Financial Regulators

Demonetization Roulette: India’s unusual approach to creating a cashless economy

By Shiv Vadivelalagan on March 28 2017

On November 8, 2016, India cancelled 86% of its currency in circulation with a four-hour notice and the move pushed India into a severe currency shortage. In a country where 98% of all consumer payments are in cash, this prolonged currency shortage carries risks: economic destabilization in the short term and irrevocable damages to the […]

Banking Industry

Demystifying India’s Digital Payment Infrastructure

By Shiv Vadivelalagan on March 23 2017

There is a growing curiosity about India’s payments systems. These systems, and their role in the “India stack”, have been the subject of many articles speculating their importance in shaping India’s future. Despite this attention, there is still considerable confusion about what these initiatives are, and how they interact with each other. This led me […]

Card Fraud

MRC Las Vegas 2017:  It’s Not Just About Transaction Risk

By Chris Uriarte on March 20 2017

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This past week, over 1400 payments professionals convened in Las Vegas for the annual Merchant Risk Council (MRC) conference, an event that I’ve had the pleasure of attending for over a decade.  While merchant fraud detection and risk management continue to be the core theme of the conference, traditional payment service providers had a strong […]

ACH

Payments in Real Time

By Elizabeth McQuerry on February 6 2017

As the U.S. payments industry is preparing to enter another exciting phase as immediate funds transfer options come online, I’m thinking back to my interaction in the Fall of 2013 with the inquisitive team at Planet Money. Perplexed about why it took so long for the monies from their Kickstarter fundraising campaign to make the […]

Apple

Payments 2017 – One Month In

By George Peabody on January 31 2017

Business evolution—whether it’s automotive, bioscience, or in the payments industry—proceeds along a predictable path of incremental improvements and optimization. Until it doesn’t and a step function takes effect. Last year was sleepy compared to what we can expect during the next eleven months. 2016 was characterized by the more familiar path, through themes set in […]

Card Fraud

Guaranteed Fraud Prevention Solutions:  Maybe Some Things in Life Are Guaranteed?

By Chris Uriarte on January 24 2017

I’ve had the pleasure of working in the e-commerce fraud prevention space since the late nineties and, just as e-commerce has significantly evolved over the better part of two decades, the way merchants battle fraud has changed substantially.  Fraudsters have kept merchants on their toes and the industry has responded. We now have a host […]

Allen Weinberg

The ITU Digital Financial Services Focus Group Wraps Up

By George Peabody on December 14 2016

Last week in Geneva, the ITU wrapped up a two-year project – the “Focus Group on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion”. Several hundred organizations and people participated in the Focus Group, which produced research papers and policy recommendations on a wide variety of topics. The papers are available on the Focus Group website. Glenbrook’s […]

Big Data

Artificial Intelligence in Payments

By Russ Jones on November 3 2016

We have started development on this year’s Innovation in Payments workshop, and I wanted to share our current thinking on a new topic we’re including for the first time –– the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the payments industry. AI technologies have been around for a while in the payments industry –– think about […]

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 […]

Apple

Money20/20 Wrap-up

By George Peabody on October 27 2016

We’ve seen a lot of innovation in payment initiation over the last few years. Apple Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay and their like have filled Payments News headline stories. But this year, at Money20/20, consumer-facing innovation downshifted to a lower gear. And that’s a good thing. Getting Down to Work “Mobile” news cooled because the […]