Money20/20: a discussion with many threads

We posted a news story on the recent Money20/20 conference, "Money20/20 grows up, looks ahead," on Oct. 26, 2018. Here are further perspectives and insights offered to The Green Sheet by industry leaders during the event, which organizers aptly described as a gathering place for financial professionals to interact and forge long-lasting professional relationships.

"This is not a customer acquisition show," said Christopher R. Kronenthal, president and chief technology officer at FreedomPay. "This conference is about engaging in conversations with the world's commerce leaders."

Greg Cohen, president at Paya, concurred, stating, "It's amazing to see what our little industry has become, and the growth of fintech in the last five years, all come together at Money20/20. Where else can you run into so many people, from bankers to start-ups, in one spot?"

Digital identity, biometrics

Approaches to secure authentication, designed to protect online users and thwart identity theft, were explored in exhibits and presentations. "A seamless and secure means to accurately identify each online user is fundamental to payments, commerce and finance, especially in an increasingly digital economy," Money20/20 organizers stated. "Identity thieves stole $16 billion from U.S. consumers in 2017 and almost 20 percent of financially excluded adults globally are denied access because they lack the legal documents to prove their identity."

Nehal Meta, president at Rainbow Password, GEOACL LLC and Startup City exhibitor, was pleased with the high traffic and level of interest in her section of the exhibit hall. Her company's technology suite of authentication and payment security products includes a technique that adds color to passwords. "People are interested in different technologies and new multilayered security solutions," she stated. "Everyone has been very nice."

Ryan Wilk, vice president, delivery, customer success at NuData Security, a Mastercard company, said biometric technologies are valuable because they can contextualize behavior in the digital world. "Passive biometrics, such as how people interact with keyboards, can show how people do things differently online and on their mobile devices," he explained.

Repurposed legacy brands

Emerging forms of transacting in the on-demand economy are challenging hospitality, retail and financial service companies to redefine the customer experience across multiple points of interaction, according to Money20/20 organizers. Executives from leading organizations provided insights on new commerce models and the financial solutions that power them.

"We're in the early stages of seeing if the ecosystem can come together and improve existing solutions," remarked Discover Financial Services' new president and CEO, Roger Hochschild, during a next-gen commerce presentation. "Discover remains a leading direct bank and payments partner as banking moves from branch to digital."

George Zirkel, senior vice president and head of global payments strategy at Transaction Network Services Inc., has seen growth in the Internet of Things and unattended market. TNS recently acquired ADVAM, on-premise parking provider with a suite of services and highly specialized technology. "ADVAM was a great acquisition for us," he said. "Our complementary product sets and network connectivity will improve uptime, security and resilience."

Keith Williams, CEO and president at Underwriters Laboratories (UL), said, "Everything we test is becoming internet-connected, which means more and more safety functionality is vulnerable to attack. We need to ensure the safety of the things we test, which means incorporating advanced forms of authentication, and that brought us into the payments world."

Williams said that approximately every 8 days there's a lithium ion battery fire on a flight. Each incident requires flight attendants with heat-resistant gloves and bags to dispose of burning batteries. "Sometimes technology outraces safety," he said. "We get 750 million attacks against our firewall every year and we have nothing to steal. Imagine if we were a financial company."

To see our first article on the show that explored digital transformation in payments, commerce and retail from multiple perspectives, please visit www.greensheet.com/breakingnews.php?flag=breaking_news&id=2149 .

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