FIS execs talk payments’ future

Written by FinTech Futures
8th November 2016

That’s a wrap on another Money 20/20. More than 11,000 attendees from more than 3,000 companies and 75 countries came together in Las Vegas recently to partake in the world’s largest payments and financial services innovation event. Here are some of the key takeaways FIS thought leaders brought back from this year’s event:

smith_serena “The greatest value [of Money20/20] is getting to talk with just about everyone in the payments industry and discuss ideas and look into our crystal balls about what is the next trend. It’s all about digital and faster … but what does that all mean? I look forward to what we will see next and how we will get there.”

—Serena Smith, Chief Administrative Officer and Head of International Payments

johnson_jim “Influencing, incenting and securing digital payment experiences was a dominant theme this year at Money2020. Many of my conversations with customers, partners and competitors were dominated with the question of how can we continue to utilize data and digital footprints to evolve our ecosystem.”

—Jim Johnson, Chief Operating Officer

knoppers_bastian “The challenges we continue to hear about with the U.S. EMV migration are directly related to it being driven by a liability shift vs. a mandate. For the small to midsize merchant who hasn’t yet deployed EMV, do they understand the cost impact of the counterfeit fraud they are liable for? Can the magstripe-only merchant manage the huge increase in chargebacks they’re seeing for the first time? For those that have deployed EMV, are they still waiting for certification, testing and implementation? The best way to remedy these challenges is to have patience—migration (as it has been in every other country) is a 5- to 10-year journey, and we just finished year one.

“The conversion to EMV, driven by a liability shift (vs. a mandate, which is what drove the migrations in Canada and the U.K.) has resulted in the issuers taking the financial opportunity of issuing before the merchants were ready, thereby shifting the cost of counterfeit fraud to the merchants. In most other countries, the merchants had deployed EMV at a rate of 2-1 or even 3-1, ahead of the issuers. As a result of a liability shift, the U.S deployment has been the opposite in that the issuers are way ahead of the merchants. For example, millions of EMV cards have been issued, but many merchants still only have magstripe-swiping capabilities at the POS.”

—Bastian Knoppers, Senior Vice President of Card Production

pigg_esther “Money 20/20 was an explosion of new fintechs, exciting technology and announcements from key players. The most important thing involving FIS was our partnership with Zelle to expand P2P payments. The most intriguing technology was AI or cognitive learning capabilities. The possibilities are endless to deliver smart assistance to customers for their financial lives. I absolutely loved Pepper the Robot!”

—Esther Pigg, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy

legters_bob “Money 20/20 continues to grow and evolve each year. More and more we are creating strategy and product across retail and financial channels. The show in 2017 will be about the future of payments, the digital channel and new integrations demonstrating how consumers’ lives will be improved by new experiences.”

—Bob Legters, Chief Product Officer

oneill_brian “What stood out for me was the breadth of content across the many different verticals where payments are at play. From the breakout sessions I attended, it was clear that retailers (and bankers) don’t want payments to be something their customers think about, but rather a seamless part of their overall shopping experience regardless of the channel they connect on.”