www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com Issue 378 / DecemBER 2018 DISRUPTION BY SUBSCRIPTION FATTMERCHANT TAKES A DIGITAL CUE FROM NETFLIX AND AMAZON PRIME COUNTRY SURVEYS INSIGHT ANALYSIS Key data and payments With strong adoption of Growth by acquisition: market analysis for Israel, fintech, China is a perfect what effect is the strategy Ukraine and Peru storm of innovation having on the market? EPI December 2018 378.indd 1 13/12/2018 08:48:21 contents this month NEWS 05 / EDITOR’S LETTER 06 / DIGEST • Cash beats digital as preferred payment option in US • 86 400 beta app testing begins ahead of 2019 launch • Signature Bank secures approval for blockchain-based platform • Liv cloud-based payments powered by Verrency • UNPay supports QR code payments in Singapore • Mastercard-Microsoft partnership to advance digital id innovation • SWIFT trials new system to reduce payment delays • Worldline completes SIX Payment COVER STORY Services takeover • MoneyGram expands digital reach • ECB rolls out TIPS instant payment 10 FATTMERCHANT settlement system Editor: Group Editorial Director: Director of Events: 07 Douglas Blakey Ana Gyorkos Ray Giddings +44 (0)20 7406 6523 +44 (0)20 7406 6707 +44 (0)20 3096 2585 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Senior Reporter: Sub-editor: Head of Subscriptions: Patrick Brusnahan Nick Midgley Alex Aubrey +44 (0)20 7406 6526 +44 (0)161 359 5829 +44 (0)20 3096 2603 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Junior Reporter: Publishing Assistant: Sales Executive: Briony Richter Mishelle Thurai Jamie Baker +44 (0)20 7406 6701 +44 (0)20 7406 8633 +44 203 096 2622 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Customer Services: +44 (0)20 3096 2603 or +44 (0)20 3096 2636, [email protected] Financial News Publishing, 2012. 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London Office: John Carpenter House, John Carpenter Street, London, EC4Y 0AN Asia Office: 1 Finlayson Green, #09-01, Singapore 049246 Tel: +65 6383 4688, Fax: +65 6383 5433 Email: [email protected] follow EPI on twitter @Payments_News 2 | December 2018 | Electronic Payments International EPI December 2018 378.indd 2 13/12/2018 08:48:36 contents decemBER 2018 COUNTRY SNAPSHOTS 18 / ISRAEL 20 Israel is one of the most developed payment card markets in the Middle East and Africa. Israelis are prolific card users, with frequency of card use for payments standing at 148 in 2017, the highest rate in the region 20 / UKRAINE Ukraine’s economy was severely affected by the global financial crisis of 2008. The payment card market was also affected, and the total number of cards in circulation was broadly unchanged between 2013 and 2017 21 / PERU Growth in Peru’s prepaid card market was supported by the government’s financial inclusion policy, which aimed to draw the country’s significant unbanked population PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY into the formal banking system 10 / FATTMERCHANT 14 / BARCLAYCARD Fattmerchant is disrupting the US payments Technology is transforming the payments industry with a subscription-based pricing landscape. Barclaycard CIO Keith Little model. Robin Arnfield talks to Suneera details the findings of a Barclaycard survey Madhani, CEO of the Orlando, Florida-based and the potential of emerging technologies. payments facilitator, to find out more Briony Richter reports 13 / TRAVELPORT Travellers are increasingly embracing digital 12 travel tools to make their journeys more seamless and secure. Briony Richter speaks to Travelport’s Alex Fitzpatrick about the changing shape of travel payments DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH 12 / ALIPAY & WECHAT 15 / CASHLESS SOCIETY 7-Eleven has become Canada’s first Are we really entering the dawn of a cashless convenience store chain to accept Chinese society? Consumers are switching to digital at mobile payment systems Alipay and WeChat a rapid rate as convenience becomes a priority, Pay, which have previously focused on luxury but that does not mean cash has lost its brands and tourism. Robin Arnfield reports crown. Briony Richter reports 21 ANALYSIS INDUSTRY INSIGHT 16 / SWIFT PILOT 17 / PAYMENT M&A 22 / MASH Fifteen banks have lined up for SWIFT’s 2018 has seen a large number of deals in the China is a perfect storm for innovation, with pilot of a gpi payments service focusing on payments space, with large firms – PayPal in fintech offerings scaling at unimaginable speedy identification and eliminating errors particular – making it a part of their strategy. speed. Fuelled by strong consumer adoption, and omissions. Is this set to make payments What effect is this level of M&A having on it has become the world’s most advanced swifter than ever? Patrick Brusnahan writes the market? Patrick Brusnahan writes payments sector. James Hickson writes www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 3 EPI December 2018 378.indd 3 13/12/2018 08:48:41 HEAR l NETWORK l DISCOVER l CELEBRATE Digital Accountancy Forum & Awards London 2019 3rd October 2019 l London Shape the Future of Digital Accountancy The Digital Accountancy Forum & Awards has grown from strength to strength in recent years. Starting as an awards reception in 2012, we will be returning to London in 2019 with our industry forum followed by a gala awards ceremony aimed at UK, European and global accounting firm leaders. On the 3rd October at the iconic Waldorf Hilton we will once again bring together c-level professionals from accounting firms, regulators and industry bodies, consultancies and advisors, law firms and tech vendors to discuss some of the most pressing issues the industry faces today. Event highlights l Deploying and using artificial intelligence for better services in accounting and auditing l Getting on Blockchain – hype or reality for auditing and reporting l Automation of services in accounting and the effect on the businesses l Uncovering the potential of machine learning for your business l Developing future leaders with new technology l Implication of digital transformation on accountancy and their firms’ business model l Cloud adoption by accounting firms: Latest trends and developments l Post GDPR review and key takeaways from small, medium and large firms l Creating real business value through your data strategy Badge and Knowledge Partner Silver Partner Lanyard Partner Lunch Partner For more details please contact Hannah Leigh on [email protected] or call +44 (0) 20 7936 6689 1019Timetric_DAF_Ad.indd 1 12/12/2018 10:23 editor’s letter 2018: another blinding year for payments Douglas Blakey, Editor t is the time of the year to look back on the 12 even Revolut may find Canada a tougher market to crack months just ending and make some forecasts for than it thinks ahead of its launch there. I 2019. Let us start with the positives. Other 2018 highlights include strong performances The launch of Open Banking, giving consumers from newish digital-only players such as Tinkoff in Russia, the ability to enable third parties to access to their and signs that new entrants such as 86 400 and Volt can bank accounts and financial data, opens up exciting give the incumbents a run for their money in Australia. opportunities – and it allows this to be done securely. And finally, 2018 has witnessed a strengthening of the Give it time. sector, at least in certain markets, with increased capital I keep hearing that Open Banking has not really taken levels and profitibility in the US and the Middle East. off, but it remains early days. There are echoes of the PayPal passed 250 million active users in another 2018 launch of seven-day switching; ahead of its launch there highlight, while Tencent and Alipay continue to set records were many far-fetched forecasts about likely take-up. in China. In M&A activity, payments continues to attract Positive number two has to be the accelerating use of positive headlines and investors cash with the PayPal deal cashless payments and, as with Open Banking, the UK for iZettle one of the headline deals of the year. is leading the way within the EU5. In June, we saw debit In Europe, the position is not so cheery, with ongoing card transactions overtake cash for the first time in the issues of low or negative interest rates, and some sobering UK, and then in October, in-store contactless payments share-price drops at the major banks in almost every overtook chip and PIN. market Elsewhere, there are encouraging signs in Poland and Sanity, consensus, compromise Germany. A new programme set up by a coalition of Polish Reporting from the UK, it is hard to escape a reference to banks to grow acceptance has launched with the goal to Brexit when considering 2018’s lowlights. It is to be hoped double the number of points of sale accepting cards and that the new year might bring some outbreak of sanity, mobile payments in three years. And as EPI goes to press, consensus and compromise, but that may be wishful consultancy Paysys reports encouraging cashless growth thinking. in Germany, with 37% of consumer spending paid by card. Looking ahead, 2019 will be no less exciting in the Challengers and start-ups payments sector, with the challenge of strong customer A third highlight of the year has to be the health of the authentication likely to attract the most headlines in challengers and start-ups.