Payments Innovation: Fintech | Innovation | Ecommerce

The world of e-commerce is brimming with global possibilities, where buyers and sellers can now be in almost any corner of the planet. But cross-border payments can still remain a complex, slow, sometimes costly process. With technology evolving rapidly and consumer behaviours shifting quickly, are cross-border services keeping up?In this episode of Payments Innovation, Piers Marais, Chief Product Officer, Currencycloud, speaks to Will Artingstall, Head E-Commerce, Citi, to discuss the changes, innovations, and trends emerging in the cross-border e-commerce landscape. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Small and medium-sized businesses are the lifeblood of many economies, with more than 5 million SMBs in the UK, and 99 million in the US. In the last decade, the combined effects of globalisation removing cross-border barriers, plus innovation and rapid digital change, have set the stage for SMBs to thrive in the global digital economy. Yet, there’s a feeling that the market continues to be underserved within financial services. Why?In this episode of Payments Innovation, Piers Marais, Chief Product Officer, Currencycloud, speaks to Adam Goodall, VP of Product, Funding Circle, to discuss how SMBs can thrive in the global marketplace and consider whether the future for SMBs is actually beyond borders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023 was an explosive year for Generative AI. The mainstream emergence of tools like Chat GPT generated a huge amount of excitement and hype. In the wake of this, 93% of fintechs believe that generative AI is poised to revolutionise the fintech and financial services sector. But how much of the hype has materialised into real impact?Artificial Intelligence has long been a transformational force in finance, helping to boost efficiency, improve security and handle the vast amounts of data that the modern system relies on. So what will the impact of this new GenAI wave be? In 2024’s first episode of Payments Innovation, Piers Marais, Chief Product Officer, Currencycloud, speaks to Ram Gopal, Director of the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology, to go beyond the buzzwords and learn more about the use cases being realised right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cyberattacks are on the increase, with bad actors proliferating around the world. By the end of 2023, according to Cybercrime magazine, hackers will have caused $8 trillion in global damages. In 2022, Moody’s listed banks as being at high risk of attack, and Fintech is also in the firing line. Financial firms hold extremely sensitive data on millions of customers, and vulnerabilities can be exploited for lucrative ransoms. Fintech is meant to be the ‘tech-savvy’ cousin of traditional finance. It’s innovative, fast-moving, and often API and cloud-driven. But how secure is it? Is the industry doing enough to protect the consumers and businesses that rely on these products?In the latest episode of Payments Innovation, Cara Hayward, Director of Strategic Partnerships for North America, Currencycloud and Visa Cross-Border Solutions, spoke with Fraser Scott, VP of Product at threat modelling platform IriusRisk, to find out more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does Black History Month mean to you? It could be a time to recognise the achievements of the Black community, to draw attention to ongoing problems with racism, or an opportunity to stand as an ally of Black friends and colleagues. October is Black History Month in the UK, and this year, under the theme of “Saluting Our Sisters”, the event celebrates the critical role that Black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change, and building communities. In this Special Edition of Payments Innovation, Product Manager Miada Hassan speaks to two Currencycloud colleagues, Director of Sales Development Fumbi Banjoko and VP of Banking Ola Malomo, who last year launched Currencycloud’s first Afro-Caribbean Employee Resource Group, Bl@CC (Black at Currencycloud). She digs into why Black History Month resonates for them, and what companies can learn from it.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Visa acquired Currencycloud in 2021. Now, leveraging the expertise from both companies, it has launched a Cross-Border Payment Solutions. With a suite of modular building blocks that can be easily integrated with a company’s existing technology infrastructure, it enables a range of capabilities, including the ability to spend in, and send payments to, more than 180 countries and territories.For this special episode of Payments Innovation, host Piers Marais talks to Ryan Felipe - General Manager, Visa, North America, and Luciana Mosoia - General Manager, Visa, EMEA, to look at those capabilities in more detail and to understand their impact. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2022, the US Federal Reserve announced that it had been developing a “wholesale” central bank digital currency (CBDC), designed to speed up transfers between banks around the world. The aim of the new network would be “to reduce settlement risk in cross-border, cross-currency transactions.”But there are questions around the introduction of CBDCs, with some observers wondering how much value these initiatives will actually bring to end users and whether they pose serious privacy concerns. They are not the only digital currency being promoted. Stablecoins — a privately issued digital currency designed to hold constant value against a reference asset — are predicted to reach a value of almost $3 trillion USD in the next five years. Some say stablecoins can do everything a CBDC can do and more, with fewer downsides. This week, host Cara Hayward is joined by Clara Medalie, Director of Research at digital assets data provider Kaiko, and Sean Ryan, Vice President and Associate Director at business data

Super-apps have made a big splash in Asia over the past decade. Chinese giant WeChat, with one billion active monthly users, has millions of mini apps that run inside the platform, eliminating the need for separate apps to shop, find restaurants, or check train times.But can super-apps work in the West? X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk has promised to launch an “everything app” that combines chat with financial services — and he’s not alone among Western entrepreneurs wanting to tap into the growing super-app market. This week, host Yi Nah Yeo is joined by Pratyush Prasanna, Senior Vice President of Merchant Payments, GoTo Financial, to look at what lies ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since it burst onto the scene in the mid-2010s, Fintech has revolutionised the way we save, borrow, and transfer money, and become a shining light of British industry. But recent news headlines have shown that maturing as a sector can be a challenging road.Can Fintech continue its impressive trajectory? And what are the strengths it needs to play on in order to maintain its impact as it settles into the mainstream business landscape? This week, host Piers Marais is joined by Head of Fintech at FleishmanHillard, Gemma Lingham, and by Innovate Finance CEO Janine Hirt to look at where Fintech goes from here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As one stat after another shows how much venture capital funding is drying up, the most striking figure of all may have got lost in the noise: last year, female-owned companies received just 2.1% of the total capital invested in all startups in the US.This week, host Cara Hayward is joined by Ruth Foxe Blader, CIO of Anthemis Group and Elizabeth Davis, Principal of the Female Innovators Lab Fund at Anthemis Group, to try and get to the bottom of this dispiriting percentage. They discuss the need for more female cheque writers in venture capital, the role VCs have to play in encouraging more female hires, and why the lack of female representation in tech is definitely not a pipeline problem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly three years China pursued a zero-Covid pandemic containment strategy. One of the strictest in the world, the policy mandated tight lockdowns and kept foreign visitors away. The reopening of China’s borders has been one the biggest economic stories of 2023. The country is projected to be responsible for nearly 35% of global growth this year, thanks to an uptick in consumption and shifting consumer behaviour.But for businesses both inside and outside China, what are the opportunities that this growth presents? What scope is there for inward investment, and how will China engage with its neighbours? This week, host Yi Nah Yeo is joined by Ruben Lim, COO at Singapore FinTech Association, to learn more about what China’s reopening means for the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a sector, Fintech has taken an investment hit, with global funding falling by a third in 2022. It’s a situation that’s leading to a radical reinvention of the way companies approach business planning, with a more strategic evaluation of the market playing a critical role. For years, venture capitalists were telling companies that they needed to grow as quickly as possible — to win market share, and only then worry about how they would actually make money.That formula has been turned on its head now that money is more expensive and valuations have dropped. This week, host Piers Marais is joined by Leda Glyptis, Chief Client Officer at 10X Banking, to speak about the way Fintech business models are now prioritising profitability over growth.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Remittances to developing countries reached $626 billion last year. But with 25% of funds saved or invested, remittances are not just supporting families but transforming economies.  This week, host James Teodorini is joined by Camilla Bullock, CEO and co-founder of the Emerging Payments Association Asia, and Artak Melkonyan, Senior Advisor on Equity, Financing and Funds at the United Nations Development Programme Sustainable Finance Hub. They discuss how remittances are fuelling entrepreneurialism, the part technology can play in reducing costs, and how South Asia is succeeding in keeping fees down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recent wave of acquisitions is consolidating part of the foreign exchange sector into the hands of a few major players. But who stands to gain the most?In this episode, host Piers Marais talks to Joe Edwards, Managing Director at Capitex FX, about the benefits of consolidation for companies, the perks and problems for the customer, and why the rising cost of compliance may make it hard for smaller startups to keep up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the economic climate rattling businesses and investors alike, holding on to your customers is more important than ever. But how do you cut through the noise of your most vocal customers to understand how the rest are feeling?In this episode, host Piers Marais talks to Saskia de Jong, Director of Customer Success at Avinode Group, and Sergi Albiol, Commercial Director at Lano, about the need for a company-wide approach to building relationships, why the customer isn’t always right, and the role AI has to play in keeping customers happy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The collapse of FTX and Celsius wiped billions from investors’ portfolios and tarnished the reputation of the entire crypto industry. Could a proper regulatory framework have prevented the crisis? In this episode, Simon Grunfeld, Head of Web3 at Cogni, talks to host Scott Ernenwein about why regulation is the only path to wider crypto adoption, and why, when it comes to managing your digital assets, the only person you can trust is yourself.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cross-border payments have traditionally been slow, costly and unpredictable. But as domestic instant payment systems are being stitched together, more money is flowing across borders in real time. This week, host Piers Marais talks to David Reiss, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Currencycloud, and Leo Lipis, CEO of Lipis Advisors, about emerging real-time payment corridors, the path to global connectivity, and why big banks no longer see Fintechs as the enemy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite an explosive rise in innovative payments technologies, legacy infrastructure and institutional inertia pose significant barriers to their global adoption.This week, host Cara Hayward speaks to Dan Roseberry, VP, Global Fintech Partnerships at Visa, and Emily Man, Investor at Redpoint Ventures, about the promise of new payment methods, why progress varies so much from country to country, and what Europe and the US could learn from India and Brazil. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women currently hold just 27% of all tech-related jobs. And while progress has been made in raising the profile of women in Fintech, there is still plenty of work to be done. In this episode, host Cara Hayward celebrates International Women’s Day with Currencycloud colleagues Fumbi Banjoko and Sarah Martin, as they discuss their own journeys in Fintech, why women’s progress varies so much from region to region, and how all-female networking is helping more women to break through the glass ceiling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For decades, payments systems in the US barely changed. Suddenly, innovations such as FedNow, real-time payments and blockchain are shaking up the legacy infrastructure. In this episode, host Scott Ernenwein speaks to Astra co-founder and CEO Gil Akos about what these developments mean for payments providers, and why the need for a robust payments platform is greater than ever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.