Will Graylin, a serial entrepreneur in the payments industry, is revising his latest project to better integrate digital ID with bank systems and third-party wallets.
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Graylin is CEO of Boston-based OV Loop, which just acquired Push Pay Inc. d/b/a PayFi, a firm that uses artificial intelligence to digitize ACH, supporting risk mitigation, fee revenue and cash management for banks and businesses. The goal is to grow OV Loop as a platform for real-time payments to serve a network of banks, billers and consumers.
PayFi will join OV's credential manager and messenger system, which allows consumers to store cards, bank accounts and passwords and use those credentials in person, online, in-app and in-message.
"This is the next step beyond mobile wallets, and that's in-message commerce," Graylin said. "The tools to make this happen are very fragmented right now and that hurts the experience for the user and creates risk."
Will Graylin, CEO of OV Loop
He later founded Roam Data, which built card readers for mobile phones. Graylin also founded Loop Pay in 2012, which Samsung bought to create Samsung Pay. Graylin became global co-GM of Samsung Pay and launched the app in the U.S.
Graylin, who is also on the board of directors at Synchrony and a connection science fellow at MIT, left Samsung to create OV Loop in 2018. OV Loop's products include Bluetooth cards, contactless payment technology and transaction buttons that reside in messaging programs and other apps.
OV Loop is trying to build connective tissue for existing initiatives around Digital ID, in-message payments and real-time payments.
Government agencies and the private sector are leading
At the same time, firms such as
"The Federal Reserve has made technology decisions and pilot participants have been identified for [FedNow]," said Krista Tedder, head of payments for Javelin Strategy & Research. "The pace of the initiative is moving faster than expected ... and internationally payments continue to expand."
There is a missing link in real-time payments, because not everything is happening in real time. Email, text, outbound calls and interactive voice response, PCI data and the support structure for payment and collection do not operate in real time, Graylin said, giving personal examples of how he's received well-out-of-date transaction alerts for payment accounts.
There are ways to combat this for both consumers and businesses, Graylin said, adding OV Loop's project is attempting to connect messaging and payment portals by using its internal payment technology, yet not tying itself to a specific device or channel.
"We are looking to be the ID manager to facilitate faster payments," Graylin said.
The challenge for OV Loop is building the network.
OV Loop is approaching communications companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, as well as banks and other financial institutions like PNC, TD, Bank of America, American Express, Progressive and dozens of others. It's also looking to gain support from channel partners like NetSuite, Oracle and Cisco. OV Loop reports has general agreements with some firms and others are on a target list.
"If you look at payments today, a lot of billers are still using pretty antique ways to collect," said Graylin. "They are still using email and text messaging to communicate information about billing, and directing people back to a website for the transaction."
