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a community hub that connects global technology and lish Payfactory in 2020, to bring payment facilitation-as-a-
payments leaders and helps them build custom solutions. service to these same companies.
"A regional acquirer needs to create a custom payments Software and payments have been merging for some time
solution for their merchants, some of whom offer subscrip- and have created a true fintech experience of embedded
tion services," Visa representatives wrote, stating that Visa payments in software, he added.
Acceptance Solutions connects acquirers to the company's
partner ecosystem, broader Visa Acceptance Platform and Speed's double-edged sword
variety of leading-edge capabilities and solutions. In the payments industry's haste to implement real-time
Grownup vertical strangers transactions, experts are warning of unintended conse-
quences such as increased risk of errors and fraud. A Nov.
Payment transactions have evolved from one-and-done 1, 2023, report by AutoRek, a financial services software
sales to real-time interactions between customers and provider, found a majority of U.S. and UK enterprises lack
brands, experts have noted. This new digital commerce the infrastructure to support faster payments.
world has pushed transactions out of their cocoons and
into tech-driven solutions. By directly embedding trans- In fact, 23 percent of executives surveyed were in favor of
actions into products and services, independent software delaying RTP implementation due to lack of internal skills
vendors (ISVs) transform standalone tools into supporting and technology, according to AutoRek's report Payments
features of verticalized solutions. industry outlook 2023: strategic priorities, operations, regula-
tion and data.
Payment Technology Trends ISOs and ISVs must watch in 2023,
a report published by NMI in February 2023, noted busi- After polling financial services executives, software de-
ness models changed in the early 2020s when consumers velopers and IT specialists to gauge their firms' readiness
and businesses shifted to digital and touchless commerce for real-time payments, researchers found 54 percent of
solutions. Demand for innovative new payment technolo- respondents agreed that inefficient back offices were the
gies is growing, according to NMI researchers, who found biggest roadblock to meeting real-time payment demands.
most of the 1,000 consumers they surveyed in October
2022 were eager to try new payment solutions. Nick Botha, global payments manager at AutoRek, called
real-time payments a double-edged sword for businesses
"As a payment solutions provider or software vendor, that facilitates speed and convenience but creates opera-
your clients expect an integrated solution with a vari- tional obstacles. With growing customer demand for in-
ety of features and payment methods," NMI researchers stant payments, he urged firms to increase efficiencies
wrote. "ISOs and ISVs who provide POS solutions, loyalty now and get ahead of the curve.
programs, CRM applications, and payment methods like
contactless payments, BNPL and biometric payments will "Firms that do not adapt their operations could find them-
differentiate themselves as merchant-first providers." selves in a world of regulatory hurt," he said. "Eliminat-
ing the bottlenecks to delivering real-time payments starts
B2C, B2B convergence with upgrading the old-school legacy infrastructure that

Ruston Miles, founder and CEO of Payfactory, agreed is no longer fit for purpose." A copy of the report is avail-
that flexible commerce-enablement platforms can help able at www.autorek.com/report/payments-industry-outlook-
consumer-facing brands and B2B enterprises attract and 2023-strategic-priorities-operations-regulation-and-data.
retain customers. In addition, he pointed out that auto- Fast payments, faster fraud
mated, self-attended technologies enhance both B2C and
B2B commerce models by creating real-time interactive On the fraud front, attacks on authorized push payments
customer experiences. (APP) are escalating. This is according to the UK's Payment
Systems Regulator's latest APP fraud report, published Oct.
"Payments have evolved significantly from being stand- 31, 2023, which found criminals exploiting faster payment
alone solutions to being embedded in various verticals methods to access transaction and accountholder data.
through a process driven by technological advancements,
changing consumer preferences, and the need for seam- Chris Hemsley, managing director of the PSR, affirmed
less and convenient transactions," he said. "After the dot- the PSR will continue to report on this issue while col-
com bust in 2002, many software developers, including laborating with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority to
myself, started creating web-based software to manage identify areas in need of improvement.
real-world businesses more efficiently."
"Our commitment to transparency and the forthcoming
These early efforts created the cornucopia of vertical SaaS mandatory rules are key to strengthening efforts to pre-
"system of record" companies we see today, many of which vent these frauds from happening in the first place," he
offer an array of practice management and donor manage- said in a statement. "Over the coming months, we will be
ment systems, Miles noted. He founded Bluefin in 2002, he bringing all payment firms into new reimbursement ar-
noted, primarily to serve these ISVs with payment gate- rangements to give more consistent protection across the
way and payment security services, and went on to estab- board. This is important because we can see from today's

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