Cryptocurrency – Building a new business model based on safety rather than secrecy

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

As global financial centres such as Switzerland grapple with the need to reinvent their business model, Shift Thought recommends a way forward that will enhance rather than challenge reputational branding.

A Big Thank You from the team at Shift Thought

A big thank-you for the huge interest and support for our webinar Digital Money: a new business model for Switzerland. We also take this opportunity to thank the UK Trade & Investment for this opportunity, and in particular Anna Faber, Commercial Officer - Technology & Innovation, who was a source of inspiration and support, and without whom this would not have been possible.

The recording is now available at this link

On the webinar we reveal our thoughts on an architecture that could form the basis of a new business model to innovate in the context of cryptocurrencies. Some of the questions we addressed within this recording are:

Do we see similar challenges in implementing Bitcoin, as encountered for the Euro?
Which type of digital money has the greatest potential for the future?
Do you think digital money should be regulated? Is this possible? How?
What do you view as the biggest problems with Bitcoin: technical such as the ability to scale, regulatory such as government reactions or business model fit?
Would you agree that ultimately only one cryptocurrency will exist?
Are some banks more ahead of the game than others when it comes to digital money?
Do you see a service like PayPal as being threatened by Bitcoin or enhanced by it?
What would be the first step for a "traditional" Swiss private bank to take an interest in Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies?
Are some banks ahead of the game more than others when it comes to digital money ?

Our next blog offers further answers to some of the questions covered on the webinar. We also received a number of follow-up questions and these will be answered in depth by Dr. Neeraj Oak. We invite you to participate with us as we explore the development of this critically important topic. It would be great to make this a dialogue in which people from around the world can join.

We have therefore created the Digital Money group on LinkedIn

Please join this group today, to add your unique perspective to the body of knowledge being created. This group brings together news and views on how digital money is changing the way people pay around the world.

FaceBook, FaceTime ..next stop FacePay?

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

As fraudsters continue to challenge financial service providers around the world, biometrics is starting to offer an alternative – but when will it become truly viable, and part of mainstream payments systems? We look at some developments in biometrics, as the world’s largest biometric system Aadhaar faces its latest setback.

Last year this time Uniqul Oy from Finland claimed to become the world’s first provider of face recognition payments systems. They believed they could reduce time spent on transactions from an average from an average of around 30 seconds to less than 5 seconds: cameras monitor shoppers from the time they get into the queue, so as to easily charge their account after scanning their shopping.

Unfortunately it expects shoppers to pay. Customers wanting to use the system needed to pay a subscription depending on proximity to the store. Scandinavia has many “firsts” in payments, and I’m sure the business model will evolve over time. A big step forward in terms of technology, but I expect adoption will prove to be the next hurdle to cross.

A Deloitte survey found that 72% or respondents would welcome the use of biometric identification. Consumers are concerned about mobile device security, yet 63% of smartphone users have interacted with their bank via a mobile app.

Arguably, it is not shops in developed countries with high card usage where the new systems will first take off. As shopping malls take off in India and China, will people move from cash straight to biometrics, and skip the card payment phase?

Last month when I was in India I had the pleasure of revisiting Shoppers Stop in Andheri, Mumbai, and was witness to an interesting exchange. My friend simply gave her mobile number in order for the loyalty points to be added on – she no longer bothers about carrying her store loyalty card!

This seemed to be a straight-forward solution to the problem of managing multiple loyalty cards, but right now it may only be practical in up-market stores where they have the time to indulge an individual customer, without delaying a whole queue. The potential of delivering benefits to the whole shopping experience from face recognition seems to be something that could further drive a new “Face Pay” experience.

But as fewer people visit stores and more take to shopping online and on smartphones, payment by fingerprint has recently grabbed the headlines – first with the release of PayPal’s Samsung S5 fingerprint payment, and shortly after with news that it may already have been hacked.

From the customer perspective, it is always a quandary to allow new data points about themselves to get captured and possibly become the target for thieves. Personal data is powering a great number of new business models. We are currently investigating how regulations are likely to be built so as to be effective in protecting both our privacy and security. We’ll take a closer look at this, as well as the potential for biometrics in digital channels in subsequent blogs.

Meanwhile it seems from this report that all is not well with the world’s largest biometric project. It continues to face recognition problems, and in particular the big question of who will pay for the equipment required. Read more at RBI defers Aadhaar-based payment system?

How is biometrics changing the way people pay at a store near you?

Transforming the way people pay in Poland

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

With the sun shining over Europe, I am about to leave pretty England for Poland. In the run up to my visit I’ve had a chance to speak to some of the people of Poland to understand how they pay and how this has changed recently. As Santander became the latest to launch their mobile payment service app last month, I learn what consumers think about newly launched services.

Poland’s Central Bank Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) express their mission simply: “We protect the value of money”. Indeed as the European Union sank into recession in 2008, Poland stood out as one country that seemed to be getting it right. Since accession to the EU in 2004, Poland has made considerable progress, though important sectors still need modernisation.

With neighbour Ukraine facing a grave crisis, we recently completed our study of Payment systems in Russia, just ahead of the recent furore over card payments. We have been deeply interested in the progress made by each of the countries in Emerging Europe, and this is part of the work we undertook to understand more about how money is going digital in Poland.

In July last year six of the largest banks in Poland got together to build a mobile payment service. We knew it was important as it involved Alior Bank, Bank Millennium, Bank Zachodni WBK, BRE Bank, ING Bank and PKO Bank Polski, who together reach 70% of the banked customers. They set out to create an open, interoperable bank-based payment service that would support cash withdrawal, mobile money transfer, mobile payments and more. While elsewhere in Europe mobile operators were gearing up for a leading role in payments, Poland stood out as a bank-led market. But would things take off, or would this be just another case of business model paralysis?

Guess what, it seems big changes are indeed afoot. One of the interesting developments people spoke to us about was mobile payment at discount stores. Poland’s largest discount store Biedronka ( Polish for “Lady Bug”) has recently given their customers something pretty important – a non-cash way to pay for their goods, where normally only cash was accepted. What is interesting to me is that this development does appear to be a case in point of “protecting the value of money” as NBP wants to do. It appears that the move away from cash is because a business model has been found that allows the chain to offer an alternative without this inflating cost to the store, and ultimately to customers.

Jeronimo Martins Polska SA owns the largest retail network in Poland, Biedronka. With over 2,400 stores in 900 cities, Biedronka, The Discount Shop of Poland is the biggest, enjoying an estimated 60% of the discount market. People like to shop here in large quantities, for provisions that can last 1-2 weeks as they receive good offers that way. However until recently the store accepted only cash. People were unable to pay using their cards.

Now this is set to change. Customers can pay using their mobile phones. Recently this large retail chain has adopted PEO PAY. PeoPay supports non-cash payments in shops, as well as fast money transfers, online payment and cash withdrawal from Bank Pekao SA ATMs.

Customers of Getin Bank and Alior bank use IKAS. IKAS is a free app that works on most phones and does not just rely on smartphones. The service is available across mobile operators.

And now there is BZWBK24, the latest mobile banking app from Bank Zachodni WBK, part of the Santander group. The cryptic name does not refer to a top secret project – it is a mobile wallet given by the bank to their customers for making payments across a wide range of services.

So what do customers make of all this? It seems they do fairly large purchases at these stores, to last them a week, or even two. They trust banks as the providers for payments, and it seems these services could meet an important need, while helping the store maintain their reputation of delivering value for money – no “costly” card payments here.

Read more about these and other services in our soon to be launched “Digital Money in Poland 2014” viewport.

Charmaine Oak will be speaking on “The transformation of money – new perspectives for payment services” at the Poland Payments Summit Warsaw on the 21st of May 2014 at 11 am. If you plan to attend, we look forward to meeting you there. We’ll have highlights of our research of 2014, and you can trawl through the premium content of our portal and see latest copies of our reports.

RBS – the role for digital banking in establishing the most trusted bank in UK

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

As Ross McEwan (Chief Executive of RBS since October 2013) sets out to cut 1 billion pounds of cost this year, this post sheds light on how digital channels are likely to support this plan. The plan involves removal of duplication and complexity by rationalising functions currently duplicated across divisions.

With the backdrop of these plans, and the context of the UK launch of Paym last week, Charmaine Oak (CO) caught up with Terry Cordeiro (TC), Head of Mobile, RBS, to understand how his vision plays out in terms of mobile banking and payments. He shares with us his expert insights into the UK payments market, and how he hopes to create a seamless consumer interface that hides implementation details and simply solves the consumer needs.

But first there is the imperative to sort out the systems behind recent high-profile outages. RBS reportedly plans to reduce technology platforms by over 50%, slashing the number of core banking systems from 50 to 10 and the number of payment systems from 80 to 10.

CO: Terry, what services do RBS/NatWest customers currently enjoy with respect to mobile banking and payments services?

TC: Our mobile app supports a range of everyday banking needs including statement history for the last 90 days across all accounts, payments and transfer services. Our award-winning NatWest and RBS GetCash service has evolved from an emergency cash service to much more casual, every-day use, “money for treats without your wallet”.

SMS services have been around for a while, and can sometimes be taken for granted, yet we find increasing numbers of our customers signing up for these. From their use as alerts and notifications regarding payments, they have evolved into ways in which we can help our customers save money, by reminding them about upcoming thresholds beyond which they may incur penalty charges.

CO: How about contactless payments? Do you plan a follow-up on your TouchPay trial of 2012-2013 that allowed consumers to pay for £20 or less from their current accounts?

TC: The TouchPay trial proved to be a useful learning exercise for us. Customers told us they want more than just going from paying with plastic to paying with mobile. We’re currently in the process of designing that “something extra” experience which will incentivise customers to overcome the inertia of changing their habit of paying with a card. This could include location awareness, loyalty points and incentives that come from the new data points such services can provide.

CO: What about domestic transfers? Why is RBS not in the first tranche of banks supporting Paym?

TC: We’ve supported payment to mobile phone number for the last 12 months, via our Pay your contacts service and it has been incredibly successful. This is a P2P service that runs on our internal systems for on-us payments, and leverages Visa Europe Personal Payment services for payments to anyone holding a valid UK to Visa card and UK mobile number. We expect to first manage some of the rationalisation projects, recently announced by Ross McEwan, before we implement Paym later this year.

CO: Talking about rationalisation, it seems UK customers are now spoilt for choice with respect to mobile payment services. Your own bank services have now been joined by those from the schemes, and now interoperable services such as Paym and Zapp, not to mention operator based services from Weve and individual mobile operators. Don’t you think there is a danger of confusing the consumer into an “analysis paralysis” almost?

TC: That is exactly where we come in. Our goal is to simplify the experience for the consumer – just give them increasingly easier ways to pay. As the alternatives become available they just provide more options for the 2.5 million to 3 million UK consumers who currently use our mobile banking services. It’s great that these new services are helping to increase the awareness of new ways to pay.

CO: Terry, thanks so much for sharing your vision and these insights with us. I wish you the very best in taking your strategy forward, and hope to learn more about it as it evolves further.

Swiss Financial Services– preparing for the biggest transformation in 80 years

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

Shift Thought studies lead us to believe the Swiss Financial Services industry is on the cusp of the biggest transformation it has seen in 80 years. In this blog we share a bit about what leads us to this conclusion and our upcoming Free Webinar that we hope you will attend.

Over the years Switzerland has carved out a space for itself as a renowned country that exemplifies a unique system of Direct Democracy, precision and innovation.

A part of Europe, yet apart, it is currently seeking to define it’s relationship as a major trading partner of the EU. This is now defined through a framework that consists of over 120 agreements. However, a Swiss vote calling for curbs on immigration led to EU restrictions and questions regarding a range of agreements based on Swiss commitment to free movement of people.

Recently found to be the most expensive country in the world, the high cost of living is often associated with the large number of super-rich foreigners who have made Switzerland their home. New rules for the super-rich must walk a tight-line between attracting foreigners and satisfying growing concerns from the locals.

To add to this, in recent times there has been intense pressure on Switzerland from the USA and India, to release information on their citizens who may seek to avoid paying tax back at home, and worse still, conceal assets that represent “black money”.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram this month warned that India would take a position at the upcoming Global Forum, to call for more effective exchange of information. Earlier the US has brought action on some of the largest Swiss banks, relating to allegations regarding tax evasion activities by US citizens.

All this calls into question the well-established Swiss financial services model that has developed and evolved over the years, since the introduction of the legendary numbered bank account in 1934.

However, whilst pressure mounts on Switzerland, there is a simultaneous ground-swell of new payments products and services (NPPS) that we at Shift Thought continually study, as they evolve in each part of the world. I am just back from our market studies in India and Singapore. In the production of our reports on Singapore and Switzerland I have been continually struck by the parallels between the two countries. Emerging countries around the world present an opportunity and a threat for the Swiss Financial Services model.

And then there is Bitcoin. In thinking about Bitcoin, I am reminded of the song How do you solve a problem like Maria? from the evergreen movie The Sound of Music, where the von Trapp family hikes over the Alps into Switzerland and to freedom. Unfortunately the Bitcoin conundrum is not as easy for Switzerland to resolve.

All Digital Money is not Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is more than Digital Money

As innovative start-ups such as Monetas choose to make Switzerland their home, our upcoming Webinar touches on what the development of crypto currencies means for the country. We place this in the context of a wider set of new payments products and services and the opportunities and risks when providers create strategies around these.

I’d like to invite you to join us for a free webinar I will be conducting for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) on Tuesday the 27th of May 2014, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm BST.

Register here : Digital Money: a new business model for Switzerland

I shall share some of our findings from our recent report on “Digital Money in Switzerland 2014” and our “Guide to Bitcoin and crypto-currencies 2014” . Read more at our previous post.

Singapore, a catalyst for lower cash usage in India and Southeast Asia

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

We share highlights from our recently published reports on the Indian and Singapore markets. We have planned various events around the Terrapin conference in Singapore from 21-25 April. Join us to help make our very first Road-Show a success.

We believe some of the more interesting bits of our research on Singapore related to the role the country can play in catalysing non-cash payments in South-East Asia, and indeed, within the wider Asia Pacific region. Let me explain why.

As I write this blog, our team is currently chatting with the Aam Admi in India ( the common man, not the political party, though they too have a way of creeping into most conversations now that elections are on).

As I made my way, still wide-eyed from the experience of our wonderful new Mumbai airport, and the speed with which I was bundled out of customs, I saw a huge glass building with StarHub emblazoned on it. I fell to wondering what exactly StarHub was doing in India. As their stated aim (quoting from their website today) “will always be focused on providing every home and every business in Singapore with world-class services”, why such a big presence in India? I learnt that not only is StarHub the No. 2 mobile operator in Singapore, but it also has a variety of other interests (TV, Roaming services and more), in a number of other countries, including India. For that matter, so does the SingTel Group , that includes the No. 1 operator in Singapore, and a great many other Singaporean companies.

Understanding what Singapore based groups are currently achieving in the 4.2 billion+ Asia-Pacific market is, to my mind, even more important than what they are doing in their home market of 5 million. That is why we do touch on this, in addition to covering the Singapore payments scene. Big changes are underway, from core system changes such as FAST (immediate funds transfer platform), to the very latest interoperable mobile payment services that are trying to tempt Singaporeans to throw away their much used travel cards, and also serve the millions of tourists who annually visit the country.

We are especially eager to share our insights, as the research we carried out this year in Indonesia, India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and other countries, turned up a wide range of opportunities for providers that are based in Singapore.

From the 21st to the 25th of April (next week), our team will camp in Singapore for our very first road-show including various events at which we will share highlights of our research. The Asia Pacific (APAC) region has leap-frogged the West in terms of rate of growth of mobile-enabled services. The tech-savvy markets are ready and waiting for services that will help them to achieve their ambitious goals.

Our team in India politely inform me that some of the services I use in the UK may be slightly older versions of what they use here. Yesterday, a 78 year old Indian gentleman proved to have greater affinity and prowess regarding the latest technology for communications than many I’ve met in Europe. Housewives I chatted with categorically and in no uncertain terms, welcome the time-saving new services and I can see massive changes on the cards for India this year - And earlier this year I saw similar signs when we chatted with people in Indonesia.

My quick summary on what I see from our work this week in India, one of the fastest growing markets in the world: To get the services right, providers must understand the Indian context and tailor their service accordingly. ARPU of mobile services is very low, costs are expected to be brought down to match this. People will not pay for what they don’t want – so the package of services must be carefully planned, with easy opt-in, opt-out.

Missed call – A part of the Indian service cycle

One of our interviewees gave us a great example of a company that detected and used a market practice, to exactly appeal to the Indian user. A common practice is for cab drivers to call back to the office when they need to talk, and immediately hang up (missed call). The supervisor is the one with the unlimited talk plan and she will be alerted and call back the cabbie to issue instructions.

This has now become part of many business processes, and is widely known as a missed call. One smart Indian marketing company, Tata Sky TV actually offers their Missed Call Service (MCS) as a way to request their sales team to call back prospective customers or existing subscribers who want to add on a package.

My point is that one can’t expect to bring a service and plant it intact into these growing markets. What is the equivalent of the missed call, that can make the difference between success and failure for your new mobile payment services?

A role for Singapore?

Providers in Singapore are geographically, technologically and culturally well placed to understand and create services to cater to the trends in some of these rapidly growing markets such as India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. However choice of the market, type of service and customisation of offer for each of these markets becomes all-important. Financial and payment services are at very different maturity levels – expect some of the services you use at home to get “leap-frogged”, and get ready to observe and learn, before planning major projects.

Let’s talk!

If you are part of the great APAC mobile money revolution, come and chat with us so we can learn more about you, what you plan to do and what is holding you back.

We’ll have special promotions on, in case you like what you see and want to pick up some of our reports, subscribe to our premium portal and/or obtain targeted analysis that directly answers your questions. We are keen for you to enjoy what our customers say they liked most – Targeted answers to your most pressing questions, through our unique “Ecosystem Tour - Show and Tell” service ….

So much so that we’ll give you a FREE 15 minute slot to take your question and provide you a response from our continually updated portal that covers close to 3,500 player profiles, and 1,900 initiatives, 78 different products and services , across 283 markets world-wide. We’d also like to hear your story – what you achieved, what your ambitions are, and how we may be of help.

Just drop me a line at coak@shiftthought.com and we can discuss what event may suit you best. Please be quick though, as we have limited slots and they’re filling fast!

Highlights of Shift Thought Q1-2014 research

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

There is so much we have to share about our studies in Q1-2014 that we thought we should put it all together in an easy-to-read document available here.

Our work kicked off in Indonesia, where we undertook a market study and attended the Mobile Money & Digital Payments Asia conference in Jakarta. We were amazed at the intent with which providers are approaching the digital payments market, especially branchless banking and mobile money. Trials in these areas have recently completed, and people await new regulations. Banks, mobile operators and payment providers are engaged in defining business models in unique ways to drive mobile money to critical mass.

The types of initiatives discussed at the 13th EPCA Payment Summit 2014 in Brussels were equally fascinating, but with a different slant due to their focus on the European market. Harry Smorenberg of SCC and Douwe Lycklama from Innopay provided a great line-up of speakers to help us rethink transactions. Douwe introduced us to Nomophobia (a fear of separation from your mobile) and how it accelerates customer centricity.

Europe is readying for the PSD2 regulation and we heard from Philippe Pellé, Deputy Head of Unit DG Internet market and services. Presentations at the EPCA summit were extremely impressive, especially those from Pierre Petit (Deputy Director General, European Central Bank), Jason Lane of MasterCard and Wolfgang Maschek of Western Union, who enlightened us on regulations with suggestions on future improvement.

It was a real pleasure for me to share the podium with such illustrious speakers, as I talked about the regulatory stances that countries adopt and how they map to their approach to regulation of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. My trip to Brussels was made delightfully complete with a view of Golden Square and the Manneken Pis, a mouthful of Belgian chocolates, and most important of all, the companionship of payment experts from across Europe.

This week I head off to India. Our viewport on India has just been updated and I’m looking forward to trying out some of the mobile wallets recently launched. Next stop Singapore, where Shift Thought will take part in the Terrapin trade show. We’ll share highlights from our recently published 2014 research, including our latest update of our Singapore Viewport.

This research, and more, is available with special offers during our promotion in Singapore this month.Do you plan to attend? If so, it would be a pleasure to meet you:

At our Pop-up office at the REGUS Samsung hub, Level 8, 3 Church Street, Singapore on 21-22 April
At our stand in the UK pavilion (British Chamber of Commerce) at the Terrapin trade show
At one of the events we plan during our week in Singapore, 21-25 April; email us at contact@shiftthought.com for more details
When I share highlights of Shift Thought study findings on Day 1 of the Future Bank Asia, Terrapin.

Click here for our latest catalogue of research. Our in-depth Viewports®, now available for most key markets around the world, are supported through unique hot-links on our portal. Mind-map like presentation makes it easy to rapidly understand the market, opportunities and risks. Additionally we recently completed key research projects on Remittance Prices and on Bitcoin/ crypto-currencies.

Bill Gates sets the record straight on Digital Money

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has been active in promoting Mobile Money projects around the world, over the past 14 years. In this year’s Reddit AMA, Bill Gates shares his views from his broad-ranging work around the world in poor and emerging countries where Bill and Melinda Gates have spearheaded projects to tackle a variety of problems, not the least of which is eradication of polio worldwide: India just went 3 years with no cases.

Bill Gates’ comments come at a time when Satya Nadella has just taken over as third CEO at Microsoft, and Gates gets back into the company, helping with product decisions.

There is much to enjoy in Bill Gates’ AMA, and we at Shift Thought drew particular inspiration in his comments on balancing business and philanthropy. As a budding start-up, at the end of a hard day we sometimes wonder if what we do is still enough. So hearing Bill Gates say “Just creating an innovative company is a huge contribution to the world” did pretty much make my day.

But this blog is about all things Digital Money. Over the last few years we’ve worked towards putting the various innovations in payments and remittances into a framework, to clearly differentiate the different categories, of which crypto-currencies is just one. So it was good to hear Bill Gates thoughts on this:

“The foundation is involved in digital money but unlike Bitcoin it would not be anonymous digital money. In Kenya M-pesa is being used for almost half of all transactions. Digital money has low transaction costs which is great for the poor because they need to do financial transactions with small amounts of money. Over the next 5 years I think digital money will catch on in India and parts of Africa and help the poorest a lot.”

As increasingly polar views form around Bitcoin and the ever-increasing numbers of virtual currencies, I think it is really important that people appreciate that crypto-currencies are not the only form of Digital Money, and therefore welcomed Gate’s comments.

And here are some of the other highlights of portions of the AMA that grabbed my attention:

- On Direct Cash transfers as a means of getting funding and aid to developing countries:

“I favor improving the health of a country to enable them to be self-sufficient. I will be interested to see how cash transfer works out - in some cases like helping someone pay a school fee it could be catalytic. Our focus is health and agriculture which can transform a country. As long as kids don't have enough nutrition a country won't be able to support itself.”

- On big issues for the USA to resolve domestically

“Education would be the top issue since it is key to individual opportunity and to the country as a whole and we are not doing as well as other countries. After that I would say immigration since the injustice of the current system is incredible.”

For a bit more perspective on the work of BMGF, a worthwhile read is the 2014 Gates Annual Letter, where Bill Gates shares his thoughts on what he believes are the biggest myths:

1. Poor Countries are doomed to stay poor – By 2035 there will be almost no poor countries left, visible through shared images of before-after transformations in Mexico City, Nairobi and Shanghai.

2. Foreign aid is a big waste – in their 14 years experience, Bill and Melinda have experienced first hand the real impact aid has. With Norway, the most generous nation in the world, development aid is still less than 3%, and for USA it is less than 1%.

3. Saving lives lead to overpopulation – Ever since Malthus expounded his theory in 1798, various scarcity based views abound, but “letting children die now so they don’t starve later” does not work.

Digital Money: A new business model for Switzerland

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Charmaine Oak

Mon, Mar 24, 2014 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM GMT

Shift Thought is working with the UKTI (United Kingdom Trade & Investment) to present some country-level options for balancing risk and innovation, while creating sustainable consumer services for the future.

In this webinar, Charmaine Oak, the Digital Money Practice Lead at the UK-based management consultancy, Shift Thought, will discuss some of the recent innovations in payments and remittances services. She will provide insights from recent Shift Thought research on Switzerland, UK, Singapore and other markets around the world.

This will focus on opportunities for UK-based companies to prepare for requirements common to countries such as UK and Switzerland that are seeking to innovate for the future.

Shift Thought tracks innovations across a wide range of services they term as Digital Money. Shift Thought believes that balancing innovation within an overall framework of regulation is of paramount importance. This helps to create sustainable long term growth, both of individual organisations as well as for a country as a whole.

Mistakenly some people tend to confuse this with Bitcoin, which is only one form, of one of the many dimensions across which innovation is possible. Bitcoin is a decentralised crypto-currency that represents one kind of disruption. It is positioned as a potential way to do low cost transfers, but governments and central banks have expressed concerns regarding potential risks to consumers, as well as on fundamentals surrounding the operations.

This webinar touches on the much broader possibilities for innovation in payments and remittances. It aims to enhance the level of co-operation between UK Financial Service and Payments providers and the Swiss ecosystem.

It will do this by offering insights into the changes affecting the Swiss market and the ways in which countries such as Switzerland are approaching a range of innovative financial services.

The presenter will cover areas such as:

Creating a sustainable context that balances innovation and risk, to create services that build reputation
How could Switzerland use its unquestionable strengths to create such innovations that consumers really want?
What opportunities might British businesses draw from the transformation in the financial services approach in Switzerland?

This webinar will be of interest to audience in the Swiss financial services sector as well as to UK businesses who wish to cater to the needs of the Swiss financial sector.

However, the innovation and risk balancing theme addressed is likely to be of broader interest to regulators and payment professionals across the world, and in particular in countries such as Switzerland that are also in the process of creating enabling environments for financial services of the future.

Further details and registration is available at Digital Money: a new business model for Switzerland.

Background reading: See our previous blogs, What is digital money? and Bitcoin - Fan it or Ban it? , and also browse for more about the different virtual currencies and get an understanding of other such initiatives at Bicoin Search Results.

Financial Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid–Add your voice

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Charmaine Oak

In this interview Carol Realini, co-author of 'Financial Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ tells how they use an innovative crowd-sourced solution to provide a deeper understanding of innovative financial services that are emerging to address the needs of unbanked and under-banked people around the world.

Q: Carol, could you let us know a bit about your new book – what’s it about?

Karl and I are fortunate to have been involved in financial inclusion projects around the world. We wanted to share how we see things changing, new models emerging and most importantly how this is happening differently in different places.

We thought it important that we provide a global view rather than focusing one market or one aspect – such as just Square or just Mobile POS, or just the USA.

We’re show-casing the best examples of tech-enabled financial inclusion from around the world.

Q: I’m interested in the way you are sourcing material – in a manner that is still pretty unique

Yes, although we have ourselves been in many of the countries where the new services are rapidly growing, we did not want to be limited in our thinking. By throwing the book open to contributions from around the world we expect to cover more ground and discover some of the breaking stories that will help create a good understanding of the state of play.

Q: Carol, how do you and Karl expect to make a difference with this book?

We believe the next 5 years will be a period of unprecedented change. Another 3 billion or more people will have access to the internet via mobile. Financial services will reach 1-2 billion more people in a similar timeframe. We want this book to help inspire people to understand more. We want the book to help people share about what they’ve achieved so we jointly celebrate their success and contemplate potential pitfalls together.

Q: How do people contribute to this initiative?

We have a campaign on for nominations for Global Financial Inclusion Pioneers. We would love to have more Europe and Africa nominations – we have extended the deadline to Dec 31, 2013. Full details are available at the Financial Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid website. We’d like people to visit and nominate as well as submit their stories. This will help us showcase the best examples from across the world.

Carol Realini is a successful serial entrepreneur who dedicates her time to working with global pioneers in mobile banking & payments. Carol was a World Economic Forum 2010 Technology Pioneer. Carol passionately supports entrepreneurship, banking for all, and women in technology. She is the author of the 5-Star-on-Amazon BankRUPT, a book about banking innovation in the US, and co-author of Financial Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

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