WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict

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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
www.e lectroni cpaymentsi nternati onal.com           Issue 360 / JuNE 2017

         WHO’S CRACKING THE
         PAYMENTS MARKET?

                      LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER
                           AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE
                        NEWS                              FEATURE                            INSIGHT
             Analysis: UK PSPs can now             Research: Why are banks               PPRO Group’s Ralf
             fast-track Faster Payments             not making more use of              Ohlhausen on screen-
                     via the cloud                     loyalty schemes?                  scraping regulation

EPI June 360.indd 1                                                                                              13/07/2017 17:36
WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
contents

             this month
                                                                                                                                     NEWS
                      COVER STORY
                                                                                                                                    05 / EDITOR’S LETTER
                      THE PAYMENTS                                                                                                  06 / DIGEST
                                                                                                                                    Deloitte and Waves partner to develop

                      FINTRACKER                                                                                                    framework for blockchain projects. Nordea
                                                                                                                                    launches pilot for open banking site. Non-
                                                                                                                                    cash payments rapidly growing in popularity
                                                                                                                                    in US; cheque losing appeal

                                                                                                                                    07 / ANALYSIS
                                                                                                                                    UK PSPs can now fast-track Faster Payments
                                                                                                                                    via the cloud

                                                                                                                                    08 / DIGEST
                                                                                                                                    Card fraud losses in 19 European nations
                                                                                                                                    reach record €1.8bn in 2016. MAS and FSA
                                                                                                                                    agree fintech co-operation. UK banking app
                                                                                                                                    transactions surge 57% in 2016

                                                                                                                     12
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EPI June 360.indd 2                                                                                                                                                        13/07/2017 17:36
WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
contents

                                                                                                   JuNe 2017
                                                                                                       18

                                                                                                       s to talk about cracking China, disrupting
                                                                                                        COUNTRY SNAPSHOTS
                                                                                                       SWIFT, and leveraging WeCha

                                                                                                       18 / GERMANY
          9                                                                                            Germany is one of Europe’s largest payment
                                                                                                       cards markets, and is the third-largest in terms
                                                                                                       of annual card transaction value. It is still far
                                                                                                       from fully mature, however

         FEATURES                                      PAYMENTS FINTRACKER                             19 / CANADA
                                                                                                       Canada’s payment cards market is one of
                                                                                                       the most highly competitive and attractive
       09 / LOYALTY SCHEMES                           12 / GOOGLE                                      in North America. Pay later and debit
       Customers are getting more and more used to    Google’s new feature will expand access to       card penetration rates reached 1.9 and 0.7
       rewards programmes, and many are beginning     merchant sites through Google Payment API.       respectively per inhabitant in 2016
       to question why banks are not using this       It will improve customers’ experience when
       information to serve them better. Anna Milne   making payments through third-party mobile       20 / THE NETHERLANDS
       speaks to CGI’s Kevin Poe about its latest     apps, websites and Google Assistant              The Dutch payment cards market has a high
       research into the issue                                                                         penetration rate of 1.9 cards per inhabitant.
                                                      13 / PAYTM                                       Card use has benefitted from modern
       15 / PAYTM                                     In 2016 Shekhar Sharma revealed that Paytm       infrastructure, and growth in the retail and
       Indian m-payments giant Paytm has received     will launch its own banking service – Paytm      e-commerce sectors
       investment from Japan’s Softbank and taken     Payments Bank – by the end of March 2017.
       its first step outside India by launching a    There are significant opportunities to service
       Canadian subsidiary. Paytm sees Canada         the underbanked population in India              s to talk about cracking China, disrupting
       as the test laboratory for its international                                                     INDUSTRY INSIGHT
                                                                                                       SWIFT, and leveraging WeCha
       expansion, Robin Arnfield reports

                                                                                            12         14 / DBS BANK
                                                                                                       Neal Cross is well known in his field – not
                                                                                                       just for being CIO of DBS Bank, but for
                                                                                                       being a maverick. His team’s only ‘tech
                                                                                                       person’, he has redefined fintech strategy to
                                                                                                       great effect. He outlines the five fintech types

                                                                                                       21 / PPRO
                                                                                                       In February the EBA announced plans
                                                                                                       to outlaw ‘screen-scraping’ in one of

                                                                       £$€¥
                                                                                                       its Regulatory Technical Standards,

         15                                                                                            complementing the revised Payment Services
                                                                                                       Directive. PPRO Group’s Ralf Ohlhausen is
                                                                                                       concerned about the possible effects

                                                                                                www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 3

EPI June 360.indd 3                                                                                                                                       13/07/2017 17:36
WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
editor’s letter

                      welcome to EPI’s
                      new-look magazine
                                                                                                                        Anna Milne, Editor

                      I
                          n this issue, we wlaunch the new fintracker,            the opportunity brought about by the potential
                          compiled from our payments intelligence unit,           relocation of UK-based financial services companies.
                          charting the latest innovation in the payments          Despite not having vast experience in regulating
                      industry on a monthly basis.                                e-payments companies outside the banking sector,
                        On the subject of fintech – disregarding how Brexit       the payments regulatory team has recently sped up its
                      will impact the UK’s thriving fintech scene, the figuring   applications turnaround to six months.
                      out of which is frankly a thankless task and I doubt it       The Emerging Payments Association recently put
                      will be much suppressed no matter what – Dublin’s           out a paper detailing the most attractive countries
                      appeal was boosted by EBADay.                               for fintech relocation in the event of the loss of UK
                        Dublin’s potential as a major new fintech hub was         passporting rights as a result of Brexit.
                      a hot topic of conversation at the annual payments            Ireland was one of the six alongside (in alphabetical
                      bash, and on the back of this came news of investment       order) Cyprus, Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta and
                      capital from Enterprise Ireland, called the Competitive     Sweden. The main considerations were tax rates,
                      Start Fund. It is a government initiative in conjunction    ease of contract transfer, talent pool, regulatory
                      with the Bank of Ireland and has been created a fund to     environment, e-money precedence and multilingual
                      attract startups into the country.                          skills.
                        The fund is worth €500,000 and aims to help fund            In a similar but separate study by Movinga, Dublin
                      up to 10 startups with up to €50,000 each, within           ranked eighth out of fifteen European cities for fintech
                      the scope of payments, banking, regtech, security and       relocation, and Berlin first.
                      insurtech as well as those which “leverage” blockchain,       True, Movinga’s study took into account other factors
                      IoT, AI and data intelligence.                              such as affordability of flights for visiting home and the
                        Ireland holds appeal for good reason: It is a small,      price of beer and lunch, which are not to be dismissed.
                      open domestic economy – an English-speaking market            I can tell you first hand that booking a return flight to
                      with a young and highly educated workforce. It is, and      Dublin from the UK at anywhere near peak times can
                      has been, an attractive destination for companies large     be an eye-watering experience at best (think the price
                      and small because of favourable corporate tax, its          of a transatlantic round trip) and as for eating out in the
                      location bridging Europe and the US, investment capital     city, there is a fine line between entrepreneurialism and
                      availability, and its entrepreneurial spirit.               bare-faced cheek. I can recommend Abrakebabra.
                        This entrepreneurial spirit extends to the Irish            On the other hand, Dublin is just great and gets this
                      regulators as well, who are progressive and recognise       humble writer’s vote any day. <

                                       Get in touch with the editor at: anna.milne@verdict.co.uk

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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
News | Digest

             news and analysis
             Deloitte, Waves partner to develop
             framework for blockchain projects

                                                                                                               NORDEA LAUNCHES
                                                                                                               PILOT FOR OPEN
                                                                                                               BANKING SITE
                                                                                                               Nordic financial services group Nordea Bank
                                                                                                               has launched the first pilot phase of its open
                                                                                                               banking website.
                                                                                                                  The bank launched the first version of
                                                                                                               its Open Banking website for external
                                                                                                               developers earlier this year to prepare for the
             Deloitte CIS has entered into a strategic        ground, already allowing startups, investors     second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
             partnership with Waves Platform, a               and other stakeholders to quickly raise          requirements, and invited developers to join
             developer of blockchain solutions, to            significant funds in cryptocurrencies.           its pilot programme.
             facilitate mass application of blockchain           “However, the cryptocurrency market is           The bank has currently received 700 sign-
             technology by developing a legal                 relatively young, and not all the regulatory     ups, of which it has chosen 22 customers,
             framework for regulating blockchain              mechanisms are in place.                         fintech firms and third parties for the first
             projects in Russia and the CIS.                     “This is why we are glad to cooperate         phase of the pilot.
                The agreements aims to offer customers        with Waves Platform and are confident               The latest pilot will offer a sandbox
             comprehensive initial coin offering (ICO)        that our joint effort will help create the       environment, allowing developers to test
             services, as well as customised blockchain       necessary conditions for putting together        the Account Information Service (AIS)
             solutions tailored for specific commercial       the legal framework for blockchain projects      application programming interface (API),
             tasks. The partners will also aim to develop     both in Russia and the CIS.”                     and retrieving account information details,
             legal mechanisms for regulating ICO                 Waves founder and CEO Sasha Ivanov            account balances, and transaction histories.
             projects.                                        said: “Our partnership is a significant step        Nordea said the first pilots will help it
                Deloitte’s legal and tax experts will offer   towards the mass application of blockchain       to identify and partner with third parties
             necessary consulting and methodology             technology.                                      offering value-adding services.
             assistance to both businesses and                   “Presently, blockchain companies are not         In the later phases of the pilot, developers
             government bodies. Waves Platform will           regulated, as there is no existing legislation   will be allowed to test initiating payments by
             be responsible for providing technology          as such. Our strategic partnership with          using the Payment Initiation Service (PIS)
             solutions for the introduction of digital        Deloitte will allow us to take active part in    API. The second phase of the pilot is expected
             economy tools.                                   the formation of this regulatory landscape.      to commence in the end of 2017, offering
                Deloitte CIS’s director of legal services        “It is important to join this process both    selected firms access to Nordea’s production-
             for technology projects, Artem Tolkachev,        for us and the entire blockchain industry in     environment APIs.
             said: “Blockchain technologies are gaining       Russia and the CIS.” <                              Nordea’s business partner for the Open
                                                                                                               Banking project, Sanela Dulic, said: “Open
                                                                                                               Banking will provide our customers with
                                                                                                               various new products and services, while
                                                                                                               keeping the customers firmly in control of
                                                                                                               what information they wish to expose and
                                                                                                               which products they wish to use.” <

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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
News | analysis

       Non-cash payments
       rapidly growing in
                                                     Analysis: UK PSPs can fast-track Faster
       popularity in US;                             Payments via the cloud
       cheque losing appeal                          Payment service providers (PSPs) in the UK
                                                     have had their horizons broadened further
                                                                                                     as “selling old software to sit atop legacy
                                                                                                     systems, masquerading it as cutting-edge
       Total non-cash payments per household,        by a new partnership offering access            technology and failing to tackle back-office
       including cheques, card payments and          to Faster Payments and settlement via           problems”.
       electronic transfers via the Automated        challenger bank Starling and cloud-based          Further to this, Mueller saw that smaller
       Clearing House (ACH) system, increased by     payments-as-a-service startup Form3.            payment companies were priced out of the
       nearly 95% from 40.3 per month in 2000           The deal will provide clients with an end-   system and saw an opportunity in cloud-
       to 78.6 per month in 2015, according to a     to-end managed service using Starling’s         based infrastructure to ameliorate the
       study by the Federal Reserve.                 access to Faster Payments and Form3’s           offering for payments outfits, large
          Among the various types of non-cash        cloud-based secure processing standard.         and small.
       consumer payments, non-prepaid debit             Small payments players and e-money             One of the sticking points of the typical
       cards were found to be the most popular,      issuers in the UK have had to pay hefty         vendor model is having to sign up to
       followed by general-purpose credit cards,     rates to access payment rails through           a 10-year service licence for software,
       cheques, and ACH debit transfers.             the tier 1 banks that collectively own the      during which time the technology becomes
          For businesses, ACH credit transfers       payment systems in the UK, and there has        outdated. This is known in banks as
       topped the popularity chart, followed by      been a growing lobby against this in recent     “sweating the assets”.
       cheques, general-purpose credit cards, and    years, spearheaded in no small part by one
       non-prepaid debit cards.                      Rich Wagner, CEO of APS.
          The study also revealed strong growth         Starling Bank became the 13th member
       in selected alternative payment initiation    of Faster Payments at the beginning of
       methods and services from 2012 to             2017, and the first mobile-only bank. Now
       2015. These include mobile payments,          it has partnered with a new fintech on the
       specialised services for person-to-person     scene, Form3, to provide real-time access
       payments, and payments using online           to Faster Payments for smaller players,
       authentication methods.                       which traditionally route through the Tier 1
          However, the total number and value of     banks and are subject to clunky, sometimes         Mueller says it is “rare in bank back-
       payments using these methods was found        unreliable back-end legacy systems as           office land, and unique in payments” to
       to be low against total number and value of   a result.                                       have a (cloud) component-based platform
       non-cash payments.                            The Payment Systems Regulator was put           as opposed to a “monolithic piece of code”.
          The study also highlighted a decline in    into effect to remedy this as part of its          And they will do SEPA as well. It would
       cheque use, with around two-thirds fewer      objective to increase competition and           be misguided to ignore SEPA Instant Credit
       cheques per household in 2015 compared        foster innovation in the UK payments field.     (SCT Inst) going live in November 2017.
       to 2000. For businesses, monthly use of          Mike Walters, chief product officer at          With Form3, Mueller says the business
       cheques in 2015 stood at 4.1, down from       Form3, said: “At Form3 our clients face         case for switching to a pay-as-you-go
       66 in 2000.                                   some complex decisions about how they           service is clear, even if it involves writing
          However, monthly ACH transfers by          gain access to real-time Faster Payments        off the asset, because the cheaper
       businesses surged from 13.4 to 29.8. Also,    in the UK, and which banking partners can       infrastructure “makes a massive saving, not
       the value of business ACH transfers and       help them to achieve that.                      just 10-20% – it is in a different space”.
       business cheques totalled $148.5trn in           “Our partnership with Starling Bank             Mueller insists the user experience can
       2015, more than double the total value of     shows Form3’s commitment to making              only be improved upon if the back end is
       business and consumer ACH transfers and       sure that managed services for our              tidied up.
       cheques five years earlier. <                 clients extend all the way from payment            Key to Form3’s platform is its so-called
                                                     to settlement under a single commercial         multi-tenancy aspect, meaning there is one
                                                     contract,” Walters continued. “This             platform that any kind of organisation can
                                                     provides a great option to leverage cloud-      plug into on a pay-as-you-go basis without
                                                     based technology with simple integrations,      having to pay for an individually configured
                                                     a wider range of processing options and         platform. And of course, at the end of
                                                     reduced time to market.”                        this tenement are payment gateways
                                                        Form3 was set up in 2015 by a veteran        connecting to the clearing and settlement
                                                     payments banker from Barclays, Michael          platforms at the Bank of England.
                                                     Mueller, flanked by a team of payments             Bang in time for SCT Inst in November
                                                     experts and ex-bankers. Mueller was             2017 and PSD2 and Open Banking in
                                                     frustrated with the standard being              2018, Form3 could do very well out of
                                                     offered by fintech vendors, describing it       putting itself on the radar now. <

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EPI June 360.indd 7                                                                                                                              13/07/2017 17:36
WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
News | Digest

                                                                                                          MAS AND FSA
             Card fraud losses in 19 European                                                             AGREE FINTECH
             nations reach record €1.8bn in 2016                                                          CO-OPERATION
                                                            The UK recorded card fraud losses at          The Monetary Authority of Singapore
                                                            £618m in 2016, a 9% increase over 2015.       (MAS) and the Danish Financial Supervisory
                                                               The report has also revealed that the      Authority (Danish FSA) have signed an
                                                            proportion of card-not-present (CNP) fraud    agreement to co-operate on fintech.
                                                            rose from 50% of gross fraud losses in           The two parties will refer fintech firms
                                                            2008 to 70% in 2016.                          looking to expand into each other’s markets,
                                                               Overall, 10 countries recorded increases   and exchange information on emerging
                                                            in fraud losses, while eight reported         market trends and their regulatory impact. At
                                                            decreases. However, the situation in          the same time, the watchdogs will also explore
                                                            Romania was broadly unchanged from the        joint innovation projects.
                                                            previous year.                                   MAS chief fintech officer Sopnendu
                                                               FICO senior consultant for fraud           Mohanty said: “Singapore and Denmark
                                                            Martin Warwick said: “The growth in           are important gateways to their surrounding
                                                            online spending and CNP fraud brings          regions. This co-operation agreement signifies
                                                            new challenges for banks and retailers, as    the commitment of MAS and Danish FSA
                                                            criminals thwarted by chip and PIN have       to promoting innovation in financial services
                                                            moved to a less-risky channel.                and growing the fintech landscape.”
                                                               “Spotting the ‘needle in a haystack’          Danish FSA deputy director general
                                                            requires new behavioural analytics and        Thomas Brenoe added: “We are currently
                                                            artificial intelligence, combined with        establishing a fintech lab to support the
             Total card fraud losses for 19 European        enhanced information from outside             development of fintechs and provide
             countries reached approximately €1.8bn         the traditional data contained within a       assistance for these to set up business in
             ($2bn) in 2016, according to a report by       purchase.”                                    Denmark.
             analytics software business FICO.                 Warwick added that FICO is working            “Financial innovation is not confined
               In 2015 the UK’s card fraud growth was       with banks to advance the use of machine      to national borders, and we are therefore
             the highest in Europe, but in 2016 Poland      learning and artificial intelligence to       delighted to enter into this agreement
             (10%) and Sweden (18%) saw higher rises.       identify fraud faster. <                      with MAS.” <

                      UK banking app transactions surge 57% in 2016
                      Customer appetite for banking apps in the UK shows no        to manage their money on the move is showing no signs
                      signs of abating as the number of transactions through       of abating, with banking apps now the principle means by
                      apps surged by 57% in 2016, a report by the British          which we access our current accounts.
                      Banking Association (BBA) and EY has found.                     “This doesn’t appear to be a fad, with more and more
                         According to the report, a total of 932m transactions     people moving beyond payments and increasingly using
                      were made using banking apps, equating to 30                 apps to access a broader range of banking services, such as
                      transactions per second. Customers’ activity on banking      savings, credit cards, mortgage and investment accounts.
                      apps surged by 354% between 2012 and 2017.                      “Latest developments in the consumer-led digital
                         More than 19.6m people in the UK used banking apps        revolution are empowering customers to manage their
                      last year, a rise of 11% compared to 2015.                   finances more conveniently. Whether we want to visit our
                         The study found that customers are using banking apps     local bank branch, use a mobile or internet bank, there
                      to do more than just check their account balances, with      are more ways we can choose to access and manage our
                      more people now using apps to manage savings, credit         money than ever before.”
                      cards and mortgage or investment accounts.                      EY UK’s banking and capital markets lead partner,
                         Over 434m text alerts were sent by banks to customers     Dan Cooper, added: “This latest report highlights how
                      in 2016, a jump of 18% on the previous year. Nearly          customers are increasingly using digital banking, which in
                      4.4m customer-to-bank webchats took place in 2016, an        turn is driving innovation.
                      increase of 24% on 2015. Contactless card spending rose         “This growing customer comfort with digital financial
                      225% during 2016, as one in every four card payments         services sets the scene for the launch of Open Banking in
                      used this technology, the report said.                       2018, when both banks and other providers will have the
                         BBA’s MD for retail and commercial banking, Eric          opportunity to present customers with greater choice and
                      Leenders, said: “Customers’ appetite for using technology    control over their financial lives.”<

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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
Feature | loyalty schemes

             The loyalty reward bind:
             are banks and mobile
             service providers
             equipped to deliver?
             Customers are getting more and more used to rewards programmes, and many
             are beginning to question why banks – who know more about them than any
             other commercial entity – are not using this information to serve them better.
             Anna Milne speaks to CGI’s Kevin Poe about its latest research into the issue

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WHO'S CRACKING THE PAYMENTS MARKET? - LAUNCH OF THE PAYMENTS FINTRACKER AND NEW-LOOK MAGAZINE - Verdict
Feature | loyalty schemes

             B
                      anks are failing to realise the             they need to do is get out there and try it and   consumer is comfortable about using that
                      opportunity they could be                   see what happens. There are enough apps           info, and there are security issues about banks
                      exploiting in the realm of customer         and widgets in the new cross-channel portal       looking after that info,” notes Poe.
             loyalty programmes and credit cards are              capability, so they can deploy quite quickly.        According to Poe, the most important
             missing the market completely. Such are                 It’s the internal processes that are slowing   customer-facing concept “across every
             the findings made by CGI, a Canada-based             things down together with whether they’ve got     demographic in every country” among 1,670
             global IT services provider, into what               sufficient insight on their customer base.”       consumers surveyed globally was protection
             customers have come to expect, and what                                                                from ID theft, data theft and fraud, and that
             they want, from their bank.                          RETAIL PARTNERS                                   90% of those consumers said they expected
                Kevin Poe, retail banking global lead at                                                            banks to address it within the next two years.
             CGI, says the key stand out from the survey          Banks are already partnering with retailers,      “It’s a real opportunity for the banks to either
             goes against much of the fintech rhetoric            says Poe; however there is more opportunity       win or disappoint,” Poe adds.
             in that customers ultimately have sufficient         to be exploited – reward wallets with                So, are new banks at an advantage? In terms
             faith in their banks to be able to meet their        participating retailers can interchange and       of speed, Poe says they are at a significant
             expectations.                                        potentially add to that.                          advantage. Something like 26 new licences
                On a consistent level across the six                  “Monitise is very quickly getting into the    have been applied for in the UK since 2013.
             geographies surveyed, there was dissatisfaction      e-commerce space and trying to facilitate            “Some are using other banks as a back office
             with banks providing value. It seems there is        those networks,” notes Poe.                       so they can focus on service innovation. What
             a finite window of opportunity for banks to              “What I don’t see is Monitise and the banks   they don’t have is call centres and branches,
             respond and deliver. Mobile financial services       teaming up on that e-commerce platform –          which from the survey we can see very clearly
             providers are not delivering on this front           they’re using it just as a technology platform.   are very important. Banks are trying to meet
             either, according to the study, and are also         Also, I don’t see credit cards teaming up with    this challenge by setting up new brands under
             losing out on revenue growth.                        the banks to do it. The credit cards seem to      a similar or separate brand.”
                                                                  have missed this market completely.”                 A ‘new bank alongside old bank’ model
             REWARDS                                                  What rewards are customers expecting, and     makes things quicker and easier, and the new
                                                                  do they have any concerns? From the survey,       bank ‘arm’ can be used as a test case without
             Customers are used to getting rewards – from         it is clear that consumers recognise that the     jeopardising the historical business, so they
             supermarkets to airlines and coffee shops,           banks know more about them than any other         can switch it. The upshot is that customers
             there are loyalty points systems galore. It is not   retailer, and are confused as to why banks are    may switch to a brand which is, in fact, the
             uncommon to have 10 different plastic card           not customising and offering bespoke services     same bank.
             accounts, all amassing loyalty points.               and products in way that a retailer would,           Face-to-face service is desirable, but
                Poe says: “What we have learned is that           privy to that amount of information.              complementary. People want to start
             customers are wondering why they can only                “There is definitely a limit to which a       transactions with their bank at any time of
             get these loyalty reward systems across certain                                                        the day or night, and that tends to be using a
             parts of their spending.                                                                               digital device, the survey showed.
                “Could a bank not help them get more                                                                   “At some point they’ll want to continue a
             across all of their spending, irrespective of                                                          transaction on another channel,” says Poe.
                                                                                                                    “Respondents expressed dissatisfaction that
             where it is spent? As a consumer, spend is
             spend; however, the banks categorise spending          customers are                                   when they walked into a branch they weren’t
                                                                                                                    as well known as when they phoned up or
             rigidly.”
                There is widespread agreement that banks            wondering why they                              went online. Nobody comes up and says hello
                                                                                                                    in the branch.”
             are not yet ready to move quickly into this
             space. Some forerunners have web-enabled               can only get these
             existing services rather than deploying omni-
                                                                    loyalty reward                                  GENERATIONAL DIVIDE?
             channel services.
                “Some Swedish banks put out new services
             based on consumer feedback every three                 systems across                                  Originally, certainly, the technology was all
                                                                                                                    built towards the younger generation, but Poe
             months. That requires a different development
             cycle to a normal bank’s IT department. It also        certain parts of                                believes things have changed. “What’s come
                                                                                                                    out of this research is that all generations are
             requires a different type of architecture, as well
             as additional underlying security, and testing         their spending.                                 buying stuff online,” he explains.
                                                                                                                       “In the retail sector, this is consistent across
             across multiple channels.”
                Digital consumerism in banking is only              Can’t a bank help                               all age groups – except for very aged people
                                                                                                                    who still like social interaction,” adds Poe.
             just starting. Some banks think they have to
             go through multiple strategy testing before            them get more                                   “The way people want to access a digital brand
                                                                                                                    is quite consistent today.”
             deployment.
                “Banks should be extremely cautious                 across all of their                                So, what of the future for rewards? “On
                                                                                                                    banks’ own products, raising loyalty for
             about going through that strategy-planning-
             deployment process, because actually what              spending?                                       additional products and high credit will
                                                                                                                    significantly increase,” predicts Poe. <

   10 | June 2017 | Electronic Payments International

EPI June 360.indd 10                                                                                                                                            13/07/2017 17:36
Feature | loyalty schemes

                 Rewards and mobile wallets                                         Rewards and payment cards
            Would you use your mobile wallet payment service more,                         Do you have a payment card, and
             if there were rewards, (discounts, offers) for doing so?                   is your loyalty programme linked to it?
                               Probably
                               not: 2%                  Definitely
                       Not sure:                         not: 1%                                Payment card
                         6%                                                                      is not linked,
                                                                                                  but plan to
                                                                                                  do so: 17% Have payment
                                                                                                                card, and it is
                             Yes, probably:                                                  Don’t have          linked: 37%
                                  23%                                                        a payment
                                                                                             card: 23%
                                               Yes, definitely:
                                                    69%                                                Have payment
                                                                                                        card, but it is
                                                                                                       not linked: 23%

                                 Source: Amdocs, Ovum                                              Source: Amdocs, Ovum

             SO, who else is missing an opportunity?
             Banks are not the only organisations that are missing a
             trick. Mobile financial service (MFS) providers are also
             failing to realise the potential of loyalty programmes in
             driving growth.
             Research conducted early 2017 by customer experience
             solutions company Amdocs, and analyst and consultancy
             firm Ovum showed a “significant gap between what
             customers want and what they are offered”.
             This was found to be especially true for unbanked
             respondents, 80% of whom were not enrolled in any
             loyalty programme. Usually, the first thing on an MFS
             provider’s agenda is to mop up the overspill of banks, or
             indeed provide financial services in underbanked regions.
             The study surveyed 1,800 consumers and 42 service
             providers across nine countries in emerging and mature       More banks than mobile operators – 38% and 28%
             markets including the US, Singapore, Russia, Brazil,         respectively – have already linked payment cards to loyalty
             Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Bangladesh and           programmes, according to the survey; similarly, with
             Vietnam.                                                     regard to future plans to link the two, banks were more
             The consumers and the MFS providers were surveyed            committed than operators.
             independently of each other, and this revealed a             Most respondents were keen on being able to manage
             disconnect between the loyalty features consumers            different loyalty cards from within a single wallet,
             desire most, and support for these features in MFS loyalty   with 61% stating this as ‘very important’, and 31% as
             platforms. This was most pronounced with the ability to      ‘important’. This was higher among banked users, with
             integrate multiple loyalty programmes within a single        ‘very important’ at 61%, compared to unbanked users
             mobile wallet, social features and gamification.             at 51%.
             Moreover, many MFS providers underestimate the positive      The ability to use reward points across programmes from
             impact they can have on MFS usage, with the majority         different service providers also scored highly in terms of
             believing customer retention is the major benefit – it is,   desirable factors, with 49% stating this as ‘very important’
             but it is only one of many.                                  and 43% as ‘important’. <

                                                                                        www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 11

EPI June 360.indd 11                                                                                                                     13/07/2017 17:36
payments fintrackER | google

               payments                                                       Using five common criteria, the
                                                                              GlobalData FinTrack reports give
                                                                              critical at-a-glance information on

               fintrackER                                                     the latest developments in the fast-
                                                                              moving world of financial technology

               Google launches merchant API
               Google’s new payments feature will expand access to merchant sites through Google Payment API. The
               new feature will improve customers’ experience when making payments through third-party mobile apps,
               websites, and Google Assistant. Consumers can use the details of any credit or debit card stored in their
               Google account, speeding up the payment process.

                                            Payment providers integrating with merchants using APIs has
               Is it original?              been common for quite some time, although this is the first
                                            payments API developed by Google.                                  ✗
                                            The feature has been created to improve payment take-up by
                                            offering a better-quality service, enabling customers to make
                                            faster and easier purchases at a wider variety of merchants.
               Is it long-lasting?          This is the first of a set of improvements to Google’s payments
                                            facility. As the number of merchants that enable the Google
                                            payment option rises, Android Pay will eventually strengthen its
                                                                                                               ✓
                                            market position.

               Is it operationally          Google’s new payment API stores card details used in previous
               game-changing for
               the provider?
                                            transactions and gives users the opportunity to choose which
                                            of their stored cards to pay with. This will improve the user
                                            experience in terms of convenience and ease of access.
                                                                                                               ✓

               Will it significantly        The API is a significant innovation that will enable faster
               improve the user
               experience?
                                            checkout, drive more conversions, increase sales, and reduce
                                            abandoned carts.                                                   ✓
                                            This is more of an upgrade to the existing payment platform,
               Is it market-changing?
                                            and is intended to increase Google’s partner network. In this
                                            case, the payment method is being upgraded in order to build
                                            Android Pay’s market position, and eventually increase sales.
                                                                                                               ✗
               Total Score:                                                                                    3/5

   12 | June 2017 | Electronic Payments International

EPI June 360.indd 12                                                                                                 13/07/2017 17:36
payments fintracker | paytm

         Paytm to launch Paytm Payments Bank
         In 2016 Paytm founder Shekhar Sharma revealed that Paytm will launch its own banking service – to
         be known as Paytm Payments Bank – by the end of March 2017. There are significant opportunities to
         service the underbanked population in India using mobile technology. Although it has received approval
         from the Reserve Bank, Paytm is still awaiting regulatory approval for its board of directors.

                                      A mobile-based bank as an offshoot from a payment provider
                                      is not new. China’s Alipay was later rebranded as Ant Financial,
         Is it original?              offering banking services. Although not an original idea, it does
                                      however make sense for Paytm to form a bank to fit its local
                                      market environment.
                                                                                                           ✗
                                      With hundreds of millions of underserved consumers in the
                                      market, as well as a banking infrastructure that is not able to
         Is it long-lasting?
                                      solve the issue in a short timeframe, a mobile-based bank is
                                      strongly positioned to fill the gap. At the same time, this will
                                      develop a consumer preference for banking activities over the
                                                                                                          ✓
                                      mobile channel.

                                      Due to Paytm’s involvement in the mobile payment business to
                                      begin with, it will require almost no start-up cost to launch the
         Is it operationally          mobile-based banking business. Paytm should, therefore, hit the
         game-changing for
         the provider?
                                      ground running as soon as it meets all regulatory requirements.
                                      This move will open up a new vertical for Paytm, potentially
                                      securing it a major stake in the Indian banking market due to
                                                                                                          ✓
                                      the number of unbanked consumers in the country.

                                      This will greatly improve consumer access to banking in India,
         Will it significantly        especially given the size of the underbanked market. With a
         improve the user
         experience?
                                      large proportion of the underserved already using Paytm’s
                                      payment service, it should be very fast and easy for consumers
                                      to access the banking service.
                                                                                                          ✓
                                      Paytm Bank will definitely change both the banking and the
                                      payments environment in India, as around half of the market is
                                      financially underserved. With such a big proportion, the group
         Is it market-changing?       of consumers that Paytm is targeting will have the pressure to
                                      steer the future direction of the market to move towards being
                                      a cashless society, and move a larger proportion of the banking
                                                                                                          ✓
                                      service onto a mobile platform.

         Total Score:                                                                                     4/5

                                                                                                 £$€¥

                                                                               www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 13

EPI June 360.indd 13                                                                                                13/07/2017 17:36
industry insight | dbs

                                                                                                                      fosterIng fintech culture
                   inside track from dbs:                                                                             Banks need to rewire their
                                                                                                                      operations so they partner more,

                   the five types
                                                                                                                      carry out fintech assessments, and
                                                                                                                      bulk product in. DBS accelerated
                                                                                                                      over 30 fintechs in 2015. We had

                   of fintech
                                                                                                                      three accelerators in Hong Kong
                                                                                                                      and Singapore; in 2016 we had six,
                                                                                                                      and deployed six fintech products
                                                                                                                      inside the bank. We’ll do over 10
                                                                                                                      in 2017.
                  Neal Cross is well known in his field – not just for being                                          I got the bank to run 1,000
                  CIO of DBS Bank, but for being a maverick. His team’s                                               experiments last year, and this
                                                                                                                      year the top 250 again have to run
                  only ‘tech person’, he has redefined fintech strategy to
                                                                                                                      their own customer journey – it’s
                  great effect. In this piece, he outlines the five fintech types                                     written into their bonus to do a
                                                                                                                      customer journey or an employee
                                                                                                                      journey. Then we spend time

             1: BANKS                                             bases at scale because they have never done
                                                                  it, they are not structured , they do not have
                                                                                                                      reinventing training, finance, legal,
                                                                                                                      compliance, so we work at not
             They’ve been doing it for decades; the               enough money and their brand is not really
                                                                                                                      just building a new product, but
             worldwide financial services industry is worth       there. A lot of those – such as Moven bank,
                                                                                                                      how to change the organisation so
             about $5trn in revenue. They are obviously           which I invested in, in the US – initially
             pivoting quickly. At the G20 they asked me           went out to be a bank, have pivoted and now         everyone is more effective.
             what the effect of fintech is. I said fear. It has   supply the tech to the banks, like Westpac NZ       So many banks are focused on
             brought fear into the industry – there is more       and TD Bank in Canada.                              ‘needing’ a new product or ‘talking
             partnering, more accelerators and VC funds.                                                              to fintech’. We’ll talk to a senior
             Most of them are taking their mobile assets          4: NEO-FINTECH II                                   executive at the bank, ask them
             and giving them a digital wash, and saying
                                                                                                                      what the biggest problem is. I then
             they have a great digital strategy, but it is not,   Those fintechs who want to kill banks and
             and certainly not ambitious enough.                  their model means they cannot partner with          take some of their staff for a week,
                                                                  a traditional bank. Transferwise, for example-      put them through a process and
             2: VENDORS                                           offering forex at 10% the cost of the bank,         they’ll come up with 10 different
                                                                  their adverts are very anti-bank but there is       solutions to that problem. These
             For example Misys (now Finastra with                 not enough money in there to partner so a
                                                                                                                      will be a business model or paper
             D&H), Sungard, Fiserv, FIS or Temenos –              bank is not going to go for half of 10% of the
                                                                                                                      prototype – no tech. We put them
             their industry must be worth $200bn a year.          revenue they would have got for that anyway.
             They are pivoting and changing as well, for          However, Transferwise has partnered with            back in the business to go through
             example staging hackathons, etcetera. They are       number26, which does not have forex.                the solutions, and execute them.
             probably under the biggest squeeze because                                                               Things non-tech are a lot more
             banks now look to fintech startups as well as        5: THE INTERNET GIANTS                              powerful.
             these vendors and instead of a slightly adapted
                                                                                                                      HR for example, came to me saying
             business model, they can get the tech, and           Fintech will not change finance; what will is
                                                                                                                      they need an app. What for?, I
             even the customers – that value prop is quite        Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Alibaba,
             different than buying a mobile wallet from a         WeChat – they have been very successful in          asked. To get people to collaborate
             traditional supplier.                                financial services. WeChat got 30m customers        more, came the answer. You don’t
                                                                  in just over a year – currently this tally hovers   need an app for that. If you roll
             3: NEO-FINTECH I                                     around the 1bn mark.                                out an app, 20% of the bank will
                                                                     To put this into perspective, that is more
                                                                                                                      download it, 10% will log into it
             Most fintechs fall into this category, which         customers than every single Western startup
                                                                                                                      and 5% will sometimes use it, so
             want to partner and collaborate – many of            bank added together. So what is coming out
             these did start out saying they are going to kill    of the East is a lot more exciting. Traditional     you’ll end up addressing 5% of the
             banks, which is just illusionary rhetoric. Now       banks in China are building inside WeChat,          bank. Change everyone’s KPIs and
             they are doing a lot of partnerships with banks      so the customer goes to WeChat to open their        you’ll affect 100% of the bank. <
             and realising they cannot grow mass customer         account and get their card. <

   14 | June 2017 | Electronic Payments International

EPI June 360.indd 14                                                                                                                                        13/07/2017 17:36
Feature | paytm

              softbank expands:
              india’s paytm
              entErS The
              canadian market
              Indian m-payments giant Paytm has received a massive investment from
              Japan’s Softbank and taken its first step outside India by launching its
              Canadian subsidiary. Paytm sees Canada as the test laboratory for its
              international expansion plans, Robin Arnfield reports

       I
            n May 2017, Japan’s Softbank                 purchases in bricks-and-mortar stores as           “In November 2016, a new growth
            announced a $1.4bn investment in             an alternative to cards and cash. Users can     opportunity emerged for Paytm with India’s
            Paytm’s parent company, Indian mobile        transfer funds to Paytm Wallets from bank       move to demonetization,” the Harvard
       Internet firm One97 Communications,               accounts, and from credit and debit cards.      Business School case study says. “India
       giving it a 20% stake.                               Paytm’s offline mobile payment service       announced that INR500 ($7.81) and
          Paytm said in a statement that the             has proved popular with Indian merchants,       INR1,000 ($15.62) notes would cease to be
       investment will complement Paytm’s plans to       many of which do not accept credit or debit     legal tender with immediate effect.
       invest around $1.6bn over the next three to       cards. All they need to do to accept Paytm is      “The elimination of about 90% of the
       five years to expand its services in India.       to display a QR code sticker which customers    currency in circulation would create a short-
          In March 2017, Paytm launched a bill           scan into their phone – they do not need a      term cash shortage and provide an impetus to
       payment app in Canada, its first outside          POS device or internet connection.              digital payments.”
       India. The app, which was developed by the                                                           Reuters said that by May 2017 the number
       Paytm Labs R&D facility in Toronto, enables       INVESTORS                                       of Paytm users had risen to 220m.
       Canadian users to pay around 5,000 billers,                                                          “Paytm is the largest mobile wallet company
       including their cellphones, internet, cable TV,   The biggest investor in Paytm is Chinese        in India currently,” says Forrester Research
       utilities, insurance and property taxes.          e-commerce giant Alibaba and its payments       senior forecast analyst Satish Meena. “It’s
                                                         arm, Ant Financial Services, which runs         looking to build the Indian version of Alipay
       HISTORY                                           Alipay. Softbank is the biggest investor        in India.
                                                         in Alibaba.                                        “After the Indian Government’s
       Paytm (Pay through mobile), One97’s mobile           In March 2017, Alibaba and venture capital   demonetization in November 2016, Paytm
       payments and m-commerce arm, was founded          firm SAIF Partners respectively invested        benefited the most in terms of additional user
       in 2010 by One97 founder Vijay Shekhar            $177m and $23m in Paytm’s e-commerce            numbers and transactions. With a very limited
       Sharma.                                           marketplace, Paytm E-commerce, which            access to credit cards and other payment
          Initially, Paytm just offered mobile airtime   competes with Amazon India.                     methods, customers use mobile wallets like
       recharge, but it subsequently launched the           According to Paytm: Building a Payment       Paytm to make payments in both online and
       Paytm Wallet app which can be used to             Network, a January 2017 Harvard Business        offline channels.”
       make P2P transfers, bill payments, Uber           School case study by Sunil Gupta, Das              Meena says Paytm’s focus remains India,
       ride bookings, and purchases at Paytm’s           Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani, by October     as the country’s payments and e-commerce
       e-commerce marketplace.                           2016 Paytm was India’s largest mobile           markets are growing at a rapid pace. “Canada
          Since November 2015, Paytm has offered         payments and commerce platform with 142m        is used as a test bed for international
       the ability to use Paytm Wallets for “offline”    users and a valuation of $5bn.                  expansion,” he says.

                                                                                                www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 15

EPI June 360.indd 15                                                                                                                                  13/07/2017 17:36
Feature | paytm

                “But Paytm’s main focus area remains                 “We go into new countries to get some           book and debit card, and will also be paid
             finding profitable business models in the            learnings about what services can be replicated    interest on deposits in their account.
             Indian payments and e-commerce segments,             internationally and what have to be heavily           “Paytm Payments Bank allows us to expand
             which have high losses due to the discount           localised with country-specific settings,” Deora   the number of deposit-type relationships we
             wars for customer acquisition and the                continues.                                         have with our customers including digital
             investment required in technology, logistics            “We think we will learn things in Canada        current and savings accounts,” says Deora.
             and warehouses,” Meena continues.                    that we can apply elsewhere, as it is a test       “We can become the primary bank for our
                “With backing from Alibaba and Softbank,          lab for other markets. Also, we can receive        customers. Currently, most of them have
             Paytm has some time to build the business            learnings from our partnership with Ant            banking relationships with another financial
             case for both these segments, but Amazon’s           Financial if we enter countries that are similar   institution.”
             presence in India is one of the biggest              to those where Ant operates.”                         Speaking about Paytm’s retail payments
             challenges it faces, especially in online retail.”      Deora notes that Paytm’s partnership with       business, Deora says Paytm plans to offer
                                                                  Ant does not prevent it from entering markets      its offline merchant customers value-added
             MADHUR DEORA                                         where Ant has subsidiaries.                        benefits for accepting Paytm Wallet payments,
                                                                                                                     including the ability to track any payments
             In October 2016, Paytm appointed former              PAYMENTS BANK                                      they receive.
             Citigroup senior executive Madhur Deora                                                                    “The launch of the Payments Bank will see
             as CFO and senior vice-president of Paytm,           In August 2015, the central Reserve Bank of        the split of the current Paytm proposition,
             which is responsible for Paytm’s financial           India (RBI) gave Payments Bank licences to         with the Paytm Wallet going to the Payments
             services business.                                   11 companies, including Paytm, Indian telcos       Bank and the Paytm e-commerce operation
                Commenting on Paytm’s Canadian launch,            Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, and to India Post.      continuing as is” says Shiv Putcha, associate
             Deora told Electronic Payments International:        The first Payments Bank has already been           director, telecoms at IDC Asia-Pacific.
             “We’ve always wanted to be international and         launched by Airtel.                                   “While Payments Banks aren’t meant
             move into developed markets outside India.              Targeted at unbanked consumers, Payments        to lend, they can take deposits and act as
             So we looked to see which technologies and           Banks are allowed to offer current and savings     instruments of financial inclusion. In a
             services we have developed in India, would be        accounts with restrictions on the size of          country like India with a significant unbanked
             relevant to a country like Canada which has          deposits, along with mutual funds, insurance       population, access to these financial services
             very high banking penetration and different          and pensions, but not loans or credit cards.       will be potentially lucrative.
             payment and banking systems to India’s.              Customers can use correspondent agents                “I believe Paytm will continue with its
                “One reason we chose Canada is that we            such as merchants to make deposits to their        strategy of enabling P2P payments and
             have a set of people in our company who              Payments Bank accounts.                            focusing on all the transaction scenarios being
             understand the Canadian market very well.”              In May 2017, Paytm announced that it had        enabled by the growth of the online to offline
                Deora says that, even in developed countries      been granted the final stage of its Payments       segment in India. Paytm will continue to see
             such as Canada where people have been using          Bank licence from the RBI, and would               strong growth and could cross 400m accounts
             digital payments for some time, much of the          officially launch its banking business on 23       by the close of 2018,” Putcha notes.
             underlying payment infrastructure was built          May 2017.
             many years ago.                                         Paytm said its customers’ Paytm Wallet          NEW MARKETS
                “Most developed countries have antiquated         accounts would be transferred from One97 to
             or legacy card payment systems which                 the newly created Paytm Payments Bank.             Deora explains that when Paytm enters a new
             underpin their digital payments services,” he           “The core mission of Paytm Payments             country, it may not necessarily seek a banking
             explains. “In fact, some of the digital payment      Bank will be to cater to the requirements of       licence. “We’re very happy to work with
             services we have in India are more advanced in       the unserved and under-served communities          banking partners,” he says.
             some ways than those in developed countries.         of India, and bring them to the mainstream            “Like other fintechs, we ask the question:
                “We won’t do a ‘copy and paste’ from              economy,” it said.                                 What isn’t working as well as it should, and
             our Indian services to Canada, or to other              Paytm Wallet customers who apply for a          what would be our solution and what would
             countries, and hope they work.                       Paytm bank account will be given a cheque-         be the infrastructure we need to offer to
                                                                                                                     solve that problem in that market? In many
                                                                                                                     markets, we might not become a bank as
                                                                                                                     that wouldn’t be necessary, and we could
                                                                                                                     partner with local banks, providing them with
                      some of the digital payment                                                                    lending, payments or e-commerce products.”
                                                                                                                        Deora says that in any country in which
                     services we have in India are                                                                   Paytm operates in, payments will be the core
                                                                                                                     service it provides, and that it could then add
                   more advanced in some ways than                                                                   on additional services.
                                                                                                                        “We believe 100% in real-time payment
                     those in developed countries                                                                    services, and we don’t want to hold on to
                                                                                                                     customers’ money just because we can,”
                                                                                                                     he says.

   16 | June 2017 | Electronic Payments International

EPI June 360.indd 16                                                                                                                                          13/07/2017 17:36
Feature | paytm

          “If it takes more than a few minutes or even   For example, I read that around $20bn is paid      plans to offer a Paytm wallet in Canada.
       one day to transfer money from your primary       in overdue charges for bills in North America.     Paytm also plans to offer P2P transfers within
       bank to your digital-only bank, then this         So there’s a big opportunity for us to help        Canada in the near future.
       introduces friction to the customer experience.   users with bill payments.”                           “P2P services are still a challenge in
       We think it’s very important for customers to        One feature offered by Paytm Canada’s app       Canada,” says Christelis.
       enjoy real-time transfers between their banks.    is reminders that a bill is becoming due.
          “In Canada and other markets, Paytm will          “We want to provide insights to users           INTERNATIONAL BILLS
       look to offer cross-border remittances and        based on their bill payments,” Mhatre says.
       cross-border direct bill pay,” Deora continues.   “Managing your bills is a headache via online      Paytm Canada will provide a service enabling
       “For example, we could partner with a bank        banking, as it may not be possible to get a        Indians living in Canada to pay bills on behalf
       which has a lot of digital banking users and      consolidated view of all your payments to          of their family back in India.
       maybe has a focus on the Indian diaspora          your billers. We want to solve that headache          “Most remittances to India are sent to pay
                                                                                                            for bills such as mobile phones, insurance and
                                                                                                            school fees,” says Mhatre.
                                                                                                               “Our app already offers payment of post-
             Although Canadian banks offer bill                                                             paid mobile account bills in India, and we
                                                                                                            will be expanding that to any type of mobile
             payment services, we believe bill payment                                                      account and to electricity bills.”
                                                                                                               Originally, Paytm thought the users
             is a neglected area in banking services                                                        of its Canadian app would just be Indo-
                                                                                                            Canadians. “In fact, our user base reflects the
                                                                                                            ethnographics of Canadian diversity,” says
                                                                                                            Mhatre. “We haven’t done any marketing, and
       population in its country. We could add a tab     for users, and we will soon offer automated        the app has been promoted by our users via
       to the bank’s digital banking app that would      recurring bill payments.                           social media.
       allow customers to pay bills in India.”              “We will also offer alerts that, for example,      “We’re happy with the frequency of the
                                                         could tell a customer that they have C$900         transactions and the transaction volumes that
       PAYTM CANADA                                      ($662) worth of bills to pay but have              people are doing.
                                                         insufficient funds in their account to pay these      “We’re targeting tech-savvy people like
       Paytm opened Paytm Labs, which provides           bills, so please address this.”                    young professionals who want the ability to
       R&D for its Indian operation from Toronto,           Currently, Canadian users pay for bills from    get things done quickly whenever they want
       in 2014. The R&D facility’s team of 55 data       their Paytm app via credit cards, but Paytm        and wherever they are.” <
       scientists and engineers apply big data, AI
       and machine learning to Paytm’s data assets to
       build products for the group.
          Aditya Mhatre, product manager at Paytm
       Canada, says Paytm’s Toronto Lab does a lot
       of work for Paytm’s Indian business.
          “The entire Paytm India app is
       personalized, and that personalisation
       intelligence was built by our engineers in
       Toronto,” he says.
          “Paytm’s fraud detection system was
       developed by our staff in Toronto. We chose
       Toronto for the Lab because of all the fintech
       ability here. As we already had an office in
       Canada, it made sense for us to launch our
       first foreign service in Canada. This enabled
       us to get going quickly.”
          “It makes sense for Paytm to locate its
       R&D activity in Toronto due to the fintech
       activity here,” says Christie Christelis,
       president of Canadian consultancy
       Technology Strategies International.
          “Although Canadian banks offer bill
       payment services, we believe bill payment
       is a neglected area in banking services,” says
       Mhatre. “There are certain aspects of bill
       payments that haven’t been fully developed.

                                                                                                  www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com | 17

EPI June 360.indd 17                                                                                                                                         13/07/2017 17:36
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