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DAVID EVANS: Hi, this is David Evans. I’m in a very snowy Marblehead, Massachusetts today. I have the pleasure of speaking with Amer Sajed, who is the CEO for Barclaycard US, who I understand is in a similar situation down in Delaware. Before we signed onto this, we were just comparing who had more snow than the other. I think we’re about even. Amer, thank you very much for joining me today.
AMER SAJED: You are most welcome. It’s a pleasure.
EVANS: Amer, how did you get into the payments business?
SAJED: I joined Barclaycard about four and a half years ago. Prior to that, I had spent about 20 years at Citigroup, and the last seven or eight years at Citigroup, I was running major cards portfolios for them. So, I’ve had probably 10+ years of being specifically in the payment business.
EVANS: What’s your overall mandate here in the U.S. for Barclaycard?
SAJED: My mandate is simple. It’s to service customers to the best of my ability, and by doing so, to grow profitably for this business.
EVANS: Jumping off from there, what are Barclaycard’s plans for the U.S. in 2011, to the extent you can tell us?
SAJED: I think it’s clear. We have strong aspirations for the U.S. business. We believe the U.S. economy is turning. We’re optimistic about the economy. We believe our position in the U.S. is strong. We have the ability, we believe, of actually doing much better in servicing our customers. We plan on doing that through our existing partner model. We have some of the best, best partner names out there, and we want to really deepen the relationships we have with our partners. At the same time, we have a terrific opportunity of getting into mobile payments, and we will be investing in that as well.
EVANS: I want to talk to you a lot more about that, but before I do, the U.S. these days is just awash in regulation, from debit card interchange fee regulation possibly, probably, overdraft limits. We have the CARD Act. Now, we have looming over us the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Do you see all of those things as obstacles? Do you see them as the source of opportunity? Or perhaps a bit of both?
SAJED: Well, I guess a bit of both. But David, as you know, there is a cost of excessive legislation and regulation. We believe what it has done is we have gotten to a stage where regulations and legislation have helped us figure out what the best business model for us is. So yes, there is a cost to this regulation, but we believe, going forward, by being able to service the customers well, we’ll be able to differentiate from the competition and actually leverage some of the benefits of this legislation to our advantage.
EVANS: Barclays is part of the ISIS venture, or at least I believe it is, to set up a mobile payments platform in the U.S. What do you think consumers and merchants are going to see two, five, 10 years from now as a result of this very interesting venture that you guys are a part of?
SAJED: As you know, ISIS is a joint venture by the three major telecos: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Barclays is the first issuer on that mobile venture. It’s a phenomenal opportunity for us, David. We are the small credit card company in the U.S. This is a great opportunity for us to truly be able to take advantage of the huge scale that the three telecos provide us. They have between them 200 million customers. That’s a phenomenal advantage for us, as we have exclusive rights to market to their customers. In terms of what’s going to happen two, five, or 10 years down the road, I believe — and frankly, David, none of us know the answer to what’s going to happen ten years down the road — but I believe what’s going to happen more and more and the vision actually we see for mobile payments is that your cell phone will replace your wallet.
The wallet with its myriad of credit cards, loyalty cards, you know, coupons, etc. — the purse or the wallet will go away. Instead, we’ll have a cell phone that will house in it not just a different number of payment mechanisms but also different loyalty programs and different rewards programs built all within that. So we believe it’s phenomenally easy and simple for the consumer and a giant leap forward for this industry.
EVANS: Certainly for the 10-year time horizon, that all sounds right to me. I agree that it’s hard to forecast these things. In the payments industry, we tend to always think that things are going to happen sooner rather than later, but 10 years is not too bad to stick with. Now, I don’t want you to share the company jewels with me, although actually I would, but I suspect you won’t. But I’m wondering, to the extent you can tell me, what do you think the big innovations in payments will be in the U.S. and the role that Barclaycard is going to be playing in that.
SAJED: Well, ISIS and deals like ISIS, I think, will be a key innovation for this industry. I think we’re going to see more and more mobile wallets in place. So, we will see people using their cell phones more, not just for servicing but also for payments as well. I think that’s a phenomenal opportunity for this industry. Other areas, there’s going to be more of a connection or more of an interconnection with merchants. So for example, in the UK, Barclaycard has something called Barclaycard Freedom. What it tries to do is it tries to get merchants, retailers and issuers together, so that the customer gets the best of both worlds. They are able to get coupons online and able to get rewards at instant point of sale instantly at point of sale. I think we see more of that happening in the U.S. as well.
EVANS: In other words, you see issuers, and Barclaycard in particular, spending more effort to really provide value to merchants.
SAJED: Absolutely. And one of the consequences of the regulation we’ve talked about is that consumers are getting pickier about the cards that they choose or the payment vehicles that they choose. So Barclaycard truly believes that partnering with major retailers, you’re able to provide more value to a consumer. And by doing so, be top of wallet for consumers.
EVANS: Can you talk a little bit about how new technology can support a partnership payment program?
SAJED: Yes. Technology is an enabler. I think the payments program has to be working well by itself. What technology allows us to do is it allows us to get rid of paper. It allows us to make it easier for the customer. It allows the customer touch points to become easier and simpler. There are lots of examples where we’ve been able to use technology to get it off paper completely — good for the environment, good for the customer, good for the partner. Similarly, technology allows us, obviously, or allows the customer to have access to our products and services much more easy and in a much more relevant manner.
EVANS: Last question for you. Jamie Dimon has said more or less that the U.S. economy is out of the woods and that things are looking brighter for banking, and by implication, lending and just generally other good things. Do you agree with that?
SAJED: For the most part, yes, David. I am very optimistic about the U.S. I don’t know if it’s completely out of the woods yet, but I absolutely am. I guess the words I would use are cautiously optimistic. I think we’re in a stage where the worst is behind us. Consumers will come back to it. Consumers will come back to credit cards. Consumers will come back to spending, and I think this industry has a lot of runway ahead of us. So, I am cautiously optimistic.
EVANS: Amer, thank you very much for your time today. We’re at the beginning of 2011. I know that you have a busy year in a new position with an exciting company. We wish you the best for 2011, and thank you again for joining us today. We hope to see you again sometime soon on PYMNTS.com.
SAJED: Thank you very much, David. It was a pleasure.
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