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Unpacking Variable Recurring Payments
In the latest Payments:Unpacked podcast we are joined by Sean Devaney from CGI. Sean helps us unpack the new Open Banking initiative called Variable Recurring Payments (or VRP's).
Unpack Variable Recurring Payments with Sean as he explains:
Are VRP's the end of Open Banking?
What is a VRP?
What do the banks need to do to introduce VRP's?
Will VRP's be chargeable?
You'll find the accompanying Payments:Unpacked blog on VRPs here: Sweeping possibilities with Variable Recurring Payments.
SurePay protects against UK and Cross Border fraud with a range of Confirmation of Payee solutions
Ahead of the 2022 Money Live summit David-Jan Janse, CEO and Co-Founder of leading, specialist Confirmation of Payee provider SurePay has been explaining his mission:
We are on a mission to protect both our clients and their customers against the growing threat of fraud worldwide, giving them the reassurance that their payments are going to the intended recipient UK, also cross-border and multi-domestic.
You’ll find SurePay at booth 3 at London’s MoneyLive Summit on the 28 and 29th March - SurePay are there to tell you everything about their Confirmation of Payee and Cross Border solution over a cup of coffee.
Answer Pay fuels European expansion with DIT funding arrangement
Answer Pay has announced that it has successfully received funding to extend its Request to Pay connectivity to European countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
Digital payment technologies are evolving. Arguably, the biggest step-change in payments innovation in the UK and Europe comes in the form of Request-to-Pay (RtP). This is a relatively new message overlay service first developed in the UK as a response to the need identified by the Payment Services Regulator. RtP underpins secure payments from mobile apps and moves the industry away from unsecured pay by link solutions that compel bill payers to run the gauntlet of fraudulent messages and fake websites.
As the first independent solutions provider to offer a Pay.UK certified RtP platform service, Answer Pay plans now to build on its UK track-record of success and expand into Europe, at a time when the European Union is itself beginning the shift towards Request to Pay digital payment services.
Open Banking: A “glowing success”
Commenting on the February highlights, Charlotte Crosswell, OBIE Trustee and Chair, said:
In February we celebrated passing the 5 million active user milestone. This accelerated growth shows the increasing appetite of consumers and small businesses to leverage the technology to move, manage and make more of their money. I also had the pleasure of speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Open Banking and Payments, updating Parliamentarians and other key stakeholders on the progress we have made and the potential of open banking to deliver even more innovation and benefits as we move beyond the implementation phase.
The FCA stated that open banking is a “glowing success,” recognition that our ecosystem should be proud of. We have continued to make progress in implementing VRPs (Variable Recurring Payments) for Sweeping, an innovation which will revolutionise our payments industry. These are all strong indications that open banking is here to stay.
More:
Contactless payments soar as limit increase takes effect
The lifting of the limit on contactless payments to £100 in the UK has led to a surge in tap-and-pay transactions, as consumers use the touchless checkout method to pay for higher value items.
December 2021 card spending data from UK Finance reveals that the average amount spent per contactless card transaction rose by almost 30 per cent following the contactless spending limit increasing from £45 to £100 in October last year.
In September, prior to the contactless limit increase, the average spend per contactless payment was £11.86, which increased to £15.30 in December.
For 2021 as a whole, the card spending data shows a total of 13.1 billion contactless payments were made in the year - equivalent to 415 transactions every second. This is up 36 per cent compared with 2020 and 52 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The total value of contactless transactions in 2021 also increased, reaching £165.9 billion. This is 46 per cent higher than in 2020 and 106 per cent more than 2019.
The proportion of card payments that were contactless continued to increase in December 2021 and reached its highest recorded level, accounting for 69 per cent of all debit card transactions and 56 per cent of all credit card transactions.
7-Eleven stores in Japan trial holographic payment terminal
Customers at six 7-Eleven stores in Japan can now make contactless payments using a holographic screen projected from the self-checkout terminal.
Developed by Toshiba, the Digi POS system creates the illusion of a touchscreen interface hanging in the air in front of a shopper.
Customers scan the products in their cart and then select their preferred payment method and confirm the transaction on the floating screen without needing to touch the self-checkout kiosk directly.
The holographic self-checkout kiosks will accept only cashless payment methods, including credit cards, e-money cards and QR codes.
Banks should compete over help with financial wellbeing
Banks and building societies should compete with each other to offer the best set of tools and services to help customers address financial problems that were worsened by the pandemic, a think-tank says.
The Social Market Foundation said that new “consumer duty” rules being introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority should drive financial services firms to improve the way they offer support to customers facing financial difficulties.
The SMF found that some households and small businesses had exhausted their financial reserves during the lockdown years, adding new urgency to the need to rebuild their financial resilience.
The SMF analysis of financial resilience after the pandemic comes in a briefing paper sponsored by the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).
The paper, based on evidence from charities, experts and industry insiders, said that banks and building societies are better-placed than any other organisations to know when people are at risk of getting into financial trouble, and to offer tools and services to help.
That means apps and tools giving customers the ability to make spending plans, forecast cash flows, automatic saving functions, and expenses categorisation.
Banks and building societies can do more to support vulnerable customers, but they need to think beyond their traditional product offer and create new reasons to switch. For people with limited deposits, the prospect of a higher rate of return on savings from switching bank offers little appeal.
Yet these same customers could benefit from tools that can help them better manage their finances.
Outcomes for financially vulnerable households could be improved, and more customers may consider switching provider, if banks compete more in the financial wellbeing space, rather than on conventional measures such as interest paid on deposits and overdraft rates.
Scott Corfe, SMF Research Director
More: Banks should compete over help with financial wellbeing.
Cash 101
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 13 March 2022:
The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 4% when compared to the previous week in 2022.
The volume of ATM transactions increased by 18% when compared to the equivalent week in 2021.
The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 30% when compared to the equivalent week in 2020.
More: Cash 101 13 March 2022.
ICYMI
In brief
EPI is to abandon creating a "card scheme"- they plan to re-focus on wallets and digital payments EPI abandonne la création d’un scheme carte
Is Direct and Indirect access to the UK's interbank payment systems improving? Read what the Payment Systems Regulator thinks.
Payments Regulation: What is up ahead in 2022?
Join the Payments Association Insights webinar to learn how other firms are anticipating the future of regulations for EMIS and to gain key insights from our expert speaker line-up on how your organisation can ensure compliance.
More: Join me for a fireside chat with Nick Botha from AutoRek on March 31st.
Why Request to Pay is needed now more than ever
Pay.UK is hosting a webinar on Monday 4 April at 14:30 – 15:30 GMT where they will be joined by industry experts to discuss what impact Request to Pay can have on UK bill payments for organisations and consumers, especially in today’s rapidly changing landscape.
Request to Pay solutions come in different shapes and sizes and Pay.UK’s design is unique in a number of key ways. Tune in to understand the differences, the rationale behind it, and why Pay.UK think it’s required now more than ever.
Speakers
Kate Frankish, Chief Business Development Officer, Pay.UK
Simon Brooks, Faster Payments Service Line Manager and Business Owner for Request to Pay, Pay.UK
David Cox, Payments Lead, Virgin Media
Tony Craddock, Director General, Payments Association
Tina Harrison, Assistant Principle, University of Edinburgh
More: Why Request to Pay is needed now more than ever.
The safe place with the nice face
And from our series of payments past….
The Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich Building Society or The Woolwich) was founded in Woolwich in 1847 and remained a local institution until the early 1900’s when it began a modest regional expansion. This accelerated during the second half of the 1900’s and the period from 1960 was notable for its acquisitions. Following deregulation, the Society diversified and became one of the largest national building societies.
In 1997 it demutualised and became Woolwich PLC. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Barclays in 2000.
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