Payments Innovation

When your toaster and your TV are programmable, doesn't it make sense that your payments should be programmable, too? 

Card payments often settle on ACH, but accessing the ACH Network for electronic payments is tough. It can take years to figure out accounting, corrections, automating returns, identity verification, and reconciliation. 

What if those technical gaps were fixed? What if there were a simpler system? Would businesses use it?

The gaps have been fixed, a simplified solution has been created, and businesses are using it. 

That solution is called Dwolla, and we had a conversation with the company's founder, Ben Milne, on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. 

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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Venmo offers people a completely digital, cashless payment network experience. But commercial enterprises, weighed down with invoices and contracts, often still rely on paper checks. What if you could use the blockchain to digitize the process for these companies and help them get their revenue faster, cheaper, and more efficiently like Venmo does for individuals?

Jeremy Almond, CEO of a business-to-business payment network called PayStand, believes you can. A completely digital cashless payment network experience, PayStand works like Venmo only with a contract and an invoice in the process. 

We invited Jeremy onto the podcast to talk about PayStand and the future of the blockchain for business-to-business payments.

What we talked about:

• How complicated commercial transactions could be fully digitized on an app
• Working through many different kinds of systems to make digital commercial payments happen
• How to move money through smart contracts without running afoul of U.S. regulations
• Banks are experimenting with blockchain for commercial payments
• Repositioning blockchain from a cryptocurrency delivery mechanism to a safe and automated payment solution

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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How much could your business save if you didn't have to pay credit card processing fees? Could you get a 30% net margin increase? It's possible but tough under the current regulations.

To solve this problem, InterPayments, a financial technology firm, developed SurchX, a product that can help businesses recover the maximum allowable amount of their credit card processing fees by passing them onto a consumer as a surcharge.

Andrew Bart, the chief growth officer for InterPayments, joined us on the podcast to talk about how SurchX works and who it can benefit.

What we talked about:

• How SurchX got started
• The difference between SurchX as an ISV and other surcharge solutions in the market
• How acquisitions and mergers are shaking up in the fintech space
• Andrew's predictions for the future of the surcharge industry
• How much money surcharging involves (trillions!) 

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Merchant cash advance (MCA) solutions have been making finance payments easy for retailers and restaurants since 2005. So how does someone who was in the pioneering days of MCAs shift into the in healthcare system?

Scott Griest decided to find out. He built a product to automate loan origination for medical procedures. This platform was built in a way where other originators could license it as well, leveraging the technology with their own financing partners.

Scott is the founder and chief operating officer of PrimaHealth Credit, which is a fintech startup concentrating on patient health care finance.

What we talked about:

• The early days of MCA solutions, 2005-2007
• How MCAs fit in the U.S. regulatory framework for lenders
• How MCAs can differentiate themselves in their crowded space
• The value and solutions MCAs can bring to healthcare
• Building the tech stack to help doctors collect on their own plans
• Scott's advice for entering, operating, exiting, and investing in fintech

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Why do so many of us toss our change in charity jars? Because it’s easy. So, what if there was a physical jar for your credit card, where you simply dip your credit card, and boom, you’ve donated? No forms, no iPad, no “What’s your address?” “Check this box.” “Put your name here.”

Just a simple credit card dip to give?

Well, that jar does exist. It’s called DipJar, and we sat down with their CEO, Chris Selland, on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. He told us all about how DipJar is increasing engagement (and increasing donations) for charities.

What we talked about:

• DipJar evolved from a tip jar
• Engagement is the secret sauce of DipJar
• It’s not just a device — it’s a platform
• DipJar is a management platform:
• Spark: a visualization platform
• Biggest area of growth — socially responsible for-profits
• Fintech, payments platform, P2P payments, B2B payments

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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If you could solve one problem in ecommerce transactions, what would you solve?

If you answered “friction,” that’s the same place Yitz Mendlowitz started. But he found out very quickly that friction is a consumer issue, not a merchant problem.

The problem merchants want solved is fraud liability.

In this episode, Yitz shares how credit card networks are finally listening to ecommerce merchants, and started to shift fraud liability away from the merchants and onto the card issuers (the banks).

Yitz is the co-founder of PAAY.

What we talked about:

• Friction is not the major transaction pain point for merchants
• The main pain point for merchants: fraud liability
• The original Card Not Present policies weren’t written for the ecommerce age
• How friendly fraud impacts the financial landscape
• New policies to benefit merchants
• Credit card networks, banks, card issuer, acquirers, fraud, liability, card not present

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Global trade payments are a little … broken. 

Plenty of fintechs and startups have created better trade payment platforms domestically. Plus, various payment systems have focused on the international P2P transactions. But few fintechs have really tackled the global B2B space. 

That’s exactly why Asnee Fernando founded Shoptaki.

Asnee came on the Payments Innovation podcast to share all about Shoptaki’s capabilities, which streamline global trade payments by using collaborative AI.

What we talked about:

• B2B transactions are not as simple as using Amazon
• The global problem with B2B wire transfers & checks
• How does Shoptaki solve these global trade issues?
• What about blockchain? 
• How difficult is it for a business to move to Shoptaki?
• Collaborative AI
• Distributed AI
• Blockchain

To reach Asnee:

•  Go to Shoptaki’s website
• Email Asnee at [email protected].

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

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Fintechs are the future. Banks represent tradition. And in between … is our data.

In this episode, we interviewed Adwait Joshi, Chief Seer (actual title) at DataSeers, a company dedicated to “creating simple solutions to handling complex data.” 

Adwait has used data to solve pain points in healthcare, animal health, and, now, financial services. In this episode, he shared how DataSeers is using data to create win-win-wins for consumers, banks, and fintechs.

What we talked about:

• Getting data out of silos
• How to halt fraud (as it’s happening)
• Stopping financial loss
• Better fintech-sponsor bank relationships
• Fintechs can utilize DataSeers as a plug & play for fraud monitoring
• You can configure DataSeers for a variety of products 
• What’s on the horizon for financial services?
• • 1) Smaller community banks are becoming sponsor banks for fintechs
  • 2) Remittance will increase
  • 3) Global banking will increase
• AML, fraud detection, monitoring, money laundering

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Open banking actually serves smaller financial institutions, like credit unions and community banks, more than anyone else … they just need to know the value.

That’s why we invited banking experts Ralph Marcuccilli & Kelli Schultz on this episode of the Payments Innovation podcast. They explain the ins and outs of open banking, and what it can mean for smaller financial institutions.

Ralph was a 20-year veteran of the banking industry, and, in 2010, he founded Allied Payment, where Kelli is now the President. She comes from 2 decades of experience in and around the networks surrounding banking platforms.

What we talked about:

• Open banking: the answer for smaller financial institutions
• Open banking can serve businesses
• Allied’s next product: real-time bank payments
• Community banks, fintech, and credit unions
• Why Allied was well-positioned for open banking
• • 1) ‘Allied was born in the cloud’
  • 2) Allied has an API-driven vision

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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Why we all love credit cards: they’re speedy, convenient, and transparent.

Why we all dislike credit cards: they’re expensive.

What if you could make a bank account transaction at the speed, convenience, and transparency of a credit card transaction, but without the fees?

That’s the basic premise behind Hamed Arbibi’s newest venture, VoPay.

In this episode, 3-time Founder and CEO, Hamed Arbibi talks about how VoPay is creating a new financial landscape in Canada, enabling rapid bank-to-bank transactions, without overbearing credit card interchange fees.

What we talked about:

• Hamed saw the banking industry was ready for real-time payment processing
• 80% of business transactions go thru banks (& they’re invisible)
• How VoPay is creating speed & visibility thru bank-to-bank processing 
• The similarities between EFT in Canada & ACH in the US
• 1 more differentiator: VoPay’s product is built on customer feedback
• Real-time bank-to-bank processing
• Bank account payment transactions

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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