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Payments monetization for software companies means embedding payments functionality (including payment acceptance, card payments, account-to-account payments, and alternative payment methods) into other business management functions like accounting, working capital, and supplier management. We observe AP automation and spend management SaaS companies like Avidxchange and Bill.com effectively monetizing payments, with 67% and 37% of 2022 YTD revenue coming from payments, respectively (Figure 2).

From Thoma Bravo’s Acquisition of Coupa Highlights the Value of B2B SaaS and Embedded Payments.

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There are many European alternative payment methods (APMs) that are built on A2A rails. Most of these schemes are owned by bank coalitions, but not all (Trustly and Sofort/Klarna being notable private examples). Some of these schemes date back to the relatively early days of e-commerce (c. 2005) and were founded to displace offline bank transfers (e.g., paper Giro payments). Other similar schemes were founded more recently (c. 2015), spurred by the development of mobile apps and mobile commerce. Many of these schemes are thriving, but not all. Some have failed, notably PayM in the UK and Paylib in France. Other schemes such as GiroPay/PayDirekt in Germany and Bancomat Pay in Italy, struggle to find traction and scale. Each of these schemes had the backing of major banks (a catalyst for success) but failed to achieve uptake by consumers who are otherwise well-served by cards, PayPal, or invoicing/BNPL within those respective markets.

Tink, the WealthTech company has urged lenders to prioritise upgrading creditworthiness assessment models to ensure more accurate lending decisions. In a survey of financial executives, it found that 68% of UK lenders have tightened affordability criteria since the pandemic. However, there are still blind spots in credit assessments: 41% of people have been denied credit due to the inability to verify identity or legal status, and 35% have been denied due to the inability to access payment history.

From Traditional lending models not ‘fit for purpose’ – Tink claims.

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The video was produced in 2002 and it can be easy to forget that a world existed before the introduction of smartphones.

“At Accenture, our researchers developed a prototype called Real World Showroom. Using a wireless PDA equipped with an RFID reader, I can query everyday objects around me, such as a tie my friend is wearing,” Accenture’s Joe Tobolski says in the video.

From Video From 2002: RFID Chips Were Supposed to Turn Everyone Into a Salesperson — Paleofuture.

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The Bank of England (BoE) and Britain’s finance ministry think the UK is likely to need to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) later this decade, the Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday, citing an unreleased government report.

“On the basis of our work to date, the Bank of England and HM Treasury judge that it is likely a digital pound will be needed in the future,” the Telegraph quoted BoE Governor Andrew Bailey and finance minister Jeremy Hunt as saying in the joint report.

From Bank of England and Treasury think UK is ‘likely’ to need digital currency, the Telegraph reports | Reuters.

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Former T-Mobile store owner netted $25 million from 5-year scheme which included tricking employees into resetting passwords. He used phishing emails and social engineering, and tricked those working at the T-Mobile IT Help Desk into resetting employee passwords, allowing him access to the internal system.

From Former T-Mobile store owner netted $25 million from 5-year scheme which included tricking employees into resetting passwords.

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The question isn’t whether AI will be good enough to take on more cognitive tasks but rather how we’ll adapt. Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman is the world’s leading expert in human judgment and spent a lifetime documenting its shortcomings. Yes, AI may have flaws, but human reasoning is deeply flawed, too. Therefore, “Clearly AI is going to win,” Kahneman remarked in 2021. “How people adjust is a fascinating problem.”

From ChatGPT and How AI Disrupts Industries.

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We demonstrate how the combination of rule-based semantic engines and large language models can be used to significantly improve developer productivity with better code completion.

From ML-Enhanced Code Completion Improves Developer Productivity – Google AI Blog.

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FICO recently commissioned a survey of U.S. consumers, in which it asked:

What is crucial to the future of your financial success?

Only 1% of respondents mentioned a bank.

1%.

From Underbankers – by Alex Johnson – Fintech Takes.

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ChatGPT, now open to everyone, has made an important transition. Until now, AI has primarily been aimed at problems where failure is expensive, not at tasks where occasional failure is cheap and acceptable — or even ones in which experts can easily separate failed cases from successful ones. A car that occasionally gets into accidents is intolerable. But an AI artist that draws some great pictures, but also some bad ones, is perfectly acceptable. Applying AI to the creative and expressive tasks (writing marketing copy) rather than dangerous and repetitive ones (driving a forklift) opens a new world of applications.

From ChatGPT Is a Tipping Point for AI.

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