YOUR GATEWAY TO THE WORLD OF FINTECH AND PAYMENTS
VOL. 6 ISSUE.1 APRIL 2020
MEET THE TEAM André Van der Westhuizen Editor-in-chief
Zsofia Bodnar Marketing
Mark Manzi Design
Cazz Van der Westhuizen Design & Layout
Andrea Antersijn Business Development
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PCN Magazine™ is the property of Payments & Cards Network, Keizersgracht 477, 1017 DL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Company registration #67852815. All material contained within PCN Magazine is the property of Payments & Cards Network. All other product and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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PCN Magazine is created and the property of Payments & Cards Network BV. Art and photos © Payments & Cards N etwork, pexels.com and unsplash.com excluding advertisements, company logos & images. ©2020 Payments & Cards Network. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any kind is strictly prohibited without the express prior written consent of Payments & Cards Network.
CONTENTS •
Letter from the Editor
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News
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Thought Leader: Steven Paul
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Expert Interview: Tristan Latuertre, Mooncard
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Startup Spotlight: Volt
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Emerging Market: Centbee
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Upcoming Events
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Expert Interview: Angela Murphy, MSTS
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Fintech Watchlist
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Hot Jobs
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Unfiltered Opinions
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ANDRÉ VAN DER WESTHUIZEN Editor in Chief, Payments & Cards Network Magazine
ow would you like to be the new Editor for PCM? I was stunned. An opportunity like this doesn’t just fall into someone’s lap - yet it did, and after years of working in this industry, I’m deeply honoured. As our CEO Jordan Lawrence, with a man-bun, and a post-Christmas party hangover explained... we’re changing things up in 2020. Quality and value delivered through quarterly issues is now the name of the game, as well as a new topic introduction covering Emerging Markets as an, or the, incumbent globalized hub.
Mooncard is making waves in the French commercial card space, which is perhaps surprisingly still a developing market in France, by offering value to companies and their employees with a new angle on their service offering. Volt is making access to open banking more accessible than ever, MSTS can help companies struggling with cash flow due to the pandemic, and Steven Paul delivers a comprehensive overview on the industry and how it’s essential for a leader to embrace change, and to thereby grow not only the company but also the employees.
The explosion of banking capable mobile phones and the growing ease of on-boarding in Africa has spurred connectivity, entrepreneurship, and unprecedented levels of opportunity in the financial sector – among many other areas of growth in the region. As reported by the World Bank, ICT’s (Information Communication Technologies) have invigorated the payments industry in African countries by enabling the poor to connect and access the financial sector to tap into their potential for socio-economic growth. There is rarely running water and sometimes electricity - yet the majority of the people living here have a mobile, and sometimes, smartphones.
To conclude, it would be remiss of any company not only in the financial sector to gloss over an expansion effort into the African market; it should be a dedicated focus. N o more MEA, it's ME, and A. As one of the incumbent and increasingly competitive financial hubs, an opportunity in Africa won't just fall into your lap. The rush to tap the market has already started, are you keeping ahead of the curve?
Mobile money is growing in Africa, and all the big players have long realized that Africa has a vast untapped market. 43% of respondents across Africa still prefer branch visits, against 38% who prefer mobile channels these statistics probably look very different now in light of the global pandemic. Mobile is growing ever more appealing, and with disruptive fintech already in the fray, the evolving globalized market has growing ease of access for the unbanked mobile-wielding niche. In this edition Centbee, a crypto wallet out of South Africa, is leading the charge with a Bitcoin SV solution in the emerging markets, and how their solution stands above the rest in the most practical sense.
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Thank you to all the contributors and our team for persevering during these difficult and uncertain times. Together we can help drive the unexpected and rapid changes our industry and the world is undergoing, let’s ensure those in need have access and together we can overcome.
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NEWS 01 BANKING CIRCLE: Formerly a financial utility, Banking Circle has received a banking license, making it a financial infrastructure for banking and payments regardless of size and borders. Legacy free systems allow minimal client investment in internal infrastructure.
02 MONZO BANK: A UK based challenger bank has officially launched business bank accounts. After a trial period over the last 12 months that saw early access given to 2,500 business customers. Monzo is offering two versions of its business bank account, a free, and premium paid account, aimed at sole traders and SME’s.
03 REVOLUT LAUNCHES IN THE US: The European fintech startup launched in the US on March 25th partnered with Metropolitan Commercial Bank for banking infrastructure. Some features enjoyed by EU customers aren’t yet available in the US, such as purchasing cryptocurrencies or investing in the stock market.
04 VISA PARTNERS WITH PAGA: Founded in Lagos, Nigeria, Paga has a network of over 14 million customers transferring money, paying bills, and shopping on their mobile app. N ow partnered with Visa and with access to more merchants, Paga aims to expand and implement a model to other emerging markets not only in Africa but also in Asia and Latin-America.
05 INDIA LIFTS BANKING BAN ON CRYPTOCURRENCY: The Supreme Court of India struck down the Reserve Bank of India’s April 6th 2018 circular, citing it as unconstitutional. RBI was concerned over risks relating to foreign exchange, money laundering, and the financing of terrorism.
06 COINBASE A VISA PRINCIPAL MEMBER: Based out of San-Francisco, the crypto exchange can directly issue Visa debit cards. N ow available in 29 countries, and expanding, customers can spend 9 different cryptocurrencies at any Visa acceptance point - for a 1.49% conversion and 1% transaction fee.
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07 FINTURI: Founded in September 2018, the N etherlands based blockchain invoice financing startup successfully concluded beta testing after raising €2 million in Q1 of 2019. Finturi’s doors are open to companies registered with the Dutch chamber of commerce, with current expansion efforts to neighbouring Eu countries, international expansion is the step to follow.
08 CONTOUR: Trade Financing with blockchain issuing smart guarantees. Developed by eight banks, Contour is set to launch in the second half of 2020 after a transaction trial of USD $30 million worth of letter-of-credit transactions in 2019. 09 86 400 RAISES CAPITAL: Cuscal-backed challenger bank 86 400 has brought on its first outside investors, raising a total of $34 million in new capital. The Series A capital raise led by Morgan Stanley brings its total capital to $90 million. It is one of the largest Australian fintech series A rounds to date.
10 OFFWALLET, ZERO INTERNET WALLET FROM INDIA: With a projected 35% mobile internet penetration by 2023, and with more than 75% of business operating in rural and suburban cities, OffWallet is moving to claim a share of the informal cash-heavy market. The patent published solution of sending and reading an encrypted SMS, all managed by the app, aims to alleviate the inconsistent performance of mobile wallets while retaining a user-friendly interface. Offwallet’s road-map includes a “Persistent zero-network transaction mode” which will allow secure, truly offline, transactions.
11 FINCH CAPITAL FORECASTS POST-PANDEMIC: The Amsterdam based venture-capital firm predicts tougher times for newcomers, an opportunity for agents of digitalisation, and the slow recovery of late-stage funding. With Q4 of 2020 defined as “post-crisis”, digital-only will become the financial industry default. Read the full report here.
12 M-PESA ACQUIRED BY SAFARICOM AND VODACOM: The Kenyan and South African telecommunication companies acquired the M-Pesa brand from Britain's Vodafone. The goal is to further mobile money efforts across the continent and to boost financial inclusion.
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THOUGHT LEADER: STEVEN PAUL How are fintech firms embracing leadership to evolve & grow? Business leaders have long regarded fintech as a digital force that could bring about unprecedented change to any industry. With an estimated worldwide worth of $4.7 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs, the wave of fintech startups are changing the future of finance – for the better. The newfound interest in Fintech is well-founded, especially after considering the crash of 2007-08, which is where policymakers first thought of concentrating on making finance safer for businesses. According to research by Capgemini, fintech startups and SMEs, driven by a younger and more tech-savvy customer base, are gaining momentum. This comes as no surprise, as fintech firms specializing in online payments have facilitated the expansion of capital access for startups and SMEs, including women entrepreneurs, who, up until then, found fundraising close to impossible. Fintech startups have helped level the playing field, which has resulted in neither the customer nor the service provider being underserved. This has helped fintech companies establish a positive rapport with the current startup scene, along with many established businesses. Billing and payment tech companies span from facilitating payment processing to offering solutions such as payment card developers and subscription billing software. The one thing that both startups and established firms have in common is the need for faster, more secure payment methods. The good news is that fintech firms specialize in a combination of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI (Artificial Intelligence), which is being called “Intelligent Automation.” This is the next step in the evolution of the way that businesses can get more work done effortlessly. This is also a reason why the need for Intelligent Automation has quickly garnered the interest of the financial sector, which sees its potential. According to a study by Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute, by the end of 2020, the financial services industry will generate an estimated $512 billion in new revenue globally by using the process of Intelligent Automation. Other technologies that are helping bolster the growth of fintech firms are Blockchain technology and Machine Learning (ML), both of which have moved from the outer fringes to the centre of the new technology boom in the fintech ecosystem. Offering Value in Payments Back in the day, transactions between merchants took place using gold, silver, and other physical commodities. That practice ended in 1971 when the US dollar and the other world fiat systems separated from the gold standard, embracing the concept of floating exchange rates. Over the coming years, financial institutions have built payment systems that seem to be obsolescing in front of fintech disruptions.
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These include: decentralized protocols, disrupted ledgers, and, of course, virtual currencies. This is partly because fintech firms, especially those that operate within the payments niche, are more in tune with the growing needs of a demanding customer base, including the high-expectations of tech-savvy entrepreneurs who buy and sell goods all across the globe in a matter of minutes via their phones. Customer Centricity: The Need of the Hour There’s an increasingly growing trend of creating an ecosystem of interconnected services, which is beneficial not just for the customers but for the service providers as well. By providing an integrated customer experience, organizations can create an ecosystem where they not only offer their services but also facilitate other services as well, creating an interconnected marketplace where customers have quicker access to the service providers they need and vice versa. For instance, Customers can use a platform to find the service they need. This, in turn, generates data. That data is then used by partner companies to sell services via said platforms. This has led to entrepreneurs getting access to efficient transaction methods, which has resulted in using innovative solutions to transfer value with efficacy, all the while effectively bypassing the traditional red tape that startups and SMEs have traditionally come across. Some great examples of how fintech is improving payments across the board are crowdfunding platforms, Blockchain, mobile payments, insurance, stock-trading apps, and budgeting apps. All of these are now powered by fintech’s newest technologies. Standardization, Disruption, and Regulations There are three distinct categories of fintech-related policy measures taken by governments: • Those involved in the direct regulation of fintech activities. • Those focused on using new technologies to offer financial services. • Those promoting digital financial services (aka payments solutions). The first type of policy measures takes into account specific activities. For instance, peer-to-peer lending or digital banking, and payment services, while the other regulations have to do with market participants who are using fintech technologies, for example, cloud computing or AI. The third type of regulation considers enabling regulatory initiatives relating to digital identities and data sharing, along with establishing sandboxes, accelerators, or innovation hubs that encourage growth.
The role of leadership is crucial to the success of a business now more than ever before.
The different policy initiatives that have been rolled out through the years to govern businesses operating in the fintech sector remain mainly focused on adjusting the regulatory perimeters to coincide with technological developments, along with developing regulatory policies that take into account the risks that also arise due to specific innovations. For example, the Payment Systems Directive (PSD2) in the EU, or the possible misuse of AI and machine learning algorithms used in the fintech payments space. Gig Economy is on the Rise Gone are the days where “gig” or short-term jobs were only reserved for musicians and other artists. N owadays, freelancers occupy all industries and are providing valuable services to their clients. According to research conducted by Morgan Stanley, the freelance workforce has grown by up to three times in the US as compared to the regular workforce. Fintech is meeting the challenge faced by the changing nature of how professionals find and carry out remote employment opportunities. Furthermore, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, there is a potential increased shift in working patterns as companies have no choice but to embrace remote-virtual working, which in turn drives the need for increased and robust digital models.
This is good news for Fintech companies since they already hold a stronger appeal among those customers who have invested in a financial product. According to a Bain Survey, close to 80% of survey business participants in China, Brazil, and Columbia responded positively to the question of whether they would prefer investing with a technology company. As mentioned earlier, innovations in the fintech ecosystem, especially when it comes to payment technologies, are quite intense. As such, they have the potential to redefine the way that financial services currently work. While regulations are necessary, they might also become a threat to an industry such as fintech, which is still in its infancy. For the correct regulation of fintech, governments need to apply the elusive mix of determination and prudence, as required in policymaking. The former will be required to take the necessary action to combat emerging risks in the fintech sector while not stifling progress. Regulators who embrace innovation and provide latitude help with the growth-innovation of the economy. There is no doubt that the technologies offered by fintech firms are the way forward, mainly because they help facilitate the expansion of capital access to startups and SMEs. They also level the playing field in the process, which means that no segment is under-served. In closing, some questions to ask are: • What types of partnerships are (or will be) most valuable? • How to influence the ecosystem as a new or next-level business? • What will be the risks involved for those just breaking into the Fintech space? • What new models/services will drive the future in Financial Services? • What mix of leadership is needed to lead startups/scale-ups, and where to find leaders?
Fintech payment technologies are facilitating the financial inclusion of the under-banked and unbanked population across the globe. By complying with national and international rules and regulations, fintech payment technologies can improve the long-term social and financial conditions of freelancer workers and consumers operating within a gig economy. Building / Integrating the Role of Leadership Fintech technologies offer consumers personalized and interactive services, and a critical success factor is having progressive-minded leaders. Businesses that wish to capitalize on this digital disruption of financial services need leaders who have a progressive mindset and vision to deliver effective solutions to new business challenges. This means that businesses need a whole range of skill sets at the C-suite and Board level to face these disruptive challenges. Leaders who have transitioned from a traditional larger firm to a disruptor, or vice versa, could help in progressing the firm. The three dimensions to look out for leaders are their pivotal expertise and diverse experiences, leadership capabilities, and agility. The role of leadership is crucial to the success of a business now more than ever before. The right transformational leadership can help ferment new cultures, delegate authority, and develop other leaders. Globalization and Emerging Markets When it comes to the penetration of fintech technologies in both developed markets and emerging markets, for example, in Africa and Latin-America, visionary leadership and the readiness to embrace new technologies is the need of the hour.
About the Author Steven Paul is a global business leader and author. He has held several cross-functional executive leadership and board level positions internationally, with experience rooted in high growth scale-ups and matured in global firms. He brings expertise in building businesses, leadership, transformation and strategic operations. His passion is to help companies achieve growth and develop authentic leaders at all levels. He can be reached at https://stevenpaul.info
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EXPERT INTERVIEW TRISTAN LETEURTRE About the Author: Tristan Leteurtre | CEO, Mooncard Before Mooncard, Tristan led the development of the now-famous VLC Media Player; an open-source video player downloaded 3 billion times to date. In 2003 he then created Anevia, a telecom software company providing video streaming solutions for IPTV, video on demand and TV replay services. Under his leadership, Anevia had 100+ employees in 9 countries and became in 2014 a public listed company on Euronext Growth (Euronext / NYSE - Ticker code: ALANV). Tristan graduated in engineering and computer science from Ecole Centrale Paris (France) and University of Cambridge (UK). Tristan is CEO of Mooncard, Board Member at Anevia and non-executive Founder at Linkee, a french application to revolutionize the fight against food waste.
Mooncard Founded in 2016 and led by Tristan Leteurtre (CEO, ex-VLC, Anevia), Damien Metzger CTO, ex-Prestashop) et Pierre-Yves Roizot (CFO, ex-Vente-PrivĂŠe / Veepee), Mooncard is a corporate payment card that automates the management of expense claims and business spending. More than 2000 SME and mid-cap companies chose Mooncard since 2017. Mooncard based in Paris and backed by Aglae Ventures (Groupe Arnault) and Raise Ventures, find out more at www.mooncard.co
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Expense reports are an administrative burden, founded in 2016, how can the French startup Mooncard help? Well, first thank you PCN for this interview. It is always a great pleasure to share knowledge about the French corporate cards market. It is now a fast-growing market, with very innovative solutions (as Mooncard of course!). Old ladies had better watch out! As an entrepreneur, I led the VLC Media Player (the orange cone on your computer, 3 billion downloads :) and founded what became a publicly listed company in the telecom market. With more than 100 people travelling across ten offices worldwide, spendings and expense management was one of the recurrent pain points of my company, including huge frustrations for the staff. It was a blind spot for financial and HR management. My core belief is that expense management is too serious a matter to be left to any software. That is why we have designed a solution starting from a payment card, with a SaaS solution tightly connected. From payment to accounting, fluidly. I guess most PCN readers will agree with this approach, right? Studies and Mooncard’s findings indicate almost 85% of french SME and Mid-Caps are still using spreadsheets, paper receipts and staplers for most of their expenses and purchases. Employees and finance departments waste more than 3 hours per user per month to process them. In 2020, we find that ridiculous. At Mooncard, we decided to change that process. We don’t just aim to optimize or streamline expenses - we want to eliminate them. Gone are the days of employee’s using personal cards and following due process for company reimbursements. Employees should spend company money on corporate activities! Moreover, recent events have shown that, when relevant, dematerialization should be in every company’s DNA. The paper time is now gone, and all reports, notes and other reports should be numerically transmitted. The current confinement shows the importance of distance and instant transfer of data between salaries. We found an easy way to do so: Mooncard created unique corporate cards directly linked to a real-time web platform and accounting software. Every time the employees pay with a Mooncard, they get a text message. The expense is immediately fulfilled, and a simple picture of the receipt is needed to complete the accounting process. The finance team can see expenses in real-time, and our SaaS can export accounting lines to 50+ different kinds of software - including old-fashioned ones.
French market adoption of commercial cards has been slow, how is Mooncard approaching this issue and what challenges are you facing? Correct! We believe that the corporate cards market has not even started yet. Very few employees have a corporate or commercial card. This is still a prehistoric time in the French and European corporate cards world, for two reasons: 1. So far, cards brought very little value compared to consumer cards. So SMB and Mid-caps have no real incentive to deploy corporate cards, and employees use their consumer card. 2. In France, business owners and managers are somewhat cautious with employee’s fraud and control (let’s not bring a cultural debate here, right?), especially given the pressure we have from social (URSSAF) and fiscal (FISC) authorities. So offering a payment solution may sound counter-intuitive. That is why we are breaking through this barrier – and with success, by providing value and increased control We are the only card on the market to offer 50 criteria in real-time, to curb or unlock payment rules: limits, merchants, one-off payments, days of the week, or even hours. Also, we are obsessed with bringing real value to CFOs and Cardholders. For some of our customers, we found that Mooncard had an actual cash impact: better VAT recovery, re-billing for consulting and lawyers, more insights and reporting on their spendings. Most of them do not have a purchasing department, so Mooncard offers excellent value, of course, we try to highlight these use cases as loudly as possible towards our prospects because these real-life examples will help in corporate card adoption. Majority of our clients are companies with between 100 and 5000 employees. It means a longer sales cycle and a long-term engagement. So, I would say yes; these companies take more time to change (and sometimes the biggest is not the slowest! Proof by two of our clients, Air France and Vinci, which are in the CAC40). But once a relationship is installed, we’re in it for the long haul. I think Mooncard is one of the first players to bring this vision to life, paving the way for other B2B fintechs. I guess now, more and more players will roll out new solutions for B2B, with dedicated value propositions and niches like freelance, small business, etc.
So far, 2,000 companies have been using Mooncard in many industries: Air France, Vinci, Cora, Virtuo, Ledger, Mirakl. Our cardholders spend, on average, more than 800 € monthly for travel or corporate purchases.
Studies and Mooncard’s findings indicate almost 85% of french SME and Mid-Caps are still using spreadsheets, paper receipts and staplers...
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Mooncard X offers an unrivaled service offering - from a personal assistant to insurance, how is this model disrupting and looking to evolve? Our mission is to relieve companies and employees from their administrative burden. Back in November 2019, we published with IFOP, the leading opinion and market research group, a study that showed this work burden impacts severely employees, and executives in particular! Do you know that 95% of the executives are thinking about their job at home in the evening? 62% Of executives are thinking about their job while doing sport, and even 20% of them during their most intimate activities. Too much work, too many things to manage; these thoughts encroach and create difficulties in separating personal from business time. We thought: if business time is eating into the personal, let’s make it for good reasons. We created Mooncard X, the upgraded version of Mooncard. In a few words, it is a corporate card, with all the advantages of Mooncard (expense reports, insurance, real-time, etc.) and a personal assistant. And I am talking about a real person, not a chatbot. I think the real disruptive point here is the vision of the company place in our life. Companies like Google or Facebook have already fully integrated this notion. If you go on their campus, they have a theatre or dentist dedicated to the employees. But not everyone works for an industry giant. That is why I think the next game for disruptor's is to generalise these considerations: Internet, social media, home office, and interconnection. All these aim to increase the presence of work at home. So, it becomes the responsibility of the company to discharge employees by cutting the bridge or offering compensation.
What do you think of the future of card payments in the consumer and B2B space? Well, the good news is that consumers are very kind to adopt innovation in the payment world. That is why we have so many fintechs worldwide. Asia as a region teaches us a lot with the massive adoption of mobile-only payments. It’s clear that soon we will all pay with our smartphones, biometrics,or facial recognition. But this does not mean the end of the plastic card, especially in France where the card chip was invented! The corporate card world is a bit different because the company's focus is not mainly on the payment medium, such as plastic, contactless, phone, or virtual, but on the value, the software, and the service. Payment habits will probably evolve - that is an excellent thing. Still, we believe that business will instead consider security, control of employee expenses, productivity increase, money saved on purchases, and spending management. That is why technology and software on top of the card, or behind the cloud, will be a significant area of innovation. Also, at Mooncard, we strongly believe in the value that can be created with payment data. We have a dedicated engineering team to explore how data and usage can have a direct impact on a company’s control and optimisation of their purchasing habits. Usually, in companies, financial analysis is done by humans, on a “Pareto-basis”: 20% of spendings - the big ones - represent 80% of the amount. In real life, it may even follow a 10% - 90% rule, meaning that companies only seriously review 10 to 20% of employee’s expenses and purchases. We think data can help make recommendations and benchmarks for 100% of the expenses. Data is a gold mine; let’s bring back that gold to businesses.
This is the aim of Mooncard X: The personal assistant attached to the card is there for your needs, professional and personal. Do you need to plan a business trip? Your PA does it for you. Do you need a plumber or a dry cleaner? No problem. Do you need an unbookable restaurant for your 10th wedding anniversary? Done!
But the “moonshot” is to bring 100% digitalisation in the business process. For online payments, everything can be digital from payments, receipts, and accounting. But physical merchants still issue a physical ticket. Let's find a solution to this receipt issue, and have a 100% digital chain, from payment to accounting. Payment schemes might have to evolve to include billing information along with transaction details - That would be a huge move.
Although this service brings a lot more value and costs a bit more than the regular Mooncard at 49€ per month. We didn’t want to launch an “elite” or “exclusive” concierge. Just the opposite, we want to make this service available to mass employees!
Data and 100% digital: I guess Mooncard and B2B Fintechs still have a long way to go!
The critical point here is that companies all have an interest in investing in these kinds of services. Making employees happy to work and at ease has two benefits: avoiding burnout and enhanced productivity. That’s our mission: fintech and payments should make life easier and bring a bit of magic to daily life. Isn’t this what we need in 2020?
...the next game for disruptors is to generalise these considerations: Internet, social media, home office, and interconnection...
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The Volt team have recently brought their solution to market after eighteen months of intensive development. Volt’s network aggregation model has proven its capabilities across geographies wherever banks offer direct Payment Initiation APIs. Volt’s Switch provides failover and smart routing that gives merchants and PSPs alike the coverage and reliability needed to provide their clients with the upper hand in Open Banking - detecting and automatically routing payments through the most effective providers available.
Shorten the cash cycle Experience the advantages of real-time settlement. Eliminate clearance wait periods with instant payments allowing immediate cash-flow. World-class UX optimises conversion Eliminate friction with integrated and streamlined user experience, driving increased sales and fewer dropouts. Broaden the bottom line N ext-generation payment solutions are inherently more cost-effective. Bank direct payments are more secure by design.
Existing card payment processes became popular in the 1970s, but now they are inflexible and expensive. Considering this, Open Banking is a logical next step - Tom Greenwood | Volt CEO.
Reduce fraud, no chargebacks With Volt, card fraud and chargebacks are a thing of the past. Tokenised credentials and biometrics are the new standards.
Company Bio: VOLT was founded in 2018 and consists of a senior team of payment professionals, led by Chairman, Robert Kraal, former COO and member of the founding team at Adyen. The product strategy has been under intensive development for the past eighteen months, placing the company at the forefront of the sector. The founding team comprise Thomas Greenwood as CEO (former IFX Payments), Steffen Vollert as CTO (Former head of expansion Adyen) and Jordan Lawrence as CCO (CEO & Chairman at PCN Capital) Representative bio: Jordan Lawrence joined the founding team of Volt in 2019 bringing a wealth of industry knowledge and an unsurpassed network with which to hire from as well as service. Jordan is also CEO & Chairman of PCN Capital which comprises Payments & Cards Network, Digital Source & Sekura People. They have offices in Atlanta, Amsterdam & Singapore. He has been in recruitment since 2006 and started PCN during the last recession.
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Unified, bank direct payments. Supercharged. PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT APEXX Global is partnering with Volt to bring faster, more efficient payments to their merchants worldwide. As a single gateway to Open Banking payments through the best available APIs on the market, Volt is well-placed to extend APEXX’s merchant offering at a time where bank direct payments are becoming prevalent across Europe and gaining momentum around the world. “The built-in benefits of Open Banking payments for merchants are significant, and plugging in with Volt brings the resiliency to API payments we had been looking for before hitting go. We are excited to be making our foray into the world of Open Banking payments partnered with Volt, and tapping into the next wave of payments innovation for our clients.” - Rodney Bain, Managing Director and Founder at APEXX “APEXX has been making waves in the industry with their merchant-centric products, and we look forward to serving their continued successes. As we follow the roll-out of Open Banking -worldwide, our partners are enabling us to continue building the most reliable, bank direct payments network.” - Tom Greenwood, Chief Executive and Founder at Volt APEXX is the one-stop-shop for consolidated acquiring solutions, they have made a name for themselves as the global leader in reducing fragmentation where complex payment solutions exist. Their enterprise clients reap the benefits of working with their transparent, industry-leading service offering. Volt is pleased to deliver streamlined Open Banking payments to a partner like APEXX, bringing the industry one step closer to realising the potential of bank direct payments.
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EMERGING MARKETS
Who is Centbee, and why did you start the company? Lorien Gamaroff: Centbee is a Bitcoin SV payment company whose vision is making Bitcoin SV easy to use for everyone. We have several products available in the market today, which make it possible to buy, hold and spend Bitcoin SV. Before founding Centbee, I developed solutions for electrical smart grid utility companies and government organisations, and I noticed that these organisations often had challenges recovering their costs from their customers. I saw Bitcoin SV as a solution to this problem and developed the world’s first Bitcoin payment system for electricity. This solution was ahead of its time since at that stage; it was difficult for people to acquire and use Bitcoin SV. I decided to take a few steps back and start building an ecosystem that would make it easy for people to use Bitcoin SV as a payment system. I founded Bankymoon, an advisory and consulting company, in 2014 and spent several years educating corporates and governments on blockchains and cryptocurrency. I always had the intention of building a simple bitcoin wallet and payment solution and began working on the prototype of what would become Centbee. In 2016, I met Angus Brown, who had 20+ year’s experience in the payments and banking industry and together we started Centbee.
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You mention Bitcoin SV, why do you support that particular blockchain? Lorien Gamaroff: Bitcoin SV is the original design of bitcoin as developed by its inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. He intended to create a system that could be regulated and would be able to scale to billions of users. Over the years, several developer groups elected to fundamentally change the design of Bitcoin so that it would serve their purposes as an anonymous, unregulated system. At Centbee, we believe that a blockchain-based payment system can only succeed if it complies with all local rules and regulations around transparency and privacy. Only Bitcoin SV allows for massive, global utility as well as complying with KYC and AML rules.
Retailers pay lower costs to accept payment, as the benefits of low mining fees (<$0.01) can be passed on. Retailers can also accept payment from customers from anywhere in the world, and their receipts can also be retained (subject to local legislation) as Bitcoin SV. Physical retailers merely have to display a QR code (either dynamic or static) to accept Bitcoin SV payment, without the costs of purchasing or renting a bank card payment terminal. Funds are cleared and settled immediately and are not subject to withholding, chargeback or reversal.
About Centbee: Centbee is a fintech company specialising in retail payments using Bitcoin SV. Founded in late 2016, our goal is to bring Bitcoin SV to the world by making it the easiest way to send money and pay for goods and services across the globe. Our mission is to build an ecosystem using Bitcoin SV that revolutionises payments. The new ecosystem will reduce costs, enable new business models and create an open global economy to reshape the way billions of people interact with money fundamentally. What is the role of Centbee for socio-economic development and upliftment in Africa? Angus Brown: Bitcoin SV is a form of money that is designed to be non-inflationary. As the supply of Bitcoin SV is fixed and issuance decreases every year, it adheres to the Austrian school of economic principles. Unlike other currencies issued by central banks, this implies that the value of the money will not be deflated. Hence, the price should, over time, be stable against commodities and rise relative to fiat currencies. The long-term trend of Bitcoin has been a steady appreciation in price, which is especially valuable to those people in emerging economies who have seen the value of their savings deflated over time. Also, as there is no central issuer or controller of the currency, it is immune to seizure and arbitrary confiscation, such has happened in some countries when they face political or economic crises.
How do you think Centbee will impact the cards and payments industry in the future?
. About the authors: Lorien Gamaroff is a highly experienced software engineer and developer. He is regarded globally as a blockchain and bitcoin expert and has spoken at events all around the world on digital currencies, distributed ledgers and their benefits for emerging economies. He has addressed the IMF, World Bank, FBI and Commonwealth Secretariat, South African Reserve Bank, TEDx and a host of banking professionals and attorney generals throughout the world. Angus Brown is a banking and payments expert with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. He founded the world’s first bank-backed digital currency program, eBucks at Rand Merchant Bank. Throughout his career, he led the development of the bank’s internet banking platform and later manager of the Loyalty programme, eCommerce and Internet Banking. He was the Head of Alliance Banking and Support Services at Mercantile Bank Limited and served as an executive of MMI holdings and Blue Label Telecoms.
Angus Brown: Centbee has launched a low-cost, fast cross-border remittance service called Minit Money using Bitcoin SV. Minit Money enables customers to send money back home to support their family in minutes. This service is high-speed, reliable and cheaper than other remittance services. The typical fees of low-value remittance offerings to emerging market customers is often a significant proportion of the funds sent, so Minit Money enables these customers to get more value back home, where it is desperately needed. Customers can spend their Bitcoin SV at online retailers without worrying about their card details or their identity being stolen either by phishing or by the retailer’s databases being hacked. Transaction processing is faster as no billing details are necessary, and Bitcoin SV provides instant confirmation.
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EXPERT INTERVIEW
ANGELA MURPHY
About the Author: Angela Murphy | Strategic Partnerships Manager Angela Murphy is a speaker and author building out the partnerships program at a global company. She gives talks to universities and corporate organizations looking to change the relationship between the private sector and academics. Angela holds a PhD in Rhetoric from the University of Kansas.
MSTS MSTS, a global leader in B2B payment and credit solutions, facilitates transactions for customers in over 190 countries. Credit as a ServiceÂŽ (CaaS) is setting the stage for the future of omnichannel B2B payments. SMB and enterprise organizations use CaaS to extend credit lines to customers without straining working capital.
Founded in 1978, MSTS has 48 years of industry experience. How have you and your solutions evolved since your inception? We believe our customer obsession, coupled with innovation, has been our keys to success. Over the past few decades, we have designed and implemented B2B payment solutions for large enterprise organizations in manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries. Our deep expertise and superior technology in payments and A/R automation has enabled us to package our Credit as a ServiceÂŽ (CaaS) product into an off-the-shelf solution for SMBs.
With customers in over 190 countries, where is the vision of the future pointing MSTS? MSTS’ purpose is to help businesses grow by streamlining B2B payments and automating A/R, across the globe. Through our Credit as a Service product we provide our clients with tools to better serve their key customers from dedicated lines of credit to enhance the customer purchasing experience across all sales channels, our processes and support are essential to how our clients grow. Looking forward, MSTS understands how critical eCommerce is to an omnichannel strategy and the importance of offering a payment option that businesses prefer, even when shopping online. MSTS’ InvoiceMe, a tool, within CaaS enables invoicing at checkout. The tool integrates easily into all major eCommerce platforms, including Magento and BigCommerce. We did a deep dive into why payments matter in most B2B transactions in our Choices at Checkout Whitepaper.
As a multinational company servicing a wide variety of clients, are there any constant challenges you’re facing? One key challenge is the resistance to digital transformation. Now that we are in the midst of a global crisis, businesses are feeling the pressure to conduct business online and provide alternative payment options for their buyers such as invoicing. The key challenges are parting ways with conventional methods such as credit cards and moving away from manual processes while also maintaining strong relationships with buyers, which is one of our core competencies.
Also, our technology and services are configurable to the needs of the client. To create a frictionless purchasing experience it’s important to provide buyers with multiple payment options. A recent survey we conducted found 74% of buyers would purchase with a competitor if their vendor’s eCommerce store didn’t offer their preferred payment option. The study also found that 82% of buyers would choose a vendor over another if they offered invoicing at checkout with 30-, 60-, or 90-day terms. The customer’s purchasing expectations continue to rise based on their experiences in the consumer world. To remain competitive and to increase their share, businesses must provide a seamless purchasing experience for their buyers. The pandemic has gripped the globe and economies are still reeling. How can MSTS help struggling businesses with working capital when there is so much uncertainty? Our company has weathered downturns and uncertainty before, from supporting our airline clients in the aftermath of 9/11 to working with our clients during the 2008 market crash. As experts in the industry, we can use our technology and experience to provide working capital relief for businesses facing economic uncertainty. With our diverse, global offerings, we can be a trusted partner during this crisis and future success.
MSTS has operations in over thirty countries with various business offerings. As part of the work in rolling out any new offering internationally, MSTS first undertakes legal, due diligence to determine banking, entity, regulatory and any other requirements necessary to operate in that country, following the details of a given program planned to be launched. Additionally, MSTS and with its parent corporation, World Fuel Services, have worked together to leverage ongoing banking relationships to establish new international bank accounts. For countries in which no prior banking relationship existed, we have worked to develop new banking relationships and partnerships as needed.
MSTS powers global commerce. In a changing payments landscape, how adaptable are your tools and solutions? We have an API first approach to our technology. This headless approach enables MSTS’ clients the flexibility to modernize payments without eliminating current systems. CaaS integrates into legacy systems through APIs including ERP, CRM, POS and eCommerce platforms.
...in the midst of a global crisis, businesses are feeling the pressure to conduct business online and provide alternative payment options for their buyers.
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THE
FINTECH WATCHLIST With more than 120 patents, SPS designs, manufactures contact & contactless solutions in identity cards, electronic passports and bank cards on every continent in a highsecurity environment.
A single aggregation point and gateway to the world of open banking. Volt’s Switch technology is connected to the biggest network provider in Europe.
FINTURI Invoice financing startup. Built on blockchain technology, Finturi boasts high speeds, low costs, and dedicated focus on user experience.
RISKINE Data-driven digital advisory solutions for banks and insurance. From tailor-made bots, websites, portals, to applications.
TREEZOR Banking as a service. A B2B and multichannel solution covering the entire payments process from receiving to issuing.
FAMILY FINANCES Design-driven mobile banking solutions with a special focus on younger customers. An end-to-end service from research, to design, and implementation.
BITSA Unbanked prepaid card. Visa partnered and capable of transfers between cards, top up’s from redeemable vouchers, transfers, cash, or blockchain tokens. IXOPAY Highly scalable global payment orchestration platform. Plugin-based integration of acquirers and PSP’s. Intelligent routing, state-of-the-art risk management functions as well as centralized reconciliation and settlements.
BLOCKBIT Modern and dynamic cybersecurity. Serving everyone from small businesses to large enterprises, telecom’s, and governments. TRALITY Algorithmic crypto trading. Traders are able to create a trading bot with either code or rules. Users can rent profitable bots from other’s on the platform while keeping the code/rule-set confidential to the original creator.
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UNFILTERED OPINIONS ALEX DOROBANTU The Ranting Case for APMs in Europe (400) Looking across the ocean, I see the Americans starting their businesses and immediately addressing 300 million customers. We try this also in Europe now, but it’s just not as seamless. You still need to pass language barriers, delivery barriers and strangely enough, payments barriers. SEPA in 2007 was supposed to create the means for a unified payments environment, but in practice, it only stopped all of us using IBAN s – nothing more. Luckily, the Americans are here to save us. It is hard to argue for a better payment option than the plain old credit card. It’s easy (just a number), it’s established (50 years of usage), it’s wide-spread (issued globally), it’s widely-accepted (accepted globally), it’s secure for customers (provides chargeback options), it’s secure for merchants (offers cardholder authentication mechanisms), it’s fair for both merchants and customers (offers dispute system & arbitration), it’s sticky (has loyalty), it’s standardized (any card works anywhere). More recently, it’s fancy (can be digitized, tokenized, emulated, virtualized – you can do anything with it). So why are these pesky Europeans not using it in my shop?
GARY PINE Corona and BCP documentation review. With so many business and community links between us all, there is a high likelihood that COVID-19 will spread globally. Should the COVID-19 virus force masses of your employees to work from home, you may need to review your Business Continuity (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR) Plans, addressing any shortcomings very quickly. Although we focus below on business repercussions, COVID-19 is first and foremost a humanitarian challenge, and employee safety should be the highest priority.
The fact is, the European consumer is accustomed to using their local payment method. We have to accept all sorts of bank transfer solutions, pay-later solutions, prepaid cards, local card schemes and funny wallets. We even have people that give us their IBAN and expect us to take money from it. It’s a lot of complexity, a lot of costs and a lot of hassle. Throughout my short career, I’ve already witnessed Visa/Mastercard cards not working in Russia and Iran because of political reasons, so it might very well happen again. In this newly protectionist world, I can’t help worrying about the idea that the US can anytime cut off financial services to Europe, for whatever reason. Geopolitics is not about intention, but about capability – and I am so happy we have our crazy local APMs that our eccentric European consumers gladly use. Sure, I would wish we Europeans had a payment method that could come close the good old American card (and not be instantly bought by them), but for the time being we have Ideal, Bancontact, Klarna, and another 50 of them...so we might as well make the best of it. They are not just what our customers want, but also our payments continuity insurance policy.
Still, concerns about the virus gave us cause to reconsider some of the long-standing policies, provisions and arrangements we had in place. Using the same frameworks of identifying the risk, prioritizing the order of mitigation and assigning responsibility within the business, we conducted a review of the existing BCP considering the possible impact(s) of COVID-19 asking and answering the following three key questions: •
As a cloud-first business, do all employees have the ability and the appropriate technologies to work remotely?
•
Are all your teams (regardless of departmental duties) equipped to connect seamlessly with their colleagues and in turn, with their customers in a secure and productive environment, while working remotely?
•
Do your teams feel confident in their continued ability to serve your customers 24/7, regardless of their physical work locations? Expecting the proportion of employees working from home to increase over the coming weeks, have you adequately considered your plan to execute an ALL employee work-from-home policy?
Our leadership priorities remain; to keep our employees safe, to support the businesses that depend on us, and to ensure that we – as corporates – do not contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Like most other leading software companies, we have a well-defined Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Most things you would do to prepare for the disease are no different than what you should typically be doing.
MUSTAFA SHEHABI Orchestrating connected commerce – What’s next? | Checkout the original article here About 10 years ago, the smartphone permanently changed the consumer and their use of technology. Merchant and banking technology struggled to keep pace. Over the years, an exciting transformation has emerged – where the need to provide connected experiences cutting across consumers and merchants were essential to maintain profitability in payment processing. Traditional banking was challenged by the new consumer willing to buy services from vendors who could provide a better experience coupled tightly to their aspirations. The tradeoff between trust and experience had begun. To sustain this growth, it was imperative to have a developer and API focused interface between legacy operators and new-age tech providers. This was the founding shift in architecture which leads to the significant investments being made in FinTech as we know it. The conversation on this subject is just getting started and will look very different 12 months out - lots of disintermediation, mergers, acquisitions, pivots and new starts. But the winner is going to take consumer experience, link it to aspirations and deliver it with seamless technology.
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