Payments on Fire™

In this episode, we fan the flames to get Glenbrook's hot takes on the proposed Capital One acquisition of Discover. Now that the dust has settled a bit on the February announcement, and while we wait with bated breath to see if the regulators will sign off on this deal, we wanted to debate the potential winners and losers - and possible outcomes - of an acquisition. We spend some time discussing how this combination would impact some key stakeholder groups - networks, banks, processors, payment service providers, businesses, and merchants. Now that our thoughts are on the record, we're eagerly anticipating what we got right and what we missed if this intriguing acquisition comes to fruition.

In this episode, Yvette Bohanan is joined by Glenbrook Managing Partner Bryan Derman and guests Michele Alt and Adam Shapiro, Partners at the Klaros Group. The result is a lively discussion about regulators and the impact of the current regulatory environment on banks and fintechs, a topic of utmost relevance in today's rapidly evolving industry landscape. The economy and all that is at play during a major election year create a fascinating backdrop for this conversation.

The process of accepting payments is a labyrinth of complexity, and payment service providers are the guiding lights that help merchants navigate this maze. They assist in deciding which payments to accept, how to connect to networks, and, most crucially, how to optimize revenues and reduce risk. But what about the providers themselves? Is their work getting more or less complicated? We sat down with Trevor Nies (SVP, Global Head of Digital) who leads Adyen's digital payments organization, to explore this question as it relates to pay by bank. We discussed the pay by bank landscape in the US compared to other countries and why the US seems to be facing some headwinds. And, more importantly, what merchants should be thinking about when it comes to implementing pay by bank.

John Lunn, Founder and CEO of Gr4vy, discusses the evolving landscape of payment orchestration. He emphasizes that every merchant builds their own orchestration-like systems, highlighting the need for reusable platforms. The conversation shifts to how orchestration empowers merchants, boosts operational efficiency, and enhances customer experiences. Lunn also explores the challenges of regulatory variances in global markets and shares insights on AI's future role in payment processes, advocating for a cautious approach that prioritizes transparency and merchant control.

Glenbrook's Russ Jones often chats with professionals working for companies inside the payments industry who are providing payments and services to end users such as businesses, enterprises, governments, and individuals. Or they may be working at an enterprise, a merchant, or a biller. And they're all trying to figure out how to save money in payments. In this episode, Russ joins Yvette to talk through 8 simple ideas about how you make money in payments.

Acquired by Mastercard in 2017, the UK's Vocalink manages the UK's Bacs payment system, ATM LINK switching platform, and the Faster Payments System, FPS. To make this more tangible, consider these statistics: Vocalink processes over 90% of UK salaries, more than 70% of household bills, 98% of state benefits, and powers 60,000 ATMs. Vocalink's influence goes beyond the UK, with technology that powers fast payments infrastructure in countries such as the US, Thailand, Sweden, the Philippines, Peru, and Saudi Arabia - just to name a few. Vocalink's origin story, which began in 1998, spurred payments modernization efforts worldwide. For this episode, we sat down with Gregor Dobbie, former CEO of Vocalink, to discuss what we can learn from Vocalink's journey and what the future holds for core payment systems.

Steve Klebe, a payments industry veteran and angel investor, shares his wealth of experience in forming strategic partnerships that can uplift the entire sector. He discusses his 30-year journey, emphasizing the balance of research, resilience, and intentionality. Listeners will find insights on the complexities of collaboration with giants like Visa and the evolving landscape influenced by AI and quantum computing. Steve stresses the importance of nurturing relationships and active participation in the community for lasting success.

As humans, our brains like to organize things - classify them, put them in silos. This thinking often works to our advantage - enabling deep analysis and understanding. Sometimes, though, it can work against us. We can be bound to a siloed thought process - a "this or that" false choice that causes us to miss the greater value inherent in doing both. In searching for guests who will inspire us to eschew false choices in favor of unexpected combinations, we met Glendy Kam, Chief Product Officer at Tassat. In this episode, Yvette enjoyed geeking out on payments innovation with Glendy and digging into how Tassat is creating an infrastructure enabling $1.4Tr in payments for commercial bank customers. For all the participants who have been through a Glenbrook workshop and have asked about real-world use cases for distributed ledgers and blockchain technologies in payments, or are trying to figure out how to combine new and existing technologies to solve a problem, this episode is for you. Enjoy!

In this episode, Glenbrook Partners Yvette Bohanan, Russ Jones, and Chris Uriarte sat down with Julie Fergerson - a long-time payments professional who co-founded the Merchant Risk Council in 2000 and returned a few years ago to take on the role of CEO for what is now an industry-leading, global non-profit. We talk with Julie about how the payments industry has changed over the last two decades, with both the professionalization of payments and of fraud, and why she is now spearheading a certification program for the industry. True to form, we also had to share our hot takes on topics such as "pay by bank", and the looming US Credit Card Competition Act. We hope this inspires you to think about your personal career path in payments and your role as a leader in this industry. Be sure to check out Glenbrook's preparation course to help you demonstrate your command of payment and fraud knowledge and get ready to take the CPFPP exam.

In this episode, we are exploring one of the "buzziest" buzz words in payments today - orchestration. If you have been in the payments space for a long time, your reaction to hearing about orchestration might be "What's all the fuss about? We've been evolving these capabilities for decades." If you are new to the industry, you may think this is some kind of high-performance jet fuel that is painfully needed to improve a rather opaque transaction processing environment. Joining Yvette Bohanan are two Glenbrook colleagues, Simon Skinner and Samantha Gordon, who have been digging into orchestration solutions. They will be helping us define orchestration, offer a perspective on who should consider orchestration, and for those of you who do, a framework for thinking about orchestration.