Latest opinions that Scott Dawson has shared on Finextra

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Scott Dawson

CEO

DECTA

Member since

21 Apr 2023

Location

London

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Scott's opinions

SMEs are the bedrock of the economy – they need to be part of the APP fraud conversation

The recent decision by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to mandate that banks and payment companies refund victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud up to £85,000 within five days has created a rift in the financial ecosystem. While the move was welcomed by some in the consumer protection space, others – particularly SMEs and the FinTechs t...

13 November 2024 /payments /inclusion

Why I want to focus on SMEs as DECTA’s CEO

Throughout my career, the significance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the UK economy has become ever more evident to me. They are critical engines of job creation, innovation, and economic resilience. The government’s recognition of this, exemplified by its declaration of the “Year of the SME,” aims to foster an environment where ...

29 August 2024 /payments /predictions

The Smart Approach to Risky Business

Every Saturday morning, I do Muay Thai at a local gym. Mercifully, combat sports and payments have few overlaps – but there is one lesson I can take from one to the other: identifying the meaning of different types of pain. There’s superficial pain, which you need to grin and bear – doing so means you grow and get stronger. But there’s also pain t...

01 August 2024 /payments /regulation Fintech

How Regulation Can Supercharge Your Business

We all rely on the world that regulation creates – yet we groan at the mere mention of the dreaded ‘red tape’. With each new evolution in payments regulations, like the introduction of PSD2, we see a slew of doom-mongering articles on how it will negatively impact the industry, its stakeholders, potentially cause friction in the payments process,...

12 March 2024 /payments /regulation Fintech

Survival of the fittest: Why low fintech investment can be good for Fintech

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” This quote from author G. Michael Hopf (which in modern terms obviously relates to all human beings) has spread far beyond its origins in a middling science-fiction novel and has become a catch-all explanation of ‘decadence’. ...

09 January 2024 /payments /predictions Fintech

Can AI recession-proof your company?

Is a recession coming? Even a brief Google search on the word reveals dozens of articles that say unequivocally that there will be a recession. Although the press is reading tea-leaves to try to define when the recession will hit, businesses should be battening down the hatches. There are as many ways to do this as there are individual business...

18 October 2023 /payments /predictions Fintech

Sustaining Momentum: Driving Trust During Economic Downturns

In an era characterised by economic uncertainties and cost-of-living crises, the spotlight needs to turn towards increasing trust as a means of keeping the millions of people who will be affected by the current economic downturn inside the financial mainstream. It is estimated that 4% of the British population remains unbanked, trapped on the fri...

27 September 2023 /payments /startups Business

Can AI really change the payments industry?

The world is awash with news and articles on artificial intelligence (AI), and the payment industry is no exception. Recently we have learned that Mastercard have rolled out an AI tool to spot real-time payment scams, U.S Bank is using AI in business travel management, and conferences are filled with talks on an AI future. A year before, the fin...

01 August 2023 /payments /predictions Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Could AI be the Magic Bullet for Open Banking?

It could be argued that Open Banking hasn’t yet lived up to its potential. Although seven million people and businesses used Open Banking systems in January of this year, that is still a small percentage of the 156 million bank accounts in the UK. Companies like Bud, Plaid and Tink are successful on their own terms, but don’t match the rapid grow...

03 July 2023 /payments /predictions Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Getting the basics right: Achieving 99.99% uptime and no data leaks

It seems as though tough times are ahead for eCommerce merchants. The potential for a major downturn has many battening down the hatches in anticipation of lean profits and higher expenses. During this time, it is therefore vital that companies get the basics right. There are two dangerous temptations here: the first is to invest in flashy new sys...

05 June 2023 /payments /sustainable Outsourcing Banking, Financial Services Operations