SEPA and European Payments

The Single Euro Payments Area, the Payments Services Directive, the Eurosystem, TARGET2, STEP2, the Euro and related matters.

Retired Member 

Acquiring margins squeezed, profits up - what's the story?

The average interchange rate in the US has increased by 22% in ten years, yet total actual fees charged to merchants, including interchange, have only increased by 11%. Acquirers appear to have swallowed a large portion of the increased interchange by lowering their own transaction fees, presumably in response to merchant pressure. It’s tough bein...

03 March 2008 /payments

Retired Member 

Waiving signatures for small purchases torpedoes contactless

Two recent articles highlight the critical problems that contactless faces, which I’ve written about many times over the past couple of years. Now that the problems seem to be widely understood, I find myself writing much less about contactless and NFC payments. What in the world am I going to complain about now? The Charlotte Observer writes abou...

03 March 2008 /payments

Gary Wright Analyst at BISS Research

SEPA could have been so much better!

As the SEPA fanfares of the 28th January disappear into the distance, it's worth analyzing how all this could have been handled so much better, to achieve the mutual objectives of the banks and most importantly their corporate customers. After EBA day (organised by Finextra and EBA), last year I undertook some research based from the Corporate Tre...

18 February 2008 /payments /retail

Retired Member 

Regulators about to rule on interchange -watch this closely

Here's something that could have a big impact on how payment schemes are going to compete in the future. European regulators are expected tomorrow to force MasterCard to cut interchange fees, but the devil’s in the details - everyone will be watching to see what the ruling actually says. Here's what I'll be looking for tomorrow. Check out the full...

18 December 2007 /payments

Alan Goodrich Regional Sales Manager at ERI

45 Shopping Days to SEPA..!

Depending on your local bank/public holidays, there are just 45 business days to "SEPA Day"..! I can't help wondering just how "SEPA-ready" banks and corporates really are with effectively just 9 weeks to "LIVE" date to go..? SEPA may not be as big a deal as the Euro and Y2K in terms of the consequences of not being re...

21 November 2007 /payments /sibos

Retired Member 

Justify interchange by helping retailers fight return fraud

Return fraud is in the news again. $3.7 billion this holiday season, according to a recent report. I talk about it because I believe that payment networks are ideally positioned to help retailers address this huge problem. Why should the networks do this? To help justify their interchange fees, of course. See the full blog post here: http://aneac...

16 November 2007 /payments

Retired Member 

Contactless troubles: useful analyst insight, useless advice

According to a report by research firm Aberdeen Group, most merchants that have adopted contactless don’t promote those programs to their customers, leading to lower than expected usage and uptake of tap-and-go transactions. Why don't merchants promote contactless if they get so much benefit from it? The report provides useful insight into the bar...

13 November 2007 /payments

Alan Goodrich Regional Sales Manager at ERI

Will UK Banks Get the X-Factor? It's the Same Difference!

What is it that keeps the excruciatingly happy brother and sister act of Sean and Sarah, Same Difference, out of the bottom two each week? My theory is very simple – they have understood what their customers (public voters) want... Will they win the whole competition? Probably not – but in many ways they have already won and have beaten some seriou...

12 November 2007 /payments

Retired Member 

Merchants hate interchange but will pay 7-9pct for marketing

Merchants hate paying 2% for credit card interchange, yet reports show that they are willing to pay 7-9% to companies like Google that envelop the payment transaction within the shopping context and actually deliver sales. A recent study by Deloitte looks at online purchases only, but I am excited about how the same ideas can be applied to real-wo...

07 November 2007 /payments

Retired Member 

Connectivity is about the Business, not the technology

I have a friend who has spend most of his life getting the latest technology. He is always rushing around downloading the latest drivers, getting the newest hardware and always raving about the latest standard and device that will make his life better. The problem is that technology has become his life! The time he saves and the convenience he h...

15 October 2007 /payments /retail