Payments on Fire™

Launching a payment product requires big moonshot thinking alongside a lot of agonizing over the details. Understanding the market, the customer journey, and the technology - from every angle requires patience, persistence, and a beginner's mindset to learn from every success and failure. Thinking about launching a new form of currency, however, is on another level altogether. There's an entire population of a country to consider - what does each segment of the population require to be able to use the currency? Then, there is the currency's role in supporting the economy. How will a new currency be protected from counterfeiting, and what controls will be required to prevent its misuse? How will it work with legacy payment systems and commercial banks? And how will it adhere to laws in place today and be prepared for tomorrow? Last but certainly not least, which technologies will enable all of these things and more? These were just some of the thoughts bubbling through my mind when I sat down with Jim Cunha, former EVP at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, to discuss the capstone project of his career - Project Hamilton - and the questions he and his team sought to answer as they embarked on their CBDC experiment. I hope you enjoy hearing Jim's insights on digitizing the world's reserve currency - I sure did.

It is a rare occurrence when we get to have ALL the Glenbrook partners in one episode of Payments on Fire! Glenbrook is kicking off the new year with a (lengthy) conversation on what payments industry trends and developments we think are the most interesting, compelling, and controversial at the moment, and what to watch as we move into 2024.

Debbie Bartoo, the editor of Glenbrook's daily Payments News, guest hosts this Fanning the Flames episode of Payments on Fire alongside colleagues Justin Pituch and Will Eisler. Listen in as they discuss some of the top payments headlines of the year - fast payments, rising interest rates, BNPL, mobile wallets, identity, CBDCs, and (just a bit of) regulation. If you want to stay on top of the rapidly evolving payments world with all the headlines delivered each day to your inbox, subscribe to Payments News today.

Oliver Manahan from EMVCo discusses the history and role of EMVCo in developing EMV chip specifications. They also talk about the evolution of contactless payment methods, merchant guidelines, market dynamics in the automotive industry, and the importance of design guidelines for customer experience.

Debit routing - once again, all the rage. On July 1, 2023, the US Federal Reserve's clarification on Reg II went into effect. The clarification confirms that Reg II - which required unaffiliated debit network routing as part of the Durbin Amendment - also applies to CNP environments. What were we thinking in 2015 when debit routing at POS, contactless payments, and chip and PIN were "of the moment"? What lessons can we glean from a conversation then that apply now? We've pulled Episode 16 from our vault to find out. We hope you enjoy this far-reaching discussion that moves from some EMV fundamentals to the implications of having a long tale of adoption, how consumer behavior and payment capabilities have to evolve in concert, and the reaction of fraudsters when things change in large, complex environments like the card system. And stay tuned for our next episode where we welcome EMVCo to the show to see what they are up to these days and take a peak over the horizon.

Glenbrook's Bryan Derman, Chris Uriarte, and Drew Edmond are back from a few days of learning, networking, and speaking (including a live broadcast from the Money Pot) at this year's Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas. Chris and Drew talk with Yvette Bohanan about the noteworthy payments trends they observed at the show and what related themes our team is paying attention to.

Two Google leaders, Luda Sokolov and Aarti Bharathan, discuss their mission to create efficient, stable, and scalable payment experiences. Topics include well-functioning payment platforms, creating a seamless checkout experience, improving conversion rates with ML AI, challenges in data standardization, and the decision-making process for customer experience.

In this discussion, Chris Uriarte, a Partner at Glenbrook, offers deep insights into merchant fees and industry dynamics. He tackles the confusion surrounding terms like 'swipe fees' and the rise of surcharges in retail. The conversation also delves into regulatory complexities and how varying state laws impact different merchants. Uriarte highlights the contrast in effects on large versus small businesses, revealing the unintended consequences of regulations. Tune in for a critical look at fee structures and their implications in the payments landscape.

We get the opportunity to work with many different types of merchants in our Merchant Practice at Glenbrook: Global omnichannel retailers, marketplaces, commerce platforms, utilities, you name it. One of the major categories that we work with is subscription merchants, and they come with their own unique needs and perspectives. Subscription merchants and merchants that have recurring payments as part of their business model rely on the ability to charge their customers on an ongoing basis. In this Fanning the Flames episode, Drew Edmond joins Yvette Bohanan to dive deep into an issue that has grown in importance with the continued growth of the subscription economy: involuntary churn. Listen in to hear Drew shed light on this tricky and important topic for subscription merchants.

Bernadette Ksepka from Federal Reserve Financial Services and Elena Whisler from The Clearing House discuss the future of fast payments in the U.S. They talk about interoperability between FedNow and RTP, the importance of public-private partnerships, driving volume and economic changes, accelerating consumer enrollment and authentication, and express gratitude towards the panelists and audience for their contributions.