It’s a Fintech Friday featuring all the latest fintech news and disruptive developments in the banking and financial payments industry. Grant Thornton’s Simon Moss talks about the big picture for fintech disruption within the financial services industry in a two-part series with FEI Daily.

Everythingzoomer.com profiles the Canadian founders of impak Finance and their goal to disrupt the banking industry and at the same time do good for the world. The financial services industry should keep its eye on Amazon’s new Prime Reload feature which offers 2% cashback to consumers who reload their Amazon gift card balance from a debit card or bank account.

SWIFT announced plans for an instant payments messaging solution for the European market, enabling instant payments via the SWIFT network. WealthIntel and TAS Group launched a joint venture to create a new disruptive payments platform using W$T and TAS payments technologies. Mercator Advisory Group research shows the Canadian prepaid card market reached $3.4 billion in 2016.

Android Pay launched a year after Apple Pay and seven months after Samsung Pay in Canada but it’s determined to stay in the long-term “marathon” to attract consumers to its payments platform. The Financial Post talked to several experts to see how Canadians might respond and when they will adopt the new payments platforms.

The next generation of new payments technologies is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 35.98% by 2022. MasterCard launched a new online B2B payments hub where small to mid-size business can easily issue digital invoices and receive digital payments.

The Three Things Financial Execs Can Learn from the Banking Revolution: A Q&A With Grant Thornton’s Simon Moss, Part 1

http://daily.financialexecutives.org/three-things-financial-executives-can-learn-banking-revolution-qa-grant-thorntons-simon-moss-part-1/FEI Daily spoke with Simon Moss, managing director in the Financial Services Advisory practice at Grant Thornton, about fintech disruption, where to begin with blockchain, the Paris Agreement, hacktivism and more.

FEI Daily: What can financial executives learn from how banks are handling an increasingly competitive environment?

Simon Moss: We’re seeing an enormous demographic change. The iPhone came out in 2007, but it has transformed the way that we deal with the retail supply chain, the way we deal with our banks, and the way we deal with each other. That has essentially been a catalyst for completely new operating models, but it’s also given way to a very different demographic demand.

I think that we have created a client base who expects much faster satisfaction and are less concerned with regulatory and legal risk. If that weren’t true we wouldn’t be using things like Venmo, Ledge and other new payment systems.

And we’re seeing a lot more consolidation into a single asset. In other words: Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay, at the client interaction level, are transforming the expectations the customer has of the institution and the institution’s speed in developing new ideas, new products and new solutions. Via daily.financialexecutives.org

The Three Things Financial Execs Can Learn from the Banking Revolution: A Q&A With Grant Thornton’s Simon Moss, Part 2

http://daily.financialexecutives.org/three-things-financial-executives-can-learn-banking-revolution-qa-grant-thorntons-simon-moss-part-2/The banking industry is going through a major revolution, in terms of speed and satisfying customer expectations, and financial executives can learn a lot about dealing with disruption.

For the first time in history every industry faces a very similar problem: the massive democratization of data, its use and the power it has provided the consumer. From healthcare to retail to banking, new players are emerging that are more agile than ever before to serve a client base that is demanding change and experience.

FEI Daily spoke with Simon Moss, managing director in the Financial Services Advisory practice at Grant Thornton, about fintech disruption, where to begin with blockchain, the Paris Agreement, hacktivism and more. Via daily.financialexecutives.org

Two Guys With a Big Dream: Transforming the Banking Industry

http://www.everythingzoomer.com/two-guys-big-dream-transforming-banking-industry/When most of us go about our daily banking, without really thinking about what happens to our money. We deposit our cheques, invest in a GIC or pay our mortgages with the comfort that our money is safe and secure. But seldom do we consider the mechanics of the banking system, such as where our money is invested and what ventures it supports.

Paul Allard and Andy Krupski want to change all that. This pair of disruptors ran into each other a few years ago and realized they had similar goals. Allard, from Montreal, Krupski, from Toronto, wanted to make two changes in the financial industry: a) change the ways banks do business and b) change the way customers interface with their banks.

That’s the concept behind impak Finance – an enterprise that isn’t only in the business of making money but also wants to help individuals and companies improve the world. Changing an entrenched industry like the banking sector is a lofty dream. Allard and Krupski will speak at ideacity 2017. Here’s their story. Via everythingzoomer.com

Financial firms should fear, but also admire, Amazon’s rewards program

https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/financial-firms-should-fear-but-also-admire-amazons-rewards-programAmazon Prime might have seemed like a gimmick to some at first. Discounts on shipping and free video content are tempting to consumers, who would have to pay an annual membership fee. But it was hard to fathom the payoff for Amazon, especially with binge-watching customers who rack up a lot of discounted shipments.

But years later, the success of the strategy has positioned Amazon to compete in more areas — including in payments — and greatly expand scale. The large-scale outcomes of what seemed like a small-scale strategy offer valuable lessons for the financial services industry. For the payments industry, the success of Prime also poses a serious competitive threat.

Amazon’s latest splash is a Prime rewards program that gives cash back to shoppers without their having to pay with credit cards to reap the reward. The new program, called Amazon Reload, offers Amazon Prime users 2% cash back each time they reload their Amazon gift card balance with funds from a debit card or bank account. Via americanbanker.com

SWIFT unveils European payments solution

SWIFT has announced the launch of an instant payments messaging solution for the European market, enabling instant payments to be made over the SWIFT network. Expected to be available by November 2018, the solution will provide customers with a single gateway to connect to multiple instant payments systems. It could also support instant payments initiatives elsewhere.

The instant payments gateway can be used stand-alone, but it can also be integrated with SWIFT’s Alliance Messaging Hub (AMH), which enables the processing of financial message flows and integration with back office systems. It will be fully compliant with industry standards and specifications.

This solution is the latest development in SWIFT’s global instant payments strategy, and builds on SWIFT’s earlier success in Australia. In 2015, SWIFT was awarded the contract to deliver the messaging infrastructure to underpin Australia’s new payments platform, AU NPP, which is expected to go live later this year. Via fstech.co.uk

WealthIntel, Inc. and TAS Group sign Letter of Intent to develop W$T’s disruptive payment technology

http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2017/Jun/14/wealthintel-inc-and-tas-group-sign-letter-of-intent-to-develop-wts-disruptive-payment-technology/Today WealthIntel and TAS Group (“TAS”) announced their execution of a Letter of Intent to join in the development of W$T’s proprietary payment platform and TAS becoming strategic partner of W$T in card solutions and payment systems.

TAS, through its subsidiary in the United States, plans to develop and assist WealthIntel in the implementation of its proprietary Intelligent System Method of Payment Finance and Social Commerce named W$T and integrate it, with all required certifications, with other disruptive technology components of W$T’s groundbreaking system. Final negotiations are in progress and a complete contract is anticipated by both parties to be finalized during the summer.

“WealthIntel aims to craft and establish a pioneering payment and finance method acceptable to the public at large,” said Fabrizio Boccardi, CEO and Chairman of WealthIntel, Inc. “We are excited about the prospect to develop with TAS our innovative and proprietary payment platform based on TAS’ market leading card and payment platforms “.

“TAS has been an innovator and a key player in the international Financial and Payments industries for 30 years, “ said Dario Pardi, Chairman of TAS Group. “We are keen to support and be part of WealthIntel’s plans to bring to consumers a new and potentially disruptive payment method through our state of the art technologies, such as Cashless 3.0™ Card Management products, and our proven expertise”. Via bobsguide.com

The CPPO Prepaid Symposium Conveys Five Key Insights About the Growing Canadian Prepaid Market

http://www.paymentsjournal.com/Content/Blogs/Industry_Blog/36468/The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO), the leading voice of the prepaid industry in Canada, hosted a one-day symposium in May to discuss the changing nature of the Canadian prepaid market.

Like much of the world, prepaid is the fastest-growing electronic payment tool in Canada. New research from Mercator Advisory Group, which was previewed at the symposium, showed that prepaid card loads reached CAD$3.4B in 2016. Canada offers consumer-, corporate- and government-funded prepaid cards across 17 current market segments and the top segments are general-purpose reloadable, open-loop prepaid and RAN gift cards.

The CPPO Prepaid Symposium included leaders from Canada and around the globe discussing innovative prepaid technology, the future of identity and KYC, prepaid’s role in Canadian citizens’ financial health and budgeting activities, and how and why corporations should move to electronic payments. Via paymentsjournal.com

‘It’s going to be a marathon’: What Android Pay means for mobile payments in Canada

http://business.financialpost.com/technology/personal-tech/its-going-to-be-a-marathon-what-android-pay-means-for-mobile-payments-in-canadaAfter a seemingly endless wait, Canadian Android users finally have access to Android Pay, about a year after Apple brought its iPhone mobile payments platform to Canada with Apple Pay, and seven months after Samsung Pay soft-launched its service in partnership with CIBC.

With mobile payments now fully available on both major mobile operating systems, the last piece has seemingly fallen into place for Canada’s mobile payments ecosystem. But are Canadians really ready to adopt this new way of paying? We spoke with several experts on the current state of mobile payments in Canada today and projections for the future. Via business.financialpost.com

Global Next Generation Payment Technology Market to Grow at a CAGR of 35.98% by 2022

http://www.satprnews.com/2017/06/16/global-next-generation-payment-technology-market-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-35-98-by-2022/The report on ‘Next Generation Payment Technology is a meticulous compilation of the various facets of the payment technology market including a thorough analysis of the different technology types of payment technology mapped across different applications and geographical regions. The Porter’s Five Forces analysis, value chain analysis, key regulations & industry initiatives, business models and key developments have also been included in the report to understand the overall attractiveness of this industry.

The advent of digitalization in the payment transactions have caught the attention of global industrial ecosystem and it is expected to drastically change the dynamics of the payment technology market by creating new participants across mobile network carriers, handset original equipment manufacturer (OEM), terminal and readers’ manufacturers, near field communication (NFC) technology enablers, Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) chip makers and financial institutions among others. All major players from each payment technology aim to record good share of revenues from payment technology products and solutions. Traditional stakeholders such as issuers, payment networks, and acquiring banks will need to focus on maintaining their current share of revenue from card transactions to newer forms of payment transactions such as mobile app and mobile wallet.

Next generation payment technology has helped to deliver secure financial services in various circumstances where threat to login data and financial information prevails. Latest payment technologies such as Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) Chip, Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Quick Response Code (QR Code) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) have made the payment transactions both technically and commercially feasible.

Evident transformation has taken place in the world of digital and mobile payments in the last 4 years (2013-2016). The rise of internet, the success of mobile point-of-sale devices and smartphones in terms of usage by various applications and the availability of large unbanked population in emerging economies have created new and exciting opportunities for service providers. These opportunities have been sensed by technology, and commercial organizations and by even telecommunication players. Banks and other financial institutions in the financial transaction ecosystem have developed in-house payment products in order to preserve their payments revenues and take advantage of emerging payment platforms such as mPOS, mobile wallets, virtual terminals, mobile apps and mobile money. Via satprnews.com

MasterCard launches an online B2B payment service

Mastercard Inc. is out to move more small and mid-sized businesses away from paper checks and into digital payments.

The payment card company this week announced the Mastercard B2B Hub, a digital payment processing service it will launch later this year with AvidXchange, a provider of software for automating invoices and payment transactions.

Companies will be able to use the hub to automate the online exchange of purchase orders, invoices and payments between buyers and sellers, with workflow features for routing invoices and payments for approval by authorized personnel. Via digitalcommerce360.com

That’s the news for fintech Friday. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll be back with more payments industry news on Monday.