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Education

• The internet provided merchants easy access to
information on interchange and the actual value of
a terminal (typically $350 at best). This delimited
the value of the MLS/agent's knowledge, an asset
that had been considered to be valuable due to its
scarcity before the internet's explosion.
• Finally, banks and credit unions were actively
(and heavily) playing in the space. This led to
mass consolidation within the industry, where the
majority of the U.S. bankcard processing volume
was consolidated to 10 to 20 companies, many of
which were banks.

The fintech shift
Fast forward to 2021, and we are seeing that my supposition
has largely rung true, as the old 1099 MLS/agent model is
dying out to a large degree. Many companies have slowed
on contracting with 1099 agents.
Upcoming events:
They are instead focused more on hiring W-2 employees
with a base salary, commission, benefits package and a Southeast Acquirers Association
relative long-term investment in the development/success
of said employee. Throwing a bunch of 1099 guys against SEAA 2021 Annual Conference
the wall and figuring that perhaps 30 of them would stick May 24 – 26, 2021
is now no longer seen as viable. Bonita Springs, Fla.
https://events.american-tradeshow.com/
This is all a part of a fintech shift that is a result of the seaa2021
third wave of fintech. This wave is all about embedding
financial services (payments, lending, insurance, Midwest Acquirers Associaiton
banking and regulations) into the systems, processes and 2021 MWAA Annual Conference
experiences that merchants are already using, and doing July 21 – 22, 2021
so in an integrated fashion to increase efficiency, lower
costs and provide greater accessibility. Chicago
https://www.midwestacquirers.org
The time is now for embedded finance, and over the next
12 months, my discussion will break down the different NACHA
aspects of embedded finance with an emphasis on the Smarter Faster Payments 2021
embedded payments portion of said phenomenon. Aug. 9 – 12, 2021
San Francisco
According to Forbes and other sources that have surveyed https://payments.nacha.org
top executives across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic
has significantly sped up the third wave of fintech, and
companies are rapidly investing in integrated, digital and MPC
embedded fintech solutions. Mobile Payments Conference 2021
Aug. 16 – 18, 2021
Now more than ever is the time for you to pivot to thrive, Virtual event
not merely survive, in the payments industry going https://mobilepaymentconference.com
forward. I look forward to the next 12 months and thank /register-now-2021/
you for joining me on this journey.
Prepaid Press
John Tucker is U.S. enterprise sales director for TreviPay, www.trevipay. All Wireless & Prepaid Expo
com, and has over 14 years of B2B sales experience in commercial Aug. 17 – 18, 2021
finance. Tucker is an MBA graduate and holder of three bachelor's Las Vegas
degrees in accounting, business management and journalism. To con- http://www.theprepaidexpo.com
nect with him, please send him a connection invite via LinkedIn at: www.
linkedin.com/in/johntucker99/.

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