Long before there were cities, states or currencies, people exchanged goods, ideas and values. From the very beginning, payment was more than just a technical process – it was about trust, relationships and an expression of progress.
Today, we are once again at a turning point: commerce and payment are digital, global and in constant flux. Technologies are changing not only how we pay, but also how we do business with each other. At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) in Berlin, we will discuss how modern payment solutions are driving commerce forward – today and tomorrow.
Qwist at this year’s Merchants Payment Ecosystem in Berlin
It all kicks off on 17 March: at MPE, Europe’s leading merchant payment conference, the focus will be on how payment methods are changing and how the industry can best meet the needs of all stakeholders. Of course, we at Qwist won’t want to miss out! Our CEO Glenn Mac Donald will be sharing our expertise on 17 March at 1:15 p.m. during the panel discussion ‘Fraud prevention & cyber resilience’. Too many PSPs and banks rely on complicated systems that work normally – but fail in exceptional cases. False positives, rigid rules, unclear data structures: these are the real risks.
Our approach at Qwist: risk management and fraud prevention must be explainable, robust and data-driven – then you not only protect yourself against fraud, but also create true cyber resilience. That’s exactly what we want to discuss!
Things will also get exciting at our roundtable entitled ‘Onboarding is the new Revenue Engine – Why PSPs Need to Rethink Data & Risk’.
Our thesis: most PSPs today lose more money through their own onboarding than through actual risks. Too slow, too rigid, not data-driven enough. Good merchants are rejected or frustrated before they even generate transactions. Onboarding is therefore no longer a compliance issue, but a tough business decision – perhaps the most important one in the entire customer lifecycle.
Sounds interesting and revenue-boosting? Our roundtable will take place on 18 March from 11:25 a.m. to 12:25 p.m.!
We look forward to lively participation, good discussions and a great three-day event in Berlin!
The jack-of-all-trades in payment: embedded payments
The customer is king – consumers have high expectations of the shopping experience, even when shopping online. In particular, the payment process should be fast, secure and uncomplicated. Above all, it should take place without media breaks. Redirects to external payment pages, slow processes involving manual entry of credit card details, advance payments or direct debits are real deal breakers today and often lead to abandoned purchases at checkout. Companies are responding to this by no longer outsourcing the payment process, but integrating it directly into their platforms, apps or devices. This principle, known as embedded payments, opens up new opportunities to optimise the customer experience, tap into additional sources of revenue and make payment processes more efficient.
Further information is available here.
Credit risk management: the basis for secure credit decisions
Bad decisions in the credit business are rarely coincidental – they are usually the result of poor risk assessment. In fact, credit risks are among the biggest levers for profitability and stability in the financial business. Nevertheless, decisions are still far too often based on incomplete data, outdated models or processes that are difficult to understand. In an increasingly digital and automated world, this can quickly become expensive.
Our wiki article on credit risk management shows which types of risk banks and insurance companies need to keep an eye on, how these can be systematically assessed and which methods make a difference today.
And finally: Everything you always wanted to know about commerce and payments but were afraid to ask!
- Paying with shells: completely normal a few thousand years ago – but not so good if you didn’t have a bag. And: back then, money wasn’t lying on the street, but on the beach!
- The first coins appeared around 700 BC in Asia Minor in the ancient kingdom of Lydia (in present-day Turkey). These were misshapen lumps of electrum (a natural gold-silver alloy) stamped on one side with an image – often a lion’s head – to guarantee their weight and fineness.
- Bartering was complicated: you have grain, you need shoes – but the cobbler wants fish. Welcome to the earliest payment problems.
- The first real, universally usable credit card was created in 1950 out of forgetfulness: Frank McNamara forgot his cash at a business dinner in New York. Together with Ralph Schneider, he founded the Diners Club and issued a cardboard card that allowed cashless payments in 27 restaurants.
- Today, we pay with our smartphones – a device that was actually intended for making phone calls. (Hardly anyone does that anymore.)
- Checkout patience: If the payment process takes too long, the customer is gone faster than a Wi-Fi signal in an elevator.
- Global trade, local preferences: Credit card in country A, wallet in country B – ‘one size fits all’ rarely applies to payments.
