The (Payments) Vegas Update

Payments, commerce, FinTech, security and mobile are converging in ways like never before.

That was evident at Money20/20 in Las Vegas, where, for two days, the financial industry has been abuzz with breaking news, with the trending topics innovating the payments and commerce ecosystems today.

So, just what is trending among the conversations the past two days? We’re moving into Day 3 today.

But first, a brief recap —  building from the topics that were on the docket the past few days.

Data breach regulation, financial inclusion, mobile payments security and adoption, alternative lending trends and regulation, mobile and emerging markets, blockchain innovation, cross-border payments.

Mobile wallets, payment card solutions and the underbanked, tokenization and payment security, faster payments, FinTech innovation, retail customer engagement, EMV migration, omnichannel retail, digital identity solutions, IoT-connected commerce.

Just to name a few topics.

As for companies breaking news in the past two days, here’s a brief recap about some of the announcements impacting the payments and commerce space.

Chase Pay Makes Its Debut

Chase finally lifted the veil on its plans for mobile payments yesterday (Oct. 26) when the CEO of Consumer and Community Banking at JPMC Chase Cards Gordon Smith announced the launch of Chase Pay. Billed as a mobile payments solution that provides a “true omnichannel” payments experience — in-store, in-app and online purchases — Smith built the case for why he believes Chase Pay will be a formidable force in payments.

And, an interesting, if somewhat controversial, new partnership was announced with MCX — the company that powers CurrentC.

Smith said that given its partnership with MCX, which includes such storied retailers as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Shell, Chase Pay will enter the market with a merchant-focused, cloud-based mobile wallet in mid-2016.

MasterCard Launches Wearable Payments-Inspired Program

MasterCard announced a new program designed to bring MasterCard payments to a wide array of consumer products across automotive, fashion, technology and wearables.

According to MasterCard: “The program gives consumers the freedom to shop using the device or thing that is most convenient to them, with the highest level of security available.”

“As more and more ‘things’ become connected, consumers will have endless possibilities when it comes to how they pay and will need all of their devices to work seamlessly together,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard. “This program eliminates the boundaries of how we pay by delivering a secure digital payment experience to virtually anything — rings, fitness and smart bands, car key fobs, apparel and whatever comes along next.”

Mozido Launches Mozido HCE Product

Mozido announced Monday (Oct. 26) the global availability of its new host card emulation (HCE) product, Mozido HCE.

It was also announced that Taiwan Mobile Payments Co. (TWMP) has chosen Mozido as the provider for its HCE and tokenization services to its consortium of 27 Taiwanese banks and financial institutions. This solution will provide a hybrid mobile wallet capability for TWMP that supports both existing consumers using hardware secure element-based NFC phones and consumers using HCE cloud-based NFC phones.

Google Talks Android Pay Loyalty And Usage

Google didn’t dish on the exact specifics about how many consumers actually use Android Pay, but Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s SVP of ads and commerce, did share some key stats that provide insight into how Android Pay has been received less than two months in the mobile payments market.

Android Pay is believed to have more than 1 million account holders, and Ramaswamy explained a few early figures during a presentation at Money20/20.

While he didn’t get into specifics, he did share that “millions” of Android users have put their card info on Android Pay. Interestingly enough, it was also reported that a majority (60 percent) of Android Pay users had not used Google Wallet prior to the launch of Android Pay.

edo Interactive Links With SaveAround

Edo Interactive, an advertising technology provider, and SaveAround, a merchant offers provider, announced Monday (Oct. 26) at Money20/20 a new partnership to integrate SaveAround’s deals platforms to more than 40 million cardholders in edo’s Prewards network.

What edo brings to the mix is its patented card-linking technology, which is used by financial institutions around the world to deliver redeemable discounts to cardholders instantly. This technology also uses data-driven insights tailored to consumer spending habits.

Mozido PayEase US-China X-Border Payment Gateway Launches

Mozido announced Monday (Oct. 26) the launch of a payments solution aimed at streamlining cross-border trade between the U.S. and China.

And as part of the rollout of the Mozido PayEase Payment Gateway Platform, a new website has been established to guide U.S. merchants through the process of creating a cross-border eCommerce presence and capability to market and sell products to the more than 1.3 billion people in China.

Sage Partners To Help SMBs Tackle Online Payments Fraud

Sage North America, a provider of business management software and services to small and medium-sized businesses, said Monday (Oct. 26) that its Sage Payments Solution unit is teaming up with fraud solutions firm Kount.

Sage announced that its partnership with Kount will develop and market fraud detection products to SMBs.

The initial mandate will be to develop card-not-present (CNP) security solutions. CNP is fraud that occurs when the card is not at the point of sale where the transaction takes place. The company said in its release that such fraud is expected to grow “exponentially,” citing research firm Aite Group. That firm said it sees CNP fraud as much as doubling in the United States from 2015 through 2018.

How Zebit Serves The Underserved

Zebit announced the launch of its fully automated payment system that provides zero interest credit to the 68 million Americans underserved by traditional financial services.

The company also announced $10 million in Series A venture capital funding. The capital raise provides Zebit working capital for receivables, operations and the expansion of its payment and eCommerce platforms. The financing round was led by Crosslink Capital and includes Wildcat Venture Partners, Leapfrog Ventures and Correlation Ventures.

“Costly life events happen, but people shouldn’t have to pay up to four times retail prices for what they need,” said Michael Thiemann, cofounder and chief executive officer of Zebit. “We are proud to bring zero percent financing to those working Americans underserved by traditional credit providers. We believe that giving people access to free financial resources, along with better options for life event purchases, will help them make healthier financial decisions.”

GIACT Launches gMobile To Enable Companies To Recognize Good Customers

In order to help organizations recognize good customers and safely grow their mobile business, GIACT introduced gMobile, a solution for authenticating mobile users and devices by delivering real-time customer information across mobile, Web and call center platforms.

“GIACT has provided real-time payment risk analysis through traditional sales channels for more than 10 years and over 1 billion transactions (and counting),” said Merlin Bise, cofounder and chief technology officer for GIACT. “GMobile extends our payment risk and security expertise to the fastest growing transaction marketplace — mobile — and takes the guesswork out of accepting payments through new channels by tying the customer to the device and order. Our clients are excited about gMobile, as it covers more than 94 percent of mobile users across all major carriers, verifies customer identity in real time and drives fact-based decisions, thus enabling companies to safely grow their business while mitigating fraud and payment risk.”

Top Three Trends In Payments Industry

We spoke to attendees at Money20/20 to ask them their views on payments trends, predictions for the coming year and what the ideal payments ecosystem looks like.

Here’s a brief bit from our conversation with Tobias Schweiger, CFO and COO at PAY.ON AG:

1. Mobile — Mobile payments will mostly drive the payments industry in the future, fueled by a rise in the number of transactions — more specifically in the U.S. than in Europe, Schweiger predicted.

2. Apple Pay — From the European side, the industry has expected a little bit more, but the card in the mobile setup will certainly be one of the things moving the industry into the future.

3. APMs from the European side of things — Alternative payments is one of the drivers for European businesses and even for the American market. There is a lot of demand for equipping players with APM capabilities to expand into Europe using APMs. “Credit cards can only get you so far,” he said.

To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.