Page 22 - GS240501

CoverStory

Automating, digitizing Enabling, facilitating
Nick Botha, global payments sales manager at AutoRek, Judith McGuire, senior vice president, global products for
called payments a fast-growing sector in financial ser- Discover Global Network, recalled her 20-year journey
vices, asset management, insurance and banking. “The with Discover, which began in Houston with early digital
UK and EU markets are familiar with automated recon- products that grew into a full product shop. “It takes a full
ciliation solutions, and the U.S. is catching on,” he said. ecosystem to support payments,” she said. “As a global
“We’re here to meet existing and prospective clients and brand focused on acceptance and issuance with partners
build teams; from a networking and branding perspective, across the globe, I think our place in the ecosystem and
Transact has been huge for us.” our job is to solve problems and simplify acceptance.”

One Inc. CEO Ian Drysdale noted that payments is a num- Making solutions as easy as possible for complex legacy
ber one touchpoint in property and casualty insurance, environments has been a key focus, McGuire stated, not-
where fully digitized workflows are accelerating claims ing this is critical as consumers increasingly tap with
processing, supporting multiple payment methods and phones at the POS, make in-app purchases and merchants
eliminating convenience fees. embed payments and use network tokens. These benefits
help increase authorizations and lower fraud, she added.
“Insurers realize they need to do business differently in
a world where we stare at our phones,” he said. “In the Tiffany Johnson, chief product officer at NMI, discussed
aftermath of an earthquake or fire, our insurance partners payment facilitation in a panel with Caroline Hometh,
can buzz a claimant’s phone with a deposit before they’re managing partner at RPY Innovations, and Deana Rich,
even off the phone with an adjuster.” co-CEO and co-founder for Infinicept. The three execu-
tives agreed the shifting economy, rising cost of money,
Austin Talley, CEO at Everyware, said seamless integra- and increasing risk and compliance burdens have impact-
tions into everyday devices, like smart refrigerators, are ed existing and aspiring payfacs.
embedding financial decisions into daily life. “Personal-
ized payments solutions, backed by AI and big data, can “Micro and macro elements like cash, cards, digital, regu-
evaluate a consumer’s lifestyle, medical history and risk lations, schemes and cost of capital are top of mind among
profiles to offer personalized insurance, investment and business owners,” Johnson said, noting that software com-
savings plans,” he said. panies are exploring a variety of payfac models in light
of these economic influences. Hometh concurred, stating
that increased regulatory oversight has prompted soft-
ware companies to explore payfac partnership benefits,
such agile underwriting, anti-money laundering, transac-
tion monitoring, money movement and money movement
oversight. “Vertical software companies are one of my
favorites to work with because they find a problem and
solve it and I get to help them use their tools,” Hometh
said, adding that Wells Fargo pulled out of payment fa-
cilitation in 2022, underscoring the need to work with sec-
ondary vendors.
Monitoring, protecting

Leo Patching, founder and CEO at Kompliant, said Trans-
act is a strong reminder that in-person connecting is a
catalyst for learning and doing business. “The payments
ecosystem truly requires many stakeholders coming to-
gether to build a unified experience for consumers, and so
an environment that drives shared learning and broaden-
ing of perspectives is high value,” he said.

Reflecting on evolving Know Your Customer (KYC) and
Know Your Business (KYB) landscapes, Patching cited en-
hanced regulatory scrutiny, global standardization, auto-
mation and rise of non-traditional data sources as trends
reshaping compliance management. “Adoption of AI and
blockchain is revolutionizing KYC and KYB, making them
faster and more accurate through automation and digital
solutions,” he said. “This is enabling payments providers
to reshape their abilities to provide improved customer
experiences and greater service capabilities while pro-

22