Money2020 bringing together technology and payment leaders for the future

Last updated: 19 March 2014

Money2020 has been full of interesting insights on new and developing payment technologies. Payment players from across the spectrum have gathered for Money2020 this week in Las Vegas, from start-ups to those who have been in the industry for decades. With so many payment power players under one roof, I wonder how many years of combined expertise is represented by the 4,200 attendees ?

Our own Jack Jania discussed EMV points on the US EMV Migration panel, along with SunTrust, MasterCard, and TSYS. The big take away point from their talk was that EMV is well underway for all of the large card issuers in the U.S and the time is now. It’s important for issuers to consider the technology choices within the chip and security, as well as how to address the business and deployment needs. Not forgetting to take into account the changing real-estate on the card.161855461

On nearly every EMV panel that we attended, speakers echoed the advantages of the U.S. being last to market in implementing EMV standards and the increased security benefits it brings. Learning from the countries that have already deployed EMV over the past two decades means that suppliers, issuers, payment professionals and technology providers have climbed the learning curve and are providing seasoned EMV support that wasn’t available to the countries that pioneered EMV. Not to mention the exponential benefits of rolling out EMV at a time when mobile payments and NFC are also taking off. The payment industry is in the midst of a technology revolution, creating opportunities for EMV, NFC, and mobile payments to come together in a sort of “payment synergy”.

Expert panelists all over Money2020 stressed the importance of payment security and standards. It’s clear that consumer adoption of any new payment system depends on a superior and reliable security. Equally as important is seamless integration of the security layers into the user experience for user consistency over all innovations. A simple and secure user experience is critical to the success of any new payment form, especially mobile payments.

Loyalty programs were another hot topic this year. In the eyes of a consumer, loyalty incentives may provide a boost in motivation to move a card to top-of-wallet or to entice a consumer into using a new payment app.

Perhaps the most inspiring take away from Money2020 was this: when we think about the payment industry integrating EMV, NFC, and mobile payments, we are only beginning to see the possibilities. Just as the internet was once a new technology, and we could only imagine the scope of business opportunities it would provide, EMV and mobile payments are at a pivotal point of adoption. A tsunami of change is underway, paving the road for savvy innovators to carve out new business opportunities and changing the way consumers relate to merchants and payment providers.

For more information on EMV, have a look at our That’s EMV website for all the exciting updates.

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