PIMFA - Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association’s Post

Are Current Regulations Helping or Hurting the Growth of Digital Wallets? As the popularity of digital wallets continues to rise, a critical question arises: Are the current regulations encouraging growth? 🔎 We are looking forward to exploring this topic further in our upcoming webinar, The Evolving World of Wallets. On one hand, regulations can provide essential consumer protections and create a safer payment environment, instilling trust among users. On the other hand, overly stringent rules may create barriers for new entrants and slow down the adoption of digital wallets. Join us on Thursday 31st October at 14:00 as we explore how regulations impact the digital wallet landscape. Are they paving the way for growth and innovation, or do they pose challenges that need addressing? You won’t want to miss this, book your ticket today! https://lnkd.in/emnYw7fx #DigitalWallets #Fintech #Regulations #TPA #Insights

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are calling for information on the benefits and risks of digital wallets for people and businesses. To ensure that this investigation promotes innovation and supports competition, industry and regulators must collaborate. According to a survey conducted across the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, France, and Germany, 41% of consumers expect to use digital wallets for transactions in the coming year. As digital wallets grow in popularity and are increasingly used as everyday apps instead of solely for transactions, the right regulations are needed to protect and maximise the benefits to consumers and businesses. Read more in PYMNTS: https://bit.ly/3A29she #digitalwallets #paymentsregulation

Q: What is a Fintech patent? A: Fintech patents provide legal protection for innovative financial technologies, including mobile payment systems and digital wallets. To qualify for a patent, the technology must enhance transactions or address a technical problem. Digital wallet patents have become essential in 2023 due to the increasing adoption of cashless payments. Secure payment system patents help companies like MasterCard stay competitive in the market. https://lnkd.in/gZv8Giku

Q: How are patents used to protect financial technology innovations? A: Patents safeguard inventive fintech solutions such as digital wallets and mobile payment platforms. Eligibility requires the technology to improve financial transactions or solve a technical issue. In 2023, digital wallet patents are crucial as cashless payments gain popularity. Patents on secure payment systems enable firms like MasterCard to maintain a competitive edge. https://lnkd.in/gZv8Giku

💷 📲 Did you know more than half of UK adults use a digital wallet? The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) have issued a joint call for information on digital wallets. ⚖ These regulators are looking to understand the benefits and risks associated with digital wallets, what the impact is on consumers and businesses, market integrity issues and possible competition. This initiative seeks input from various stakeholders to support innovation while ensuring consumer protection and competition. Feedback is open until September 13, 2024, with updates expected by Q1 2025. For more details, visit FCA's press release: https://lnkd.in/eq8ceZ6h #digitalwallets #payments

New on the not-a-newsletter: Digital Wallets Are A Big Deal https://buff.ly/3OnFmZm What is particularly exciting about a very smart wallet view of the future is that the users of wallets will, in the general case, be bots. This is something that strategists need to take on board, a point I made earlier this year at the excellent “Banking Scene” conference in Brussels when I spoke about the shift from smart wallets (wallets controlled by people) to smarter wallets (wallets controlled by bots) and what this might mean in the world of payments and the strategic need to make wallets attractive to machines. My conclusion was, I think, uncontroversial: not only are the wallet wars hotting up, they are going to force us on to some pretty interesting new battlegrounds!

There appear to be some interesting developments on the horizon for the #paymentservices industry, following the publication this week (link below) of a joint 'call for information' document by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator regarding the use of digital wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay and PayPal (and similar). The publication is inviting comments and feedback about the use of these types of digital facilities, including firms' views on the benefits of these services for consumers, any anticipated changes and developments expected over the next 5 years, details of any perceived consumer harm, and views on how these services can be used to promote competitiveness between payment systems. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the FCA is also requesting feedback about the potential need for increased regulation in this area, given concerns that the expansion in this technology may result in new types of unregulated payment services being developed which could increase the risk of consumer harm. The publication seems to have come about without much prior warning, but appears to be in response to the general increased use in #digitalwallets over recent years, with the report saying it is estimated that around 50% of adults in the UK use these services. It is also possible that the #FCA will seek to use the data it receives from this report to inform its work in other areas, such as its plans to increasingly regulate #cryptocurrencies, which are heavily reliant on digital wallets and similar technologies. At this stage, the FCA and PSA seem to be mainly focused on data gathering, so it is likely to be some months before we have any more indication on what changes may be introduced. For now though, the payment services industry, as well as retailers and suppliers who make use of these types of services, will likely want to provide a response to the FCA's call for information, in order to help shape the direction of any future regulatory changes. #financialservices #regulation https://lnkd.in/ePTGqqwb

Dive headfirst into the complex world of interchange fees and understand how a mammoth $30 billion antitrust settlement is poised to reshape the financial tech landscape. Your pockets and the broader US market are on the cusp of experiencing the rippling effects of this legal juggernaut. We're peeling back the layers of this financial onion, examining the pivotal roles of banks, the enigmatic interchange fees, and the resilience of Visa and MasterCard's business models amidst industry upheaval. We're also discussing how risk and fraud prevention play into fee determination and why, despite the settlement, your favorite plastic providers might emerge relatively unscathed. Ever wonder how Visa and MasterCard's ironclad rules impact the retail battleground? Our latest conversation illuminates the 'honor all cards' rule that's been ruffling feathers among retailers, and we dissect the chess game that major merchants play to avoid hefty fees. As we navigate the potential consequences of landmark lawsuits and legislative changes, we're contemplating the future of digital wallets and the payment ecosystem. Smaller retailers might find themselves in choppy waters, but for the behemoth merchants, it's an opportunity to sail smoothly through the tempestuous seas of financial change. We wrap up with a keen analysis of how businesses like Starbucks and ride-sharing giants are innovating to sidestep interchange fees with their own ingenious payment systems. Celebrating the strategic prowess of companies that sidestep these costs, we reflect on the broader implications for the fintech and payment industries. Join us as we forecast the ethical and financial waves that may arise from the evolving credit card reward structures and the innovative responses from banks and issuers to market dynamics. This isn't just a financial deep-dive — it's a mirror to the future of how we'll all spend and save.

The traditional view of payments is outdated. They no longer function as a centralised #banking service. Instead, firms today are shifting to decentralised, #blockchain-based models and recognising #payments as a digital and biometric function. Read #NTTDATA's Venugopal A. and Viswa Ambalavanan’s latest blog to see the future of payments and discover how your firm can prepare: https://bit.ly/4e4TLoe