Pymts Geek, Network Theory, Founder/CEO, Advisor/Investor. Former: NASA Engineer, Bank Exec, Oracle, 4 exits. Building teams connecting great people. SDG
DOJ's Visa Complaint - blog on first reactions . Effective incentives are not necessarily exclusionary or anti-competitive. Globally, a single debit network typically dominates in every geographic region. It is logical that Visa (the inventor of the debit
Visa + Brilliant move by Visa to be the core connected infrastructure for any wallet. A universal "payname" is core to identity and the "master directory" tying consumers to wallets, banks and instruments.
Rumor mill.. $PYPL pressured on 4 fronts. ApplePay taking browser and mobile share in 4Q (branded losing share) and 2) 2Q bump from bundling BT+branded has faded (Adyen and others adjusted), 3) take rate (below) and 4) CEO change + talent exodus. All this makes for significant
Big update on Apple Pay Later. I can't find any issuing bank that has been presented with the opportunity. Apple could be going with a tier 2 bank... or something much different could be planned. Who will hold the recievables? Who will be the issuer? stay tuned.
Card Linked Offers are a mess. I project we will see failure here soon.. with discounted asset sale. Look at my BofA offers today 3 restaurants, 7 subscriptions.. what a mess. To change behavior there must be engagement during shopping/search. This is untargeted coupon clipping.
Fintech I'm most excited about this week?
@Affirm
1) volumes 100% (ex AMZN) 2) Actives 11.2M +150%, 3)Merchants up to 168k from 8k (YoY). 4) Credit quality holding. IMHO networks effects are taking hold AND consumers are beginning to see as card alternative.
Visa's new flex credentials. Wow, this could be one of the top 5 payment innovations in last 10 yrs. They have productized what was done for Affirm Debit+ (see my old blog). AB article today
Brazil: PIX growth drives card growth. The
#1
question thrown at me is why PIX and UPI are not a threat to V/MA. See this article.. 42% card GDV CAGR, 16.6% Debit GDV CAGR. These innovations bring people into banking AND electronic payments. A tide that lifts all boats.
DOJ/Visa. Total over reaction by the market. Best quote is from Autonomous "Visa has lost ~$40bn in market cap since end of Monday, which implies that its US debit franchise is worth ~40% less today by our estimates". Another great quote from a senior payments exec "Hey its
Top reasons what Fintechs DO NOT want a banking license? I'll start with 3:
1) Audit and Compliance
2) Reporting Requirements
3) There is no "lite" version in the US (ex ELMI in EU). Its all or nothing
#leavefintechs
alone
$V / $MA just spoke to someone with copy of the Durbin Bill: 1) directs the Fed to create regulations that requires banks over $100B in assets to enable an "unaffiliated" network 2) The unaffiliated network can NOT be another major credit card network. Blog coming tonight.
PayPal vs Visa - 5yr view.. ?PYPL down 6.5%.. V up 79%.. Tom's network rule
#1
- The value of a network is the sum total of investment made by all parties participating. This investment is directly correlated to the value they derive from it.
I'm a payment network bull. Can't understand why BAC analysts cut V/MA to neutral. While US/EU payment growth may begin to level out, the networks have a long runway in ROW and expansion opportunities beyond payments. I would like to see US banks lean in.. the power of banking is
$V and $MA beat consensus yesterday.. big time. For V U.S. GDV up 21% (Debit GDV +30%) and Visa Direct (former VMT) up +60%. Visa Direct benefitting from Venmo, Zelle, SquareCash.. it has become the "rails" for innovation.
Just learned today that Google has convinced a number of top retailers to send 100% of all transaction data.. your item level purchases. Google had online intelligence.. now rapidly gaining insight into your POS/Brand Preferences.
Thanksgiving reading - 2022 McKinsey Global Payment Report . My fav chart below. In US Card is 40% of retail bank revenue and 33% of all payment revenue. Asian payment revenue is twice as large as ROW combined.
Thought for the day. Super impressed in the partnerships $PYPL created in support of QR code at POS: Top 10 banks, 2 major acquirers, Verifone, inCom, TCH, Merchants.. Top issuers have told me they would rather innovate through $PYPL than V/MA. Surprising.
Google's wallet has come from nowhere to be
#2
in US behind PayPal. Their goal is to make eCom "better" from start to finish. As an avid user, what I like best is the privacy centric user control. Data comes from my phone/browser. I permission it. If Google owns CX, identity,
Apple Wallet shows bank balance in UK. As a guy that ran two of the largest online banks the primary retail interaction is to log in check balance pay a bill and leave (3-5 X per week). Card apps are used 2x per month. Removes key touch point
Platform of choice? Adyen is everyone's partner. Nothing exclusive here. They prioritize what their merchants want. I spoke to a CMO last night "Paypal doesn't listen, they can no longer justify premium thru either conversion or fraud and show up with the latest new shiny idea to
Apple Pay Later - Who is the "issuer"? Who owns the lending? Who manages the loans? This is not resolved. While the consensus says it is GS, there is likely something much more global going on. More in blog Friday.
Paypal earnings today.. I expect a surprise beat on earnings estimates.. They are really firing on all cylinders. Most surprising to me? Top 6 banks would rather partner with them than V/MA.. Blog coming out this week.
I bought $pypl stock today. Why? They are moving both merchants and banks with their speed and focus. One Big bank told me this week "we must work with partners that can move merchants.. google has best tech.. but only Paypal and Apple can move W3C" (I was shocked)
Visa. Anxious to see the DOJ complaint. My view is that any complaint will be problematic if focus is on tokenization or processor volume incentives. In debit choice is everywhere: Issuers choose to tokenize, merchants can detokenize and route at PIN debit, Merchants can choose
$PYPL working with Goldman to offload Xoom. Certainly one of the worst M&A decisions PayPal ever made (next to Paydiant). PYPL paid $890M for 1.5M customers (2015), and functionality that overlapped with PayPal. Cross border remittance margin is under substantial pressure.
Just off the phone w/ 2 execs of major processors. The payments competitive environment has changed "merchants don't want new.. they want cheaper". This cost focus has killed the innovation budgets in processors, igniting price competition in a race to the bottom. This also
New Blog - Visa Flex Credentials VFC. Potential to be the biggest pipe expansion in the history of payments with Visa at the Center of a Network of Networks. Long a vision of US banks.. Visa has just made many to one a reality.
Rumor.. Goog is rolling out a new real time payment product this month with JPMC and TCH. A Zelle/Venmo competitor? or something more like pay anyone (ex India UPI)?
The bank/mastercard issue is NOTHING compared to retailer sharing of SKU level info with Google/FB. Most top 50 retailers send Goog/FB near real time SKU level data (see my blog). So while Cambridge Analytica caused pull back of 3rd party sharing.. it accelerated 1st party
Payment humor 101. My reaction to "retailers are interested in A2A". The real challenge is getting consumers to use their debit card (Durbit rates of $0.21+5bps with larger retailers operating less than $0.08 per transaction). Very hard to make a business case for replacing
Apple Opens NFC. Just off the phone with Apple. They were nice enough to treat me as a journalist. Blog forthcoming in next hour. Summary. Brilliant move by Apple removing a huge regulatory overhang. Andriod has been "open" for 10 yrs. Apple wins thru customer experiences, UCs
Thought for the day. Retailers care much more about incremental sales than the cost of payments. This is why they are adopting BNPL - a payment option priced above card.
Thought for the day. The biggest hurdles to real time payments on the consumer side. 1) V/MA/Amex give the consumer experience of real time (ie messaging) in your account. 2) the 30 yrs of fraud infrastructure built around card 3) Consumer value - they don't want speed and
WSJ "Credit-card disputes have soared as shoppers wield the power to contest charges more freely". At MRC meeting, retailers related that the total cost to manage a dispute is over $400. For purchases under that amount its hard to justify other than for repeat offenders.
At
#money2020
today. So much going on. Merchant just told several large banks of their intent to tokenize throwing a giant monkey wrench into bank eCom plans. More to come in blog Thursday
$V. Visa must watch video Karen Webster interview of Visa's global head of consumer payments Mark Nelsen. They cover the seven new products Visa announced this week.
ApplePay in Browser was build on 10+ years of effort across Card Networks, Standards bodies, Issuers and Apple. Example List
1) Network Tokenization
2) Network Card Provisioning
3) Issuer Card Provisioning - Phone/Person/Account Binding
4) W3C Payment Request API
5) Apple -
Must read article on UPI India. Certainly the top payments innovation in last 5 yrs with TPV up over 103% ('21 v '20). Note that V/MA GDV went up 44% in same period.
re DOJ on Visa debit routing. It would appear DOJs case is based upon active 2016 Visa vs. WMT NY Supreme Court Case (Index
#0652530
/2016), see complaint starting para
#53
. I had no idea V sent WMT a breach note.. Letter from Oliver to Mike Below
New Blog - Power of Bank Networks. The bull case for V/MA (22 pages). Last year I said โVisa and Mastercard have NEVER lost share in a market where they have gained a footholdโ. I attempt to outline why. A: Econ model, Trust and Bank role to intermediate
BILL Names Mary Kay Bowman as Head of Payments Business. Big congrats to . MK is on my list as one of the top 5 payment execs. Her background is unmatched.
$PYPL as PayPal becomes a Braintree unbranded company, the ability to "innovate" gets much harder as a merchant service provider they don't have the rights to data, nor consumer permissions to use it. PayPal ran into this problem in its first efforts to speed all checkout 10 yrs
Congrats $aapl, $V and $SQ registered for Square merchant account and was live with Apple's Tap to Pay in under 30min. A fantastic experience available to any iPhone owner. Make your iPhone a POS
Perhaps the MOST important data point for those seeking to forecast the US payment market is the UK, where fasterpayments began 15 yrs ago in 2008. (Cards are not in danger.. RTP impacts trusted payments, disbursements and checks are core TPV)
In the airport today. Wallets will be the central point of interaction for many things beyond payments. Look whatโs going on at the security line here in Phoenix.
From CNBC "Goldman Sachs, which issues the Apple Card, is involved as the technical issuer of the [MA Installment] loans and is the official BIN sponsor. But Apple is not using Goldmanโs credit decisions or its balance sheet for issuing the loans"
The only CLO left.. Cardlytics $CDLX earnings out yesterday. 8% revenue growth and negative $17.6M operating cash flow. Stock is down 40% today. A 12+ yr old company... Oh.. and the largest US banks are working to build their own CLO (see Chase Media Network). Ouch.
Thinking about consumer "trust". In looking at the list, consistent value, service and frequency of interaction seem to be drivers (
@PayPal
is most trusted Payment Network). Thoughts on what creates trust?
My most heretical statement (that no one has disproved): Neither Visa nor Mastercard have ever lost share in a market where they have gained traction (outside of sanctions). While there are many other ways to perform payments, there is no better economic model nor network
I normally cheer for all payment companies.. but the idea that Square's market cap is greater than Goldman sacks? for a company 50% focused on physical retail? Come on.. 360x earnings seems just a tad off with Apple coming into their market.
The MRC article focuses on moving identity upstream. This is a payments perspective, not a retailer's perspective. While retailers incur payment costs of 1% of sales for payments, they spend 9%+ of revenue/GMV on marketing. Identity is the core of both.
FedNow point
#2
. There is no mandate to support FedNow, it is up to each and every bank to turn it on, and determine which transactions to support, and how to price it. Thus FedNow faces challenge of 1) bank adoption, 2) consumer adoption, 3) merchant adoption.
1 of 3 - $PYPL stock dives after "shock the world" PR today. It seems cash back offers are not the AI innovation that investors were hoping for. I agree.. have you seen $CDLX price?
This first battle for any "new" wallet is Guest Checkout - Consumers that don't already have an account with that merchant (merchants with COF). Google is the clear leader in desktop with Chrome auto-fill. ApplePay rules on Mobile and gaining rapidly as they now run on Chrome.
$Afrm did a great job in their new card enrollment CX. I had account opened and WFC account linked in under 3 min. I see Affirm as a very, very big winner in today's Apple announcement. Apple just became Affirms largest channel distribution partner (not that Amazon and Walmart
Another great product innovation coming out of Visa Payment Forum (
#VPF2024
) is tap to provision. In coordination with Apple, Visa has enabled all Issuers to greatly improve the way cards are provisioned to phones AND reduce fraud. Combining possession of physical card with
#applecard
success. I went all weekend only paying with ApplePay or Apple Card. No issues in store, at pump, online, in app, with tap.. none. 100% success for 27 transactions. Great work
@apple
Banking 101. Quick note on savings rates. The 3 month treasury is paying 4.98%. Obviously, any bank paying depositors below that rate can hold liabilities in a short term treasury and make money. That's not rocket science. The weird thing about the US market is how reluctant US
Banks take action to stop daily aggregation. Brilliant move by Bank of America. In mailbox today.. OTPs and password change will throw a wrench into expanded use of Plaid, Yodlee, MX and others. Next step after this? A permissioned pipe at Akoya... and Fintechs will pay a fee.
Tremendous Innovation from Google: Secure Payment Authentication. They just beat PayPal Fastlane and Paze to market. Using a device bound cryptogram to authenticate consumer and payment. . Blog forthcoming.
@iankar_
Invest in anything that is opaque or poorly serves the customer. In 2014.. how did you accept a card? instantly send $50 to the person next to you? Integrate payments to your website? .. Payments are the last step of almost every commercial process.. (room to improve)
$PYPL. Adios "Super App" hello enterprise. Braintree volumes grew 44% in 2Q22 where button vol grew 4-5%. Mgmt expects 50bps of margin expansion in a $900M cost cutting effort. Many more changes are needed here to unite the pieces they have acquired. Big changes.