As we’re winding down for the year, we wish you the best for you and your family this holiday season! At Glenbrook, we thrive on thinking about how payments are evolving and how these changes will affect us in the years ahead. In this look back at the important payments themes of 2011, we share [...]
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I’ve spent part of my weekend contemplating the public relations hubbub that broke out late last week around Bank of America’s announcement that it would assess a $5 monthly fee on certain of its checking account holders who choose to use their debit cards for point-of-sale purchases. It’s a polarizing issue. At one level, I [...]
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Point of sale (POS) steering isn’t really part of the payments industry dialogue right now as various stakeholders praise, argue, and criticize the proposed Federal Reserve rules on debit card interchange and network routing. But, I think it could be a big part of how things could unfold in the near future. Let’s start with [...]
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After months of speculation and hand-wringing, last Friday we finally got a relatively complete reading on how the Federal Reserve will likely implement the prescribed regulation of debit interchange and debit network competition. My partner, Carol Benson, has also shared a summary of how various payment domains and players might be affected in the near [...]
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At Glenbrook, we think (and teach!) about the payments industry by domains (the purpose of the payment) and players (users and providers). Our quick take on the impact of yesterday’s proposed rules on each is below. One general assumption I’ve made here is that the gap between debit interchange from big banks, and from smaller [...]
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Last June, in an article titled “The End of Interchange“, I wrote about the then yet to be passed Durbin amendment – and how it might affect debit interchange fees. Earlier today, we got the first glimpse. The point of my earlier article was focused on the “sleeper” – as I described it – in [...]
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You have to admire great execution when you see it – and this morning Jeff Mullen and Philip Yen from Dynamics stopped by our offices to say hello and share some of their excitement at the reactions they’ve been getting to their new “ultra smart” payment cards – they’ve coined (!) them Card 2.0. We’ve [...]
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I’m just back from a fascinating ten day visit to India – and, frankly, I’m still in a bit of a daze from that amazing experience. More to come about my visit there. Tonight, as I’m catching up on the happenings while I was gone, I came across a press release earlier this week from [...]
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There, did I get your attention? … Tonight’s headlines say it even more clearly – see this Wall St. Journal story titled “Merchants Win Debit-Card Fee Battle“. Or, see this post on PaymentsNews.com about the Durbin compromise announced earlier today. Seriously, it seems to me that there’s a bit of a sleeper buried in all [...]
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I’ve been amazed by what I’ve been reading of late from the “analyst” firms commenting on the Durbin Amendment. A lot of what I’ve seen makes me wonder whether these folks should turn in their analyst licenses and simply register as paid lobbyists for their big bank clientele. (The Durbin amendment, for those not in [...]
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The dramatic vote on the Durbin amendment is causing panic, again, among retail bankers – who were last shocked by the Fed’s overdraft ruling. I wrote about that in November (Watch Out! Big Changes in Retail Bank Pricing Are Coming). I think the underlying problem that banks are dealing with is that too much of [...]
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Last week’s announcement by TSYS of its new hybrid card marks the latest application of the decoupled debit technology first made popular by Capital One in 2007 (though arguably pioneered by PayPal some years before in an online, non-card form). In fact, depending on how it is ultimately deployed, the TSYS product could provide a [...]
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The Fed’s announcement on Thursday of a new rule prohibiting overdraft fees on debit card and ATM transactions without consumer opt-in is an economic earthquake for retail banks. The Center for Responsible Lending has estimated that banks make $23.7 billion in overdraft fees annually; the New York Times said this morning that Fed officials had [...]
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I was particularly interested in the merchant funded rewards session put on by Jonathan Silver of Affinity Solutions and John MacMillan from Comerica Bank. Having listened to several discussions point to debit card rewards as important to consumers, this session focused on how to develop compelling rewards programs. First of all, rewards need to be [...]
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Glenbrook Partners’ Jacqueline Chilton is attending the ATM, Debit and Prepaid Forum 2009 in Las Vegas this week. Sessions focus on self service and cash management, the debit portfolio and prepaid products. Additionally, non-traditional, alternative payments have a dedicated track. Jacqueline’s posts from the conference are here: Mobile Payments at the Point of Sale The [...]
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