Opinions

Today’s global citizens face risks that extend far beyond crumbling highways. Although reliable physical infrastructure is necessary for economic growth, immature and anemic payment infrastructures may present another serious threat to the global economy, writes Tomas Likar, head of business development and strategy at Hyperwallet.

With many consumers now using online and mobile banking, there is a huge opportunity to incorporate blockchain solutions into the everyday payments experience, writes Andre Stoorvogel, director of product marketing for Rambus Payments.

The FIS-Worldpay and Fiserv-First Data combos do provide notable scale, but the even-larger companies still won't produce the same pace of growth that younger nimble fintechs enjoy, says Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Community and regional banks may not be able to outspend their larger rivals, but they can be more nimble in implementing the necessary culture change.

Once Apple looked at the state of its existing ecosystem, it identified a space it could uniquely deliver on, and activated the partners needed to make it come to fruition — a perfect example of the concept of ecosystem enablement, argues Frank Kenney, director of market strategy for Cleo.

The internet giant's planned gaming service may create an omnichannel model for banks to emulate.

As more national banks leave smaller communities and focus on large customers, fintechs are creating an "Uber effect" with an easier experience. Small businesses are increasingly looking to borrow money and fund their growth initiatives, and need a partner who can deliver, argues William Phelan, president of PayNet.

With its expanded capacity and reliability, 5G will drive innovation in mobile, online and branch services for credit unions.

Users don’t have all the tools they need to ensure the security of their mobile devices, so it’s all the more important for providers of mobile financial services to help users by hardening mobile apps with technology, writes Samuel Bakken, senior product manager at OneSpan.

The scope of customer experience spans multiple products and services that comprise the merchant technology and payment service ecosystems, according to Paul Perry, a contributor for the technology company Relay.