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Caluwaerts JSC Page.Qxd Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems Volume 9 Number 1 Social networks, game-changer for e-money? Will social networks (e-)monetise the payments industry? Philippe Caluwaerts Received (in revised form): 6th December, 2014 Policy Officer, Audit and Credit Rating Agencies Unit, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Directorate General, European Commission, Rue de Spa 2 (SPA2 01/103), 1049 Brussels, Belgium Tel: (32-2) 2984811; e-mail: [email protected] Philippe Caluwaerts is Policy Officer in the ecosystem lacking global standards and requir- Directorate-General Financial Stability, Financial ing enhanced collaboration between mul tiple Services and Capital Markets Union of the stakeholders including financial institutions, card European Commission. He was previously schemes, mobile network operators, service involved in the design and implementation of the providers and merchants, and the sometimes European policy on payment services and retail fragmented regulatory regimes, all have to be financial services. As part of his duties, he took addressed for e-money to be successful. This part in the design and negotiation of the revised paper describes why we may be at the forefront rules on electronic money and electronic money of a breakthrough in the e-money market, institutions (Directive 2009/110/EC), which were driven by social networks. In particular, the adopted in September 2009. Currently, he is uptake of electronic commerce, the boom of social expert in the EU regulation on credit rating agen- networks connecting families across the globe cies. Before joining the Commission, he worked and creating opportunities for money remittance, in the private sector in banking, mobile telecom- the active presence of merchants on social net- munications and consulting. He holds a degree works to advertise and sell goods online. But, in Commercial Engineering from the University next to social networks, global technology enter- of Antwerp and an MBA in general management prises are also looking into the potential of e- from the Vlerick Business School (Belgium). money services and intend to transform the e-money and wider payments industry land- ABSTRACT scape. Consequently, traditional providers The idea that electronic money (e-money) could should prepare for this new environment. change the way in which payments are made has been around for more than a decade. Keywords: social networks, electronic Despite high initial expectations, e-money has money, mobile money, electronic pay- largely remained a hype and has not reached the ments, money remittance, electronic mass consumer market. The recent boom in wallets social networks, connecting vast networks of cus- tomers across the globe, all seeking to ‘e- monetise’ their customer base, could provide new INTRODUCTION Journal of Payments Strategy & momentum for the uptake of e-money. This While wholesale payments are executed Systems Vol. 9, No. 1 2015, pp. 90–110 paper outlines the main barriers that have lim- predominantly electronically, in the retail ᭧ Henry Stewart Publications, 1750–1806 ited the uptake of e-money to date. The complex segment cash, in addition to credit and Delivered by Ingenta to: Henry Stewart Publications Page 90 IP: 185.24.85.49 On: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 08:59:10 Copyright: Henry Stewart Publications Caluwaerts debit cards, remains largely the most pop- natural or legal person other than the e- ular way for retail consumers to pay their money issuer’.6 This definition of e-money bills. The idea that electronic money, here- covers a number of different concepts and after referred to as e-money, the equivalent services, including card, internet and of cash, provided by banks or non-bank mobile-centric electronic wallets. payment providers, could change the way There are a number of key elements in in which payments are made has been this definition: e-money is a liability of the around for more than a decade.1 Despite a issuer, is generally prepaid, and is a multi- number of successful experiences, mainly purpose means of payment. E-money, is in emerging economies, such as M-PESA2 different from currency, as it is a claim on in Kenya, e-money has largely remained a an issuer and, in general, an obligation of a hype and has not yet reached the mass private company rather than of the central consumer market. bank.7 This element of liability is also dis- The recent emergence of social net- tinct from decentralised virtual currency works such as Facebook, Twitter and Sina such as bitcoin, where there is no form of Weibo, all seeking to ‘monetise’ their cus- liability or claim on an issuer.8 Another tomer base, could provide new momen- features of e-money is that the total value tum for a massive take-off of e-money. of e-money is usually mirrored in a bank Social networks, which connect vast account, to ensure that, if the provider networks of customers across the globe, service were to fail, users could recover could bring the innovation necessary to their funds stored in their accounts. In transform the payment industry consider- addition, in contrast to bank deposits, e- ably. Recent announcements by money accounts can traditionally not ben- Facebook3 and Twitter4 show that they are efit from any interest.9 Furthermore, preparing to take their share of the pay- e-money services can be provided by ment industry. They have the potential to banks and by non-bank service providers bring e-money to everybody’s smartphone such as mobile telecom operators, trans- and allow payment for goods and services port operators and social networks. online as well as in physical stores. Electronic wallets, mobile money, mPOS WHAT IS E-MONEY? Continuous technical developments and Electronic wallet or e-wallet innovations make it difficult to describe An e-wallet, or electronic purse, is prob - accurately what e-money is. Furthermore, ably the most common type of e-money the term ‘e-money’ is often used to refer to date, where users store money on a to a wide variety of electronic payment physical payment card or on a payment schemes. account on the internet for making pay- In general, e-money can be defined as ments in both the physical and online monetary value stored in an electronic world. device that can be used to make pay- ments.5 In a more restrictive sense, e- Mobile wallet money is defined as ‘electronically stored An e-money account, whereby the elec- monetary value as represented by a claim tronic equivalent of cash is primarily on the issuer that is issued on receipt of stored on or accessed through (and used funds for the purpose of making payment by means of) a mobile device, can be transactions and which is accepted by a defined as a mobile wallet.10 Delivered by Ingenta to: Henry Stewart Publications IP: 185.24.85.49 On: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 08:59:10 Page 91 Copyright: Henry Stewart Publications Will social networks (e-)monetise the payments industry? Mobile money Mobile point of sale The definition of ‘mobile money’ varies A mobile point of sale (mPOS)16 refers to across the industry, as it covers a wide using a consumer mobile device to facili- range of overlapping applications. In gen- tate payments and enable acceptance of eral, mobile money can be defined as a payment instruments. An mPOS refers to service that uses the mobile phone to the acceptance infrastructure for mer- transfer money and make payments.11 chants necessary for accepting payment The wide adoption of mobile phones transactions independently from the way among consumers in some emerging mar- in which the transaction itself is executed. kets, with no or very limited access to basic financial services such as a bank account, have resulted in the emergence of UNACHIEVED PROMISES new innovative mobile money services.12 A survey from the Bank of International GSMA,13 the trade association for mobile Settlement (BIS) in 2001 projected network operators, describes mobile ‘Electronic money to take over from phys- money for unbanked consumers, defining ical cash for most if not all small-value it as a service that allows the mobile phone payments’ and ‘evoked considerable inter- to transfer money and make payments to est both among the public and the various the underserved. One of the key charac- authorities concerned including central teristics is that the service relies heavily on banks’.17 But, despite high initial expect - a network of transactional points outside ations, e-money has obtained only limited bank branches that makes it accessible to market adoption in both the USA and unbanked and underbanked people. In Europe. The main reasons why e-money addition, customers should be able to use has not found its way to the mass market the service without having been previ- has been the existence of well-functioning ously banked. payment solutions, including credit and debit cards as well as credit transfers offer- Mobile remote or mobile ing limited incentives for new innovations contactless? by existing players. Furthermore, the com- Another distinction made in mobile plexity of the payments landscape, with money services is the way in which funds many financial institutions, card networks, are exchanged for the purpose of payment mobile network operators, hardware and transactions. A distinction is made between software providers, and other stakeholders, mobile contactless and mobile remote. results in a considerable challenges to build Mobile remote payments14 can be defined successful e-money solutions.18 as payments where the transaction is con- One player, PayPal,19 the payment serv- ducted over telecommunication networks ice of the popular e-commerce platform such as GSM or internet, and can be made eBay,20 has turned out to be the only e- independently of the payer’s location or its money scheme that has obtained a global equipment.
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