ISO & Agent

Today’s global citizens face risks that extend far beyond crumbling highways. Although reliable physical infrastructure is necessary for economic growth, immature and anemic payment infrastructures may present another serious threat to the global economy, writes Tomas Likar, head of business development and strategy at Hyperwallet.

With many consumers now using online and mobile banking, there is a huge opportunity to incorporate blockchain solutions into the everyday payments experience, writes Andre Stoorvogel, director of product marketing for Rambus Payments.

Existing bank systems are holding issuers back from responding fast enough to changing market conditions, contends Mikko Rieger, senior vice president of consumer management services for Nets.

The FIS-Worldpay and Fiserv-First Data combos do provide notable scale, but the even-larger companies still won't produce the same pace of growth that younger nimble fintechs enjoy, says Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

While banks are oftentimes simply too big to react to this consumer change quickly, more agile fintechs have been much faster to prioritize mobile-first POS financing, argues Nufar Segal, general manager of consumer financing at Jifiti.

By learning from the struggles that resulted from Wells Fargo’s outages, the rest of the financial world can improve its own disaster recovery plans, writes Todd Matters, chief architect and co-founder of RackWare.

In the emerging ecosystem economy, merchants will need to provide a seamless buying journey for customers. That means everything from a dynamic user interface and smart authentication to contactless payment options for faster transaction times, writes Paul Perry, a contributor for the technology company Relay.

Once Apple looked at the state of its existing ecosystem, it identified a space it could uniquely deliver on, and activated the partners needed to make it come to fruition — a perfect example of the concept of ecosystem enablement, argues Frank Kenney, director of market strategy for Cleo.

As more national banks leave smaller communities and focus on large customers, fintechs are creating an "Uber effect" with an easier experience. Small businesses are increasingly looking to borrow money and fund their growth initiatives, and need a partner who can deliver, argues William Phelan, president of PayNet.

Users don’t have all the tools they need to ensure the security of their mobile devices, so it’s all the more important for providers of mobile financial services to help users by hardening mobile apps with technology, writes Samuel Bakken, senior product manager at OneSpan.

The scope of customer experience spans multiple products and services that comprise the merchant technology and payment service ecosystems, according to Paul Perry, a contributor for the technology company Relay.

Traditional loyalty programs provide customers with tangible benefits, such as a free item with purchase or a reward for return visits. But these are limited in reach, argues James Roedding, vice president of product and data Rewards Network.

Although slow to catch up, issuing banks are well placed within the payments ecosystem to capitalize on short-term credit provision — in fact, they can be the biggest winners, argues Mehmet Sezgin, CEO and founder of myGini.

Before we can advertise the security benefits of digital wallets, we have to address their vulnerabilities, writes Jared McClure, co-founder and COO of CrayPay.

Attracting surprisingly technology-savvy older consumers is a lucrative—and surprisingly easy—goal for online retailers, as long as payments fraud protection is solid and understantable, argues Monica Eaton-Cardone, co-founder and CEO of Chargebacks911.

However, before we put all of our eggs in the blockchain basket, we need to examine whether the technology is ready to protect merchants from chargebacks and fraud, contends Suresh Dakshina, president of Chargeback Gurus.

In the era of digital transformation, it can be easy to mistake activity for achievement. A disciplined approach is needed, writes Tim VanTassel, a vice president at FICO.

Even as regulations are getting tougher, criminals are getting more sophisticated and creative, writes Ron Teicher, CEO of EverCompliant.

Financial institutions that participate in state-administered EBT programs have a unique opportunity to put more money in the pockets of the nation’s neediest by eliminating surcharge fees on their ATMs, writes Kim Bynan, a senior vice president at FIS.

An initiative by Visa and Lloyds doesn't go far enough and is counterintuitive to the card network's move to reduce cash, argues Mark Horwedel, a strategic consultant to CMSPI.