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The Bottom Line

It seems like only yesterday that the payments world was upended by news of Fiserv’s $22 billion acquisition of First Data. Actually, it was two months ago almost to the day.  We weighed in at the time on the deal’s implications for financial institutions, and speculation quickly turned to how Fiserv’s key competitor FIS might react.

Our colleagues at SRM Europe in London recently shared with us how fewer people are using cash to pay for goods and service and discussed what critics of a cashless society are saying. In Great Britain, and perhaps the rest of the world, cash holds a unique bond with consumers that may be hard to give up.

In our experience, saying “no changes, here’s my signature” is a classic blunder.  Why? Because contract renewals or extensions with service providers can be deceptively simple. For example, if a bank or credit union exec is satisfied with their current relationship and the rep approaches them with a modest rate reduction, it looks like an “easy win.” The department head saves on the run rate and avoids a batch of administrative and analysis headaches, while still arriving at the desired endgame.

The “hawks versus doves” debate regarding financial institutions and FinTechs has been raging for years. Are these startup firms (and even some established industry service providers) that seek to reinvent financial services actually out to steal banks’ and credit unions’ lunches? Or is there more that unites these groups than divides them, creating opportunities for synergy and collaboration?

Recently, SRM identified the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a trend that would have a significant impact on the financial services industry in 2019.  Narrowly defined AI is the ability for machines to use complex algorithms to interact and learn to do tasks previously performed by humans. 

Our colleagues at SRM Europe in London recently shared with us how fewer people are using cash to pay for goods and services.  In the United Kingdom the thought of a cashless society is not necessarily a welcomed development for some. 

As noted in the previous blog, cards in the UK are continuing to be adopted by more and more consumers because they are more convenient and, in many cases, safer than carrying cash.  Due to these benefits the use of payment cards to purchase goods and services will continue to climb, However, some feel that this progression toward a cashless society is everything but harmless.  Here are their reasons why.

Most know that fewer and fewer people are using cash to pay for goods and services.  The actual rate of decline and habits around the use of cash or payment cards varies from country to country.  Our colleagues across the pond at SRM Europe in London recently shared with us how this trend is manifesting in the United Kingdom and why the thought of a cashless society is not necessarily a welcomed development for some. 

Our CEO, Brad Downs recently shared SRM’s key fintech trends for 2019, with a focus on items that banks and credit unions should factor into their near-term planning. Allow me to build upon those by looking more specifically at payments trends while also applying a broader time horizon, isolating the macro-level developments that have been underway for some time and continue to shape the industry.

It’s fascinating how quickly economic tides can turn. For the past decade, banks and credit unions have been focused on lending—first in shoring up the quality of their portfolios, then in attracting new customers to prudently expand loan activity. With rates now on the rise and net interest margins widening, however, attention has shifted to attracting and retaining deposits.

The payments world woke to a jolt last Wednesday with the news that Fiserv had announced an agreement to acquire First Data in a $22 billion stock transaction, creating a fintech mega-firm. Most of the early coverage focused on the deal’s financial aspects, and on private equity firm KKR coming closer to finally turning the page on its massive 2007 buyout of First Data. However, we’d like to focus on the implications for customers of this new entity - particularly the financial institutions that comprise the bulk of its business.