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Location
San Diego, Ca
Member since
2022
Writes about
Payments Retail banking Start ups Predictions

Shawn's blog archive

2024 (2) 2023 (3) 2022 (1)
Shawn Conahan

Shawn Conahan

Chief Revenue Officer at Wildfire Systems, Inc.
Message Message me Posts: 6 Comments: 2
Bio Shawn Conahan is currently Chief Revenue Officer at Wildfire Systems, where he develops strategic partnerships with major finance, banking, and fintech companies to enable the creation of new revenue streams and modernizing their customer experience to position them competitively for the future of banking and money. Career History He has been an entrepreneur, senior executive and investor in the wireless, technology and Internet industries for over 15 years, having previously built and sold three companies. His industry experience ranges from digital media to wireless technology to big data where the common thread has been building platforms with broad applicability.

Blogs

Fintech

All Rewards Platforms Are Not Created Equal: Why Bank-Grade Capabilities Matter

19 Jun 2024

With some of the biggest financial institutions in the world launching shopping rewards programs, it’s clear these loyalty incentives are becoming table-stakes in the field of value-added financial services. But not all loyalty/rewards platforms are created equal when it comes to meeting the needs of sophisticated financial institutions. As finan...

3

Fintech

How the Value-Added Services of Loyalty 2.0 Could Help Offset Interchange Revenue Contraction

26 Mar 2024

Interchange revenue constriction for card issuers and banks is likely to result from the settlement between Visa, Mastercard, and U.S. merchants reducing rates and guaranteeing no increases for at least five years. What will happen when the lowered fees take effect? These reductions in interchange fee revenue might ultimately threaten the revenue...

1

Fintech

Navigating the Evolving Fintech Landscape in 2024

19 Jan 2024

After years defined by explosive growth and disruption, the business environment for fintechs is shifting. Fintechs and financial institutions alike will need to chart a strategic course to navigate these headwinds. To succeed this year, firms must understand and adapt to the key trends that will reshape their markets. Looking ahead, three trends ...

Fintech innovation and startups

Loyalty: No Longer a Cost Center with the Loyalty 2.0 Framework

31 Oct 2023

Competition among Financial Institutions (FIs) for valuable customers has heated up of late. A slew of challenger banks and other fintechs have taken market share away from once-solid banks, while a shift away from the branch banking model has pushed more consumers online, where new and innovative approaches to customer engagement have made custom...

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Shawn is Commenting on

All Rewards Platforms Are Not Created Equal: Why Bank-Grade Capabilities Matter

  This is not controversial. If you are a technology company working with banks, you should be bank-grade. I suspect anyone who works in the banking industry reading our comments will appreciate my conservative approach to protecting their interests.  You seem somewhat jaded, and I am sorry about whoever hurt you. ;-)

20 Jun 2024 Reply Read article

All Rewards Platforms Are Not Created Equal: Why Bank-Grade Capabilities Matter

  Your comment is so off the mark that I don't know exactly where to begin. I suspect that we are assigning different meanings to the words we are using. To me, "bank-grade" means understanding the operating requirements of the financial institution, particularly as it relates to their customers. Our guiding light is to "do no harm" to their customers, not just because it is the right thing to do, but it is also the regulatorily safe thing to do. To suggest a financial institution in the most highly-regulated industry on the planet is not bothered by a lack of safeguards that put them in a regulatory safe harbor is to completely misunderstand the impact of even minor transgressions. For instance, UDAAP compliance means, among other things, that a customer will get the loyalty benefit that was communicated to them. That benefit may be less than a dollar, but the penalty for a miscommunication is comparatively incalculable.  If there are banks telling you privately that they do not mind if your platform breaks down once in a while so that they can intentionally cheat their customers, please send that list to me so I can avoid doing business with them. 

20 Jun 2024 Reply Read article