Glenbrook

Creative Tension Shapes the Fintech-Bank Ecosystem

By Nicole Pinto on May 21 2019

In my last post I covered the proliferation of challenger banks, the mobile-first, digital-only neo-banks and what differentiates them from the incumbents. While the media lens is usually focused on the front-end, the user experience, I’m always curious about what’s powering these operations under the hood. From the traditional banks’ perspective, fintech companies are just […]

Glenbrook

Prepaid Power and Financial Inclusion at Fintech South

By Elizabeth McQuerry on May 1 2019

Georgia is a nexus of global payment processing and merchant acquiring activity. Some two-thirds of all U.S. purchase volume is processed there. That’s a lot of debit and credit card transactions. But what are those same companies doing to improve payments for the underbanked? That combination of payments technology and financial inclusion concerns was the […]

Glenbrook

The Apple Card May Not be Revolutionary—But It Offers a Thoughtful Bundle of Features and a Glimpse into the Post-Card Era

By Emily Simone on April 30 2019

Apple’s March 25th keynote event announced forthcoming offerings to further build out Apple’s Services line—video media streaming, print media subscriptions, gaming, and more. Most interesting to us at Glenbrook (surprise!) was Apple’s co-branded credit card launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. The Apple Card, to be released in the summer, integrates consumer controls, […]

Bitcoin

A Dollar by Any Other Name: Thoughts on Digital Fiat Currency

By Carol Coye Benson on July 26 2018

What are central banks – and governments – going to do about cryptocurrencies? I was in New York last week to better understand what central bankers are thinking about – and doing – with respect to “Digital Fiat Currency”. The workshop was part of an ITU Focus Group Program on “Standardizing Digital Fiat Currency and […]

Glenbrook

Payment Rails and Other Tales

By Russ Jones on July 17 2018

In Glenbrook’s Payments Boot Camp™, we are always talking about payments systems – how they work, how they evolved, who uses them, who provides them, who profits from them, and how they are changing. So I was a little surprised when one of the participants approached me recently at break and asked if we would […]

Glenbrook

5 Payments Challenges Facing Nonprofits

By Lello Gebisa on June 11 2018

Tax Day has come and gone, and Americans have filed our returns and many of us even took the time to itemize our charitable contributions. According to the IRS, these contributions totaled over $390B in 2016 – a new record year of giving. While the rise in giving is welcome news, nonprofits also have to […]

Glenbrook

Madness in Marijuana Payments

By Beth Horowitz Steel on April 2 2018

In my state’s recent midterm primary elections, I voted for the referendum on legalizing recreational marijuana. It reminded me of recent conversations I’ve had with payments professionals trying to tackle the issue of providing safe and secure financial services to marijuana-based businesses: One CEO said they have put serious effort into this market. They’ve worked […]

Carol Coye Benson

“I know Scott!”

By Carol Coye Benson on October 31 2016

Our co-founder, partner and friend, Scott Loftesness, is formally retiring from Glenbrook today.  I can’t begin to say how much I will miss him – as a colleague, as a mentor, and as an endless source of ideas and insights.  Glenbrook is today what it is largely because of Scott’s vision for the firm: a […]

Allen Weinberg

Reflections: Back to the Future

By scott on March 1 2016

Today, Glenbrook celebrates its 15th birthday. It’s been quite a journey – an amazing one in so many ways – yet it also sometimes feels like we’re still on Day One! There’s so much happening in payments – and, more broadly, in commerce, financial inclusion, and crypto currencies! I was very fortunate to make a […]

Allen Weinberg

Farewell 2015

By George Peabody on December 27 2015

2015 has been an exciting, tumultuous year for payments. Our once “under the radar” industry now makes for daily headline news with stories and commentary (some breathtakingly uninformed) on new ways to pay, M&A activity, regulatory actions, competitive dynamics, security, and its future evolution. In consumer payments alone, 2015 was the year that things finally got […]