IPA Payments Pod

The IPA recently held its first Fintech Elevator. The online event gave participants a chance to make industry connections and win a membership in the Innovation Payments Association.

In this episode, we talk with the founder of one of our winners, Invest Sou Sou, about how being more social with our household finances can lead to greater success. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Fonta Gilliam was a diplomat who have worked in a number of countries around the world. She saw a different approach to managing money than what is common in the United States. She believes that getting people to share more about their finances will help them achieve their goals.

To this end, she founded Invest Sou Sou, which offers financial institutions a platform that their customers can use to create social networks to help them reach goals. The use cases can range from individuals saving to buy a house to groups savings towards a common goal.

You can learn more by visiting their site at: https://investsousou.com/. If you want to create a Sou Sou wallet of your own, visit: https://investsousou.com/elementor-55/how-sou-sou-works/.

Interested in joining Invest Sou Sou as an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

The IPA recently held its first Fintech Elevator. The online event gave participants a chance to make industry connections and win a membership in the Innovation Payments Association.

In this episode, we talk with one of our winners, Frizzmo, an app and card account that combines spending tools and financial literacy modules to teach kids about money management. In addition, it offers schools a way to raise money through an automated donation tool built into the spending tools.

We talk about why Frizzmo was created, how it works, and what it’s like to launch a company during a pandemic.

Interested in joining Frizzmo as an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

In this episode we take a peek into people’s diaries with Claire Greene from the Federal Reserve bank of Atlanta, and Joanna Stavins of the Federal Reserve bank of Boston.

In their report, The 2019 Diary of consumer Payment Choice, they use data logged by consumers as part of a payments diary to understand the trends in consumer payments behavior. The initial diaries were tracked in October 2019, but given everything that has happened since then, they also discuss the results of two snapshot surveys done earlier this year.

Debit cards still remain the most popular way to pay, and despite the growth in electronic payments, cash is still holding its own.

You can find their report and supplemental data here.

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

In this episode IPA CEO Brian Tate and our members talk with Brian Brooks, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

In a wide-ranging discussion, they talk about regulating during the COVID19 pandemic and beyond. Looking to the future, they discuss fintech charters, small dollar lending, and digital dollars.

The Comptroller also brings up the social justice issues that the country has been facing. He describes how the OCC has launched a new effort “Project REACh,” to address structural issues that affect the ability of Americans to build wealth. You can learn more here.

This is an edited version of the audio portion from the IPA’s Summer of Learning session. The IPA will be holding a ‘Day of Payments’ training day on August 19 and its first Fintech Elevator pitch event for start-ups on August 26.

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

COVID19 has led to speculation that the pandemic could be the catalyst for the arrival of the cashless society.

Stay-at-home measures and pandemic fears have led to an increase in online shopping. At the same time, some brick and mortar merchants are refusing cash as a defense against germs. But consumers haven’t abandoned cash just yet.

Rachel Huber, senior analyst in payments at Javelin Strategies and Research completed a study on the health of cash for ATM provider Cardtronics in late 2019. Given the pandemic, the company thought that she should do another survey to see how the pandemic changed things.

In our conversation, we talk about what happen to cash usage, who uses cash, and the growth of contactless payments. Some of the findings were counterintuitive. You can hear about how things are playing out in the episode and find the complete study at:https://www.cardtronics.com/landing/HealthOfCash.aspx#:~:text=Cardtronics%20sponsored%20Javelin%20Strategy%20and%20Research%20to%20conduct,COVID-19%20pandemic%20and%20economic%20response%20in%20April%202020.

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

The COVID19 pandemic has created new challenges for individuals, businesses, and government agencies as they try to manage money and deliver payroll or benefits.

Prepaid cards have filled gaps for a variety of payments, and in this episode Lori Breitske and Jerry Uffner, from payments processor FIS, explain how. They talk about how prepaid has been used for everything from school lunch benefits to payroll.

This podcast contains an edited extract of the audio portion of a Webinar presented by the IPA and FIS.

You can find a video of the full Webinar at our site or on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frip4dcVViw

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

As countries struggle to help their citizens deal with the economic fallout of the COVID19 pandemic, many are finding that prepaid cards and accounts offer a fast and convenient way to support people.

In this episode, we talk with Jennifer Tramontana of the Canadian Prepaid Providers Association, Matthias Spangenberg of Prepaid Verband Deutschland, Diane Brocklebank of the Prepaid International Forum, Kevin McAdam of Global Processing Services, and Brian Tate of the Innovative Payments Association.

We cover how prepaid cards have been used to distribute benefits in various countries. We talk about the regulatory response to the crisis and prepaid’s role in relief. We also cover the future of payments in general and the future of cash in particular. While the world is in constant flux, it is safe to say that more things change, the more some things will stay the same.

To learn more about the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization, visit: https://cppo.ca/

To learn more about the Prepaid International Forum, visit: https://prepaidforum.org/

To learn more about the Prepaid Verband Deutschland (German Prepaid Association) , visit: https://www.prepaidverband.de/en/

To learn more about Global Processing Services, visit: https://globalprocessing.net/

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

The economic effects of the COVID19 pandemic are far reaching and will last longer than the pandemic itself. These affects are rippling through financial institutions’ portfolios as borrowers feel pressure from lost wages and the economic slowdown.

In this episode, we talk with Rochelle Gorey, the co-founder and CEO of SpringFour, a fintech that helps lenders find assistance for borrowers in financial trouble. We talk about how Springfour provides resources for call centers and online customer services and the business case for connecting customers to vetted nonprofits and government agencies that can provide aid.

To learn more about Spring Four, visit: https://springfour.com/

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

Is the CFPB constitutional? Is its prepaid rule constitutional? These are questions in front of the courts right now. Two lawsuits have called into question both the structure of the CFPB and the validity of its prepaid accounts rule. The outcome of these two cases could determine who is subject to the prepaid rule and even whether the Bureau should exist in its current form.

On the state level, a lawsuit over payroll card rules is making its way through the New York State courts. It could determine whether or not the Department of Labor can regulate financial products.

In this episode, the Innovative Payments Association’s CEO, Brian Tate, and Government Relations Director, Grant Hannah, talk about these lawsuits and what their effects might be. We also talk about the long term effects of these lawsuits in the context of the possible outcomes of the 2020 elections.

The IPA will keep its members updated on developments in these suits through its regular government relations calls.

If you want to stay on top of new developments in the industry, plan to attend the Innovative Payments Conference in Washington DC, April 6-8. Learn more and register at: https://www.americanbanker.com/conference/innovative-payments

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.

Cyber criminals have an advantage over the companies and people they target because they are better at working together than the financial services industry.

Hackers use online forums to trade trips and tricks, and even sell software to one another in online forums. They help one another exploit weaknesses in the defenses of financial services providers.

Although the industry is lagging behind the crooks, organizations like the IPA and the Payments Risk Fraud Consortium are working to bring industry experts and investigators together to push back the hackers,

In the latest episode of the IPA Payments Pod, Andrea Valentin, the secretary of the Payments Risk Fraud Consortium talks about the power of collaboration and how to build a culture that helps the financial industry keep up with the hackers.

This episode is an edited version of a webinar presented to IPA members. Members can access the full recording and associated slides in the members’ only section of the Web site.

You can learn more about the Payments Risk and Fraud Consortium at their Web site:

https://www.fraudconsortium.org/

If you want to stay on top of new developments in the industry, plan to attend the Innovative Payments Conference in Washington DC, April 6-8. Learn more and register at: https://www.americanbanker.com/conference/innovative-payments

Interested in becoming an IPA member and helping to shape the future of payments? Reach out today and talk to us about the benefits of joining. Go to www.ipa.org  to learn more.