since these customers might tend to preferably buy carts with

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PAYMENT COLLECTIVE

PCM: How will the introduction of these new changes in legislation affect your opera-tions?

Andreas: There will be less chargebacks, less related costs and likely, a lower loss of revenue due to a decreasing number of credit card payments connected to a successful appliance of SCA. Payment costs will decrease, caused by an intense competition between the PSPs/PISPs. For us as a merchant, RFP processes for screening and evaluating service and solution providers will get more complex and time consuming.

In the beginning, we will face lower conversion rates, at least until we figure out the right SCA option offering and/or an effective appliance of SCA exemptions.

PCM: What can you advise other merchants to do to keep up with the upcoming regulatory changes?

Andreas: SCA, make yourselves familiar with SCA and the solutions offered by service providers, now and in the future.

Track any changes to PSD2 and RTS, especially if the SCA exemption requirements change. If you do not have the resources to do so, involve Consultants in the process.

Elaborate a strategy of how to deal with SCA, figure out which SCA exemptions could be relevant for you and do not forget to take your customers’ needs into consideration.

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Speak with your current PSPs, which SCA options they will offer and what will they offer to support achieving an exemption from SCA. Evaluate if the offering meets your requirements and what you would have to do to enable SCA or the appliance of its exemp-tions. Define a strategy on how to test different setups.

If necessary, i.e. you do not get what you need from your PSP(s), you should screen the market for more appropriate service providers which better meet your requirements.

It might be necessary to onboard new PSP´s/PISPs to test setups, which are not possible with your current service providers.

The goal should be to identify the best setup for you and your customers step-by-step.

Keep an eye on the market, especially, which PISPs cover a significant share of your cus-tomer base. Take these PSIPs into consideration when managing your payment partner and method portfolio.

Gameforge With more than 20 titles and over 450 million registered players, Gameforge is the leading provider of free-to-play massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in the western hemisphere.

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, the group offers its online games in more than 75 countries

WORKSHOPS

Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) Pending Challenges and Hidden Opportunities

Payments & Cards Network’s Group PSD2 workshop is designed to dive deeper into the business and opportunities side of PSD2 and give attendees an understanding of how PSD2 will affect their business and what they can do.

GET IN TOUCH NOW

Andrew Mullineux Business Leader Contracts - Payments | FinTech andrew@teampcn.com +31 20 3030 257

Why is PSD2 exciting for you?

PSD2 is a step toward open banking, which will see a new financial landscape gradually emerge over the coming years. PSD2 will drive innovation in Europe and really start to effect a change for consumers and the financial industry as whole as the larger financial incumbents (the banks) are disrupted and new FinTech organisations, through a combination of regulation and new technology, are able to offer new and innovative services to customers. Banks have traditionally held Centre stage in the world of finance but that will gradually change and they may even start to cut back on the traditional services they offer (like loans and mortgages) and function more like a platform which other Companies access.

The really exciting part for me is the new services and offerings from the FinTechs (and some of the banks), which will hit the market. Banks have been very slow to innovate over the years but with PSD2 that innovation will come from outside of the banks and there’s going to be some very exciting developments over the next few years allowing people to have much more personalised and flexible options when it comes to banking and financial products.

I think for many people, financial technology is a huge unknown, which operates in the background, but it’s also something that touches us every day. When I started at PCN I really started to think about it and get very involved with the excellent work being done inside both the Banks and FinTechs and the enthusiasm in the industry in infectious.

Working at PCN in the way that I do, meeting people, talking about ideas and hearing stories about how people are trying to make the world a better place through innovative use of technology is extraordinary and somewhat inspirational. I feel quite lucky to have the position that I do and the window that PCN has given me into the FinTech world.

What do you do for your clients and when should they reach out to you?

I am interested in speaking to anyone involved with Projects in the Payments and FinTech domains. My day-to-day role is heavily focused on both business development and consulting around resource needs. For me that always starts with understanding a client’s project, knowing what they are trying to achieve and what they need to achieve it. Sometimes clients know what they want and they need someone with the networks, tools and recourses to find it but sometimes it’s not so clear, so there can be a larger element of consulting at the beginning before I go out to our networks and suggest solutions in the form of people with the knowledge and technical expertise to deliver.

Andrew Mullineux Business Leader - Contracts & Project Services Andrew Mullineux is the Head of Contracts and Project Services Division and is based in Amsterdam. He brings 10 years of experience delivering contract recruitment services to both small and large corporate clients across parts of Africa, Europe and Russia. Andrew’s focus at PCN is on engaging with Project teams across Europe on subjects such as PSD2, Instant Payments, Open Banking, Innovation and Blockchain along with running our workshops.

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Executive Profiles In this BRAND new rubric we are introducing inspiring professionals of the financial technology industry and look into their careers and ambitions. This is a collaboration in partnership with Atlanta Trend.

EXECUTIVE PROFILES

A Winning Transformation

by Robert Green

A

lot of changes have taken place at iPayment since OB Rawls took over as CEO and President in November of 2016. Under his guidance, the company has raised $550 million in new bonds and converted $250 million from debt to equity. iPayment has now experienced three consecutive quarters of revenue and EBITDA growth.

Accounts on file, average size of transaction and merchant processing volume have all grown.

“It’s all been fundamentals,” says OB, “we work as a team and execute together.”

OB Rawls grew up on a farm in Washington, N.C. He jokes that OB stands for “Odd Ball,” but it’s actually O’Bealie, a name that first belonged to a Scottish ancestor who came to America.

Rawls’ grandfather went by Bealie, but was often called “Billy.”

That didn’t sit well with him.

“He said, ‘Just call me OB; that’s what stuck,” Rawls says. “The unfortunate part about it is not having a middle name.”

Although Rawls has a son named O’Bealie, he and his wife also gave him a middle name so he is not the fifth in the line.

Rawls graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in social work and corrections, which he likens to a psychology degree because of its behavioral studies. He took his first job as a parole officer for the state of North Carolina.

Rawls did some extradition work, bringing felons back to North Carolina from other states as well as the United Kingdom, Brazil and Argentina. Standing 6-foot-3 was an advantage.

“This was the mid ‘70s, so there was still a lot of residual stuff left over from the drug era,” Rawls says.

OB Rawls CEO, iPayment, Inc.

Running the credit card acquiring program for NationsBank introduced Rawls to the payments business just as interstate banking was beginning to unfold.

However, NationsBank had some real estate loan problems and -- like other banks with similar issues -- decided to jettison its merchant portfolios because it was important to get cash.

“We created a joint venture,” Rawls says, “sold half of the portfolio to an Atlanta-based company called First Financial Management Corporation (FFMC), which also acquired Western Union. In about a year First Data came along and bought FFMC, so they got us and Western Union and helped leverage the company and grow.”

Rawls left NationsBank, where he was SVP of merchant services, to become President of Unified Merchant Services, a NationsBank/First Data joint venture that was the ninth-largest merchant processing company in the U.S.

He liked the travel, but not the complacency he found at the state level where older colleagues weren’t keen on “young kids who worked really hard.”

He subsequently went to the United Kingdom to build the Lloyd’s Bank joint venture for First Data, creating Cardnet Merchant Services. That marked Rawls’ first foray into international activity.

After a couple of years, a friend working at NCNB (later NationsBank) recruited Rawls to become an outside collector.

“I didn’t know what it really meant, but it paid more money than I was making,” he says.

“It was a lot of fun, especially for a country boy from North Carolina,” he says. “It put a lot of really good tools in my toolbox, negotiating with the British, learning the other cultures and that everything’s not the same way it is in Atlanta.

Rawls eventually worked his way from repo man to branch manager after attending the bank’s first branch management school. He lived in eight cities in North Carolina and Virginia and earned his Executive MBA in Finance and Marketing from Queens College in 1991.

“It was the beginning of an eye-opening, mind-broadening process. I’d lived a pretty sheltered life, growing up and working for the bank. I was always very comfortable. I really didn’t have an understanding about how big the world was.”

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EXECUTIVE PROFILES

OB continously found new ways to drve innovation

Rawls left First Data to join Caredata.com, a healthcare technology company in Atlanta. He was EVP Sales and Operations responsible for $37 million in revenue. During his three-year tenure, the company purchased and integrated 20 healthcare data companies, becoming the largest physician credentialing organization in the U.S. Rawls then spent seven years with Hypercom Corporation as SVP. He was responsible for global sales and operations teams (inclusive of software development, distribution and logistics support operations) that produced more than $400 million in revenue.

In his office, Rawls has a photo of Hypercom executives ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

“There were times when we were a troubled company,” he says.

“We were doing really well in the public space, but it took a lot of money to grow the business.”

Rawls returned to the United Kingdom in 2006 to rebuild the Hypercom distribution network outside the U.S. He traveled to 46 countries in 2006 and 37 in 2007. That included a lot of time in Brazil working with a support business that serviced 250,000 countertop terminals.

After a change in leadership, Rawls and Hypercom parted ways amicably. He spent time in international consulting before being asked to rejoin First Data. Prior to joining iPayment in early 2016, Rawls served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Partner Solutions, where his role included engaging with First Data’s top ISO reseller partners.

Based in California, twenty-one-year-old iPayment has always been one of the top five ISOs (Independent Sales Organization) in the US, but was struggling the past few years. The selection

of OB to run the company was an important first step toward positive change, given his experience and stellar reputation for transparency and integrity. He has the respect of his peers in the industry. Says First Data Executive Vice President Barry McCarthy, “OB is a true professional who has played many leading roles shaping the payments industry. He’s a deep subject matter expert, widely admired and well connected.”

“I began at iPayment by telling the iPayment story. First to the capital markets, then to the employees and customers.” he says. “Next we did a revamp of the leadership team.” His small management team was expanded and jobs were made more discrete. “One thing I learned from Frank Bisignano (CEO of First Data), is that you hire really talented people but give them smaller jobs with intense focus,” he says. “Because of this, we now have better numbers and higher achievement.”

Other changes include a higher commitment and greater focus on the customer as well as movement into desirable verticals.

Ten percent of company revenue is now from the petroleum business and the company has begun forays into smaller ticket items with stickier customers, like parking. “iPayment is becoming more of a technology company rather than just a straight processor,” says OB, “and offering more solutions to our customers. This is the path forward for all processors, to become technology and solutions companies.”

The company has recently hired a new leader of integrated payments and just launched their own payment gateway.

Half of iPayment’s sales are direct via the efforts of its own sales team and half come from partners (sub-ISOs, agents and referrals). “While we are concentrating on more organic growth, we do have some high quality partners in fast growing verticals, such as petro, hospitality, wineries and others,” he says.

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EXECUTIVE PROFILES

With the company now steady on a path of upward growth, its board has asked OB and his team to add 100,000 new customers in the next 12 months. They have six employees in Atlanta today, all working from home, and OB says that he will open an office in Atlanta when they reach a dozen. “We’re also open to making larger investments in Atlanta,” he says.

The transformation of iPayment is a great story for the payments industry but also reflects an economic truth discovered by private equity funds some time ago – the payments business is highly responsive to better management. “Private equity loves this industry because they know that good management can get them many multiples of what they invest. It’s been proven many times in recent years,” says OB. “We will provide all services to our business customers,” says OB of iPayment, “becoming the place where small and medium-sized businesses come to get their business solutions – credit, debit, gift, loyalty, hardware and now, merchant cash advances,” OB says. ”We recently announced the formation of iPayment Capital, offering merchant cash advances to its customers. Only half of processors have an extension like this one.”

Increased complexity in their business offerings means longer sales cycles and more complex sales. iPayment is equipping their sales teams with more training and a better

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understanding of what merchants need today. “We believe that selling a merchant a solution based on three or more of our products will increase the lifetime value of that merchant relationship to us by over 8 months,” says OB. “Today, a small business can look and act like Amazon if they want to. This provides the stronger returns that attract PE firms.”

SMEs, or small to medium sized businesses, are the entire focus of iPayment. “Small business today is growing in this country,” says OB, “re-energizing everywhere. More people are empowered to invest in themselves and this bodes well for our company.”

For all the changes that he has inspired at iPayment, OB attributes all positive changes to common sense and teamwork.

“I’m a big believer in never being afraid to ‘inspect and correct.’

It’s a simple thing, made more difficult by the fact that people naturally want to avoid problems. I try to coach my people to look for problems and not be afraid to face them.”

“Other than that,” he says “all I can say is that I’m fortunate to be the leader of iPayment. It’s really all about the team. They have a winning attitude.”

SPECIAL FEATURE

Can we bridge the Atlantic?

by Peter O’Halloran

YES WE CAN! On October 3rd we’ll be holding the world’s first Europe - US Fintech event, connecting two fintech communities - FintechIreland and FinTech Atlanta Why?

Who?

It’s not easy to grow a Fintech business. Finding the right partners, suppliers, investors and mentors is difficult. And these don’t always exist in your home country. Luckily, there are innovators all across the globe who can help.

Because FintechBridge is a non-revenue organisation, events are entirely dependent on help from the Fintech community.

We’re absolutely delighted to be supported for this event by the following sponsors:

FintechBridge exists to help make those connections, to tip the scales in your favour, and ultimately to help change financial services for the better.

Dublin Business School (@DBScollege) Feedzai (@feedzai) Metro Atlanta Chamber (@atlchamber) Payment and Cards Network (@PaymentsNet), for their kind sponsorship to our media partners The Merchant Risk Council (@MerchRisk) and The Garage at Tech Square (@ SandboxATL).

What?

FintechBridge is an event that connects you into another Fintech ecosystem, in three ways:

We really appreciate it!

1. Information about the ecosystem – the facts & figures, the movers & shakers, presented by Fintech leaders 2. Making connections – we help you to find and connect with the people you want to reach

Click here to learn more

3. FintechBattle – we provide a platform for upcoming Fintech firms to pitch their company

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Fintech Ireland doesn’t consult or provide any such paid type services. We don’t raise revenue and therefore we make no profit.

All costs associated with Fintech Ireland’s activities are paid by the collaborators or event sponsors. Our collaborators may offer services pro-bono / for fees unrelated to the Fintech Ireland project. Fintech Ireland is supported by like-minded financial professionals, academics and advisers who are keen to foster the development of Ireland as a leading global fintech centre.

Fintech Atlanta is a coalition of companies (from Fortune 500s to startups) and other organizations working to cement Atlanta as the recognized global capital of financial technology. The group’s priorities are to fund and fuel efforts to RECRUIT, RETAIN and EXPAND businesses and jobs across the FinTech ecosystem in metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia.

Fintech Bridge: Fintech Atlanta & Fintech Ireland - Tuesday, 03/10/17 Agenda.

Date: Tuesday, 3rd October 2017

Time: 13:00 Atlanta / 18:00 Dublin

Venue Atlanta: The Garage at Tech Square, 848 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA 30308 - VIEW MAP Dublin: Dublin Business School, Auditorium 1.1, 13/14 Aungier Street, Dublin, D02 WC04 - VIEW MAP Registration & Networking – Atlanta [12.00-13.00]/Dublin [17.00-18.00] Opening [18.00-18.20] Welcome Ireland – Peter O’Halloran (Collaborator, Fintech Ireland) & Andrew Quinn (Finance & Accountancy Course Director, DBS) [18.00-18.10] – No Slides Welcome Atlanta – Grant Wainscott (Senior Director of Technology Ecosystem Expansion, Metro Atlanta Chamber) [18.1018.20] – No Slides Fintech Ireland Scene – Peter Oakes (Founder, Fintech Ireland) [18.20 -18.30] - Slides o What does Ireland’s Fintech ecosystem look like and how is it evolving Fintech Atlanta Scene – Barry McCarthy (Chair, Fintech Atlanta) [18.30 -18.40] - Slides o What does Atlanta’s Fintech ecosystem look like and how is it evolving Panel Session: International Scaling from US & from Ireland [18.40-19.00] – No Slides o Scaling from Atlanta with Ireland as a European hub o Scaling from Ireland with Atlanta as a U.S. hub o What are possible implications & opportunities for Irish & U.S. Fintech firms with Brexit Moderators: Peter Oakes (Dublin), Grant Wainscott (Atlanta).

Panellists (Dublin): Maura McGrath (Joint Venture Services, Elavon), Peter O’Halloran (VP, eCommerce - International First Data), Gabriel Moynagh (CEO, Sysnet Global Solutions), Ciaran Cassidy (Global Head of eCommerce Product, Global Payments.

Panellists (Atlanta): Barry McCarthy (EVP, Head of Network & Security Solutions, First Data), Jill Bentley (Marketing Manager North America, TruRating),??? TBD Global Payments.

Panel Session: Funding – Venture Capital & private equity investment [19.00 -19.20] – No Slides o What specific Fintech sectors are investors looking at now? o Venture Capital and private equity investment insights o Market trends and challenges Moderators: Peter O’Halloran (Dublin), Grant Wainscott (Atlanta). Panellists (Dublin): Sinead Fitzmaurice (Co-founder TransferMate Global Payments), Thomas Olszewski (Associate, Frontline Ventures).

Panellists (Atlanta): ??? TBD, ??? TBD. Fintech Battle: Ireland & Atlanta. 6 start-ups / 5 minutes each [19.20-19.50] – Slides Presenter (Dublin): Emer Cummins (Business Development Manager, DBS).

Fintech Battlers: ???, CEO at Irish Fintech#1, ???, CEO at Irish Fintech#2, ???, CEO at Irish Fintech#3.

Presenter (Atlanta): Kristina Morris (Project Coordinator at FinTech Atlanta).

Fintech Battlers: ???, CEO at Atlanta Fintech#1, ???, CEO at Atlanta Fintech#2, ???, CEO at Atlanta Fintech#3.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Fintech Battle: Poll Voting Results and Prize Awards [19.50-19.55] Prize Presenter (Dublin): Lexi Koutrelakos (Fintech Atlanta) & TBD Feedzai.

Prize Presenter (Atlanta): Grant Wainscott (Senior Director of Technology Ecosystem Expansion, Metro Atlanta Chamber) & TBD Feedzai.

Prizes: The Fintech Startup winner from each location wins a subsidised trip to the opposite location, to connect with Fintech companies, innovators and dealmakers!

Wrap up [19.55-20.00] – Peter O’Halloran (Collaborator, Fintech Ireland) & Grant Wainscott (Senior Director of Technology Ecosystem Expansion, Metro Atlanta Chamber).

Post Event Networking: 15:00 (Atlanta)/20:00 (Dublin) Atlanta: The Garage at Tech Square, 848 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA 30308 - VIEW MAP Dublin: Hogan’s Bar 35-37 South Great George’s Street, Dublin, D02 AX50 - VIEW MAP

Sponsors

Media Partners

Facilities Partner

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These are the latest job opportunities we have available!

For more information please visit www.teampcn.com/jobs or check out our international Job Board at www.payment.jobs

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EVENTS

Events Dubai, UAE Revolutions in payments, treasury technology and fintech have begun to dominate treasury tactics and strategy. The Middle East Corporate Banking Forum 2017 (12-13 September 2017, Dubai- UAE) will aim to offer better insights on current trends, market scenarios and future strategies for success in the complex landscape of this sector.

12-13

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

12-14

Attending this conference will let you be part of an advanced, inspiring, open, and P2P-passionate peer environment of experienced peers with quite mature P2P functions from number of industries and with typically a global responsibility span. This event should give a very good benchmarking point for what to aim for as world-class P2P function with limited resources we all have, and definitely should leave everyone with a good range of fresh, interesting and implementable ideas to benefit from.

St. Albans, UK

eTail Connect September is the one-stop shop for senior retail executives! This interactive, forward-thinking forum dedicated to topics surrounding the omni-channel experience, mobile technology, data analytics and the customer journey, content marketing, and customer experience provides you with the opportunity to benchmark, share ideas, find solutions for your business and build lasting relationships.

12-13

Bangkok, Thailand

14-16

The 3rd edition of RetailEX ASEAN is an annual trade show and conference that caters to retailers in ASEAN. RetailEX ASEAN 2017 is committed to bring success to the retail industry, with focusing on two exhibit profiles; Retail Shop Fitting and Retail Shop Technology.

RetailEX ASEAN 2017 is the hub where all retail owners come together to share ideas, explore the retail market trend and meet new buyers.

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EVENTS

Paris, France Between 19 and 21 September 2017, Paris Retail Week will once again showcase French Expertise and will be the only event in Europe which addresses the omni-channel problems associated with 360° retail. For three days, Paris will be the capital of connected commerce by bringing together 600 participating companies and 30,000 professionals.

Request your free badge

19-21

Dubai, UAE

24-25

The 2nd Annual Financial Services’ Customer Experience Summit reacts to these challenges proactively. 15+ cross-industry CX speakers from Mashreq Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Citibank, RAK National Insurance Company, Prime Minister’s Office of UAE, Al Etihad Credit Bureau, Bank Albilad, Union Insurance and more will be speaking on the most burning issues in the CX field. This summit, which is being organized by Fleming., is the only Customer Experience event dedicated to the BFSI sector in the GCC region.

Lagos, Nigeria

The digital banking landscape in Nigeria is expected to transform the country to Africa’s fintech hub. In line with Central Bank of Nigeria’s Vision 2020 goal of being among the top 20 economies, the Government has initiated the cashless Nigeria policy. The New Age Banking Summit – Nigeria Edition will bring together carefully selected industry experts, to provide insights into the key trends and challenges of banking in the digital era.

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26-27

EVENTS

Dubai, UAE

26-27

You are about to witness the Future, because the Future is NOW! Alpha One Event’s Middle East NXT Banking Summit is designed to gather the region’s top banking experts from both worlds, the business and technology. Investing in the next wave of seamless software and hardware banking technology is significant to ensure a superior experience leading in business sustainability.

London, UK eCommerce Expo is the only event that covers the entire ecommerce landscape, offering: • Actionable insight from 150 masters of their craft • Cutting-edge ecommerce technology from over 100 suppliers to optimise user experience • Intelligent conversations with peers who have adapted to the changing needs of the ecommerce customer Join the community this September and start your journey to ecommerce excellence.

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27-28

London, UK WIRED Security returns to London for its second year, with 20 new industry-leading speakers, plus an exciting selection of startups and growth-stage companies working in the fields of software, intelligence and security services. The one-day event is ideal for policymakers, hackers, enterprises, regulators, security software specialists, data brokers, cryptographers, social media companies, academics, startups, law enforcement and the intelligence community.

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Payments & Cards Network Serving the FinTech Community

Get involved now!

We value your feedback and ideas!

If you’d like to discuss a specific topic, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Get in touch today and be featured in the next edition: Amsterdam Office Herengracht 576 1017 CJ Amsterdam The Netherlands Email: info@teampcn.com Tel: +31 20 3030 257 Fax: +31 20 8208 295

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