Leaders In Payments and FinTech - The EDC Podcast

Ep23: Scott McInnes, Partner At Law Firm Bird & Bird, Review Of EU Proposals For PSD3, PSR, FIDA and Digital Euro

Today’s episode is timely one. We meet up with Scott McInnes, partner in the Brussels office of international law firm Bird & Bird, to deep dive the recently published package of new payments legislation proposed by the European Commission. Scott has more than 15 years' experience of competition law and regulation, with considerable expertise in payments regulation and competition law across Europe. First off we review the much anticipated 3rd Payment Services Directive - PSD3  -  which consists of 2 proposals, the Directive plus the Payment Services Regulation or PSR. Secondly, we take a look at a proposal for a framework for financial data access or FIDA which seeks to extend Open Banking to establish rights and obligations to manage customer data sharing in the broader financial sector beyond payment accounts. And then Thirdly, we discuss the proposed framework to facilitate the possible introduction of a digital euro which is perhaps the most radical and transformative idea on the table. With the EU payments legislation pipeline now chocker block, we also consider the UK’s post Brexit position and the fact that the UK has for the first time in the 20 + years of EU payments regulation, not had any input or say in the drafting of the proposed legislation.

Below are Bird & Bird's client alerts on PSD3 and PSR:

‍https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2023/global/proposed-psd3-and-payment-services-regulation-psr-bird-and-birds-initial-thoughts

And, on FIDA:

https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2023/global/proposed-open-finance-framework-fida-bird-and-birds-initial-thoughts

 

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

 

Ep22: Tom Voaden, Head of Partnerships at BR-DGE, How Payment Orchestration Can Deliver Value For Merchants

This week, we meet up with Tom Voaden, Head of Partnerships BR-DGE - a leading independent payment orchestration platform. The Edinburgh Scotland based firm has partnered with over 300 payment providers and technology solutions to build a platform that gives merchants fast access to the latest innovations in the payment sector. We discuss the state of the increasingly busy payment orchestration landscape, and Tom shares his perspective on how orchestration can deliver value to merchants.

 

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

 

Ep21:Ohad Maimon, CEO and Founder of Hyp, Building A Payments Leader In The Israeli Market And Insights Into Payments Innovation Management

This week, we meet up with Ohad Maimon, CEO and founder of Hyp - a leading payment company in Israel, processing around 1 in 3 of all merchant transactions in the country.

We discuss the Israeli market, how Hyp was born out of the merger of 4 leading payment companies and spun off from its parent company Max which itself is a spin off from Bank Leumi one of Israeli’s largest banks.

Ohad also shares his perspective and approach to managing innovation from proactively partnering with start-ups, conducting rapid market experiments, and scaling up the most promising ideas and how to then successfully absorbing them into the core business.

A great insight into payment innovation management in market that is synonymous with tech led innovation.

 

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

 

Ep20: Ed Harries, VP Strategic Partners and Payments, Visualsoft, Launching VS Pay An End-to-End Payment Solution Powered By Stripe

This week we meet up with Ed Harries, VP Strategic Partners and Payments at Visual Soft, a leading e-commerce platform in the UK. I think in this episode we get to the very core of what is already and will continue to drive the next wave of innovation and value in payments and FinTech.

We discuss how Visual Soft created their own payment solution in partnership with Stripe. And combining issuing and acceptance solutions, traditionally very separate worlds to create fundamentally new value creating opportunities. And when we say value, yes, we are referring to monetisation, but it's more than that.

These innovations are transforming the customer experience on the pay inside which translates into happier, more loyal and returning customers, and in turn is triggering a step change in uplift in customer lifetime value, which of course is huge. And then transforming finance operations on the pay-out side through faster and more flexible access to funds. That's why there continues to be so much excitement around this space, more frequently referred to as embedded finance, but I think it's helpful to avoid some of the jargon and explain it as it is.

 

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

Ep19: Olu Akanmu, President and CEO of Nigeria’s OPay, How Modern Digital Payments Infrastructure Is Underpinning, Enabling and Catalysing Economic Growth and Transforming Lives

In todays episode, we meet up with Olu Akanmu, President and CEO of Nigeria’s OPay whiich is one of Nigeria’s leading fintech companies. With a growing population of more than 200 million, almost twice as large as Ethiopia and Egypt the next 2 largest African countries by population size, not only is Nigeria Africa’s largest economy, but it is also the most important Fintech centre on the continent. It is estimated that there are at least 250 fintech companies in Nigeria, and Opay sits right at the top of this list alongside other well-known Nigerian fintech’s such as Flutterwave and Chippercash. In our conversation, Olu provides his perspective on how technology driven financial services are driving financial inclusion and spreading prosperity across Nigeria’s urban and rural communities. This is a fascinating insight into the power of fintech and how modern digital payments  infrastructure can underpin, enable and catalyse economic growth and transform lives.

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

Ep18: Oliver Rajic - Chief Growth Officer & GM, APAC, PPRO, Platform Players, Product Providers and Orchestration

This week we are discussing orchestration with Oliver Rajic - Chief Growth Officer at PPRO. PPRO is a leading fintech most well-known for enabling businesses to easily accept alternative payments methods across the globe. The acquisition of Alpha Fintech in 2022 where Oliver was CEO, strengthens PPRO’s position as both a global payments technology leader and trusted infrastructure partner to PSPs, banks and corporates. In our conversation we deep dive into the various orchestration concepts and start off with a helpful definition of the difference between payment, service and product orchestration.

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

Ep17: Meabh Maguire, Global Head of Commercial, CR2, How Growth In Digital Payments And Fintech Is Driving Financial Inclusion And Economic Impact Across Africa

This week, we are continuing with the theme of financial inclusion. This time in Africa, I'm speaking with Meabh Maguire, who is the Global Head of Commercial at CR2 which is a world-leading vendor within the digital banking platform market. Headquartered in Ireland, CR2 has established a market leadership position in Africa, and enable over a hundred banks in 60 countries. Having spent more than a decade in the African region in our conversation, Meabh shares her perspective on the huge social and economic impact that the growth in digital payments and more broadly technology enabled financial services have had on the region.

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch

Ep16: Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments, Building One of India’s Most Successful Fintech

In today’s episode,  I have the privilege to speak with Akash Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Cashfree - a leading payments platform in India. Founded in 2015, Cashfree has rapidly ascended from start up to become one of India’s most successful fintechs. Akash explains how he and co-founder Reeju Datta built Cashfree to provide a full stack payments solution enabling businesses in India to collect payments and make payouts via all available methods with a single integration. The company now has more than 50% market share of payment disbursals in India. We discuss how huge the Indian market has become. The volumes involved are quite staggering, and even more so when you consider that online payment volumes are set to grow by a further 3x over the next 5 years. This is an incredible story of growth in a super-sized market. We cover a lot of ground in this in depth and frank discussion, so I do hope you enjoy this conversation with Akash Sinha from Cashfree.

Episode links: https://www.edgardunn.com/theedcpodcast

Martin's contacts: https://linktr.ee/martinkoderisch