PCM vol. 3 issue 7

Vol 3. Issue 7 | July 2017
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Contents
STORIES
Amir Abdin
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
amir@teampcn.com
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/amir-abdin-21365683
4
8
11
15
The rise of a new FinTech hub & talent magnet in the
South of the U.S.
To go big in Latin America, you better understand
local payment methods
Omni-channel or Multi-channel Payments in a
Cross-Border POS Environment?
Repainting the payments landscape with Don
Ginsel
18
Start-up Spotlight: Countr
21
Unlocking potential in high-growth markets
Duc Dang
Production Editor & Head of Creative
duc@teampcn.com
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/ducdanghh
24
25
Hot Jobs
Industry Events Calendar
THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS
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ADVERTISING INFORMATION
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3

Thought Leaders Corner
The rise of a new FinTech hub & talent
magnet in the South of the U.S.
by Grant Wainscott & Barry McCarthy
Atlanta has historically been recognized for its
transportation systems. Centuries ago, the city was
known for its railroads, and that legacy continues
today with the city serving as home to the busiest
airport in the world.
However, what people do not always immediately realize about
Atlanta is that it has quietly become a global FinTech capital.
There are more FinTech companies in Atlanta than anywhere
else around the globe. Collectively, these organizations power
70% of all U.S. credit, debit, and gift card transactions, securely
handling tens of trillions of dollars each year on behalf of
consumers and global businesses.
In addition to First Data, Equifax, NCR, Global Payments, and
others, there are more than 100 FinTech companies with major
presence in the state, and companies in the state earn the third
most annual revenue only behind New York and California.
The presence of FinTech companies has been a point of
emphasis for both the public and private sectors in the metro
area. In collaboration with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of
Commerce, the American Transaction Processors Coalition,
and the Technology Association of Georgia, FinTech Atlanta
was created to recruit, retain, and promote jobs and businesses
across the FinTech industry.
Four Georgia schools were ranked top universities by U.S. News
& World Reports in 2016: Emory, Georgia Tech, Mercer, and
University of Georgia. Additionally, five Georgia schools ranked
among the best Historically Black Colleges and Universities
with Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, Fort Valley
State, and Savannah State University all making the list.
Terrific talent is being developed in the state, and FinTech
companies provide incredible opportunities to graduates.
This also means that companies with presence in the area can
foster relationships with top institutions to provide training
curriculums and work alongside universities to prepare
students with educational resources and skills relevant to the
working world.
As payments and financial technology are embedded into
every company, the reach of the group extends beyond core
payments providers. Exchanging funds for goods and services,
commerce, is the foundation of the global economy. Every
single business must accept and make payments, which is why
FinTech Atlanta extends to also include Coca-Cola, Delta, The
Home Depot, Bain & Co., among others.
There is an abundance of opportunity for companies based in
Georgia. Employees living here benefit from a moderate cost of
living, access to good public schools, good year-round weather,
more trees than any other U.S. city, close proximity to a global
airport, renowned museums, and great sports teams.
Additionally, in 2016, Georgia was ranked as the number one
state to do business in for the fourth consecutive year by Site
Selection magazine.
4

Thought Leaders Corner
Barry McCarthy
EVP, Head of Network and Security Solutions at
First Data
Barry McCarthy serves as EVP, Head of Network and Security Solutions
(NSS) at First Data. The $1.6 billion NSS segment includes all of the
firm’s network, debit, prepaid, ACH/check, fraud, security, secure digital
distribution, online and mobile banking, and government solutions.
Barry is also the Chairman of FinTech Atlanta.
Metro Atlanta is a world-class hub for technology design,
implementation, and innovation.
Powered by the strength of more than 13,000 technology
companies, the region is lauded for its strengths in Smart
Cities/IoT, cybersecurity, FinTech, digital media, and a
thriving mobility ecosystem. Metro Atlanta has created a
robust talent pipeline unmatched in the region, leading
to a dramatic increase in university and privately-funded
accelerators and corporate innovation centers as companies
seek to leverage top-notch students and faculty talent. As one
of the fastest-growing, high-tech urban centers in the nation,
leading the way in creating a national center for innovation
and industry growth, metro Atlanta is a world-class hub for
technology design, implementation, and innovation. In fact,
Atlanta was recently named by CBRE as one of the top 10 tech
talent markets in the nation.
One of Georgia’s most important and fastest-growing industries
is financial technology, or FinTech. On par with London, New
York, Zurich and Singapore, metro Atlanta is quickly becoming
a global center for money, markets and transactions. Our
one-of-a-kind ecosystem includes global giants like First
Data, Equifax, NCR, Worldpay, FIS, ICE, Sage and Global
Payments, as well as today’s disrupters and entrepreneurs like
Kabbage, Paymetric, Greensky, ControlScan, GroundFloor, and
Cardlytics.
FinTech in Georgia drives more than $30 billion in annual
revenues, employs more than 40,000 people, and processed
$5 trillion in transactions in 2015 alone. From Atlanta’s early
days clearing check payments through the Federal Reserve,
to the cutting-edge work being fostered at Georgia Tech’s
Worldpay FinTech Accelerator program at the Advanced
Technology Development Center, metro Atlanta and Georgia
have consistently taken the lead in the development of new
and innovative financial services.
About First Data
First Data (NYSE: FDC) is a global leader in commerceenabling
technology and solutions, serving
approximately six million business locations and
4,000 financial institutions in more than 100 countries
around the world. The company’s 24,000 ownerassociates
are dedicated to helping companies, from
start-ups to the world’s largest corporations, conduct
commerce every day by securing and processing more
than 2,800 transactions per second and $2.2 trillion
per year.
5

Thought Leaders Corner
Grant Wainscott
Senior Director, Technology Ecosystem Expansion at
Metro Atlanta Chamber
Grant Wainscott is the Senior Director of Technology Ecosystem
Expansion for the Metro Atlanta Chamber and is charged with growing
and promoting Atlanta’s FinTech & Cyber ecosystems around the world.
He has deep experience in international trade and technology, and has
lived and worked extensively in the US and abroad.
Helping to feed the demand for this ready workforce are
29 higher education institutions including four research
universities, two of which rank among the top 25 national public
colleges and universities. Rounding out the robust ecosystem
are important efforts like the Technology Association of
Georgia, American Transaction Processors Coalition and the
FinTech Atlanta Task Force, as well as dozens of FinTech and
related conferences, trade shows and meetups.
In addition to providing comprehensive site selection
consultation, MAC Global Commerce assists FOEs with their
due diligence and connects them to the resources needed to
avoid the missteps that some companies make entering the U.S.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) plays an important role
in helping connect the numerous economic development
partners like utility providers and state/local governments,
with the ecosystem and industry leaders. From startups to
our Fortune 500 community, our team understands global
trade and our markets. In particular, with collective decades
of international expertise, the Global Commerce team at MAC
is in place specifically to help foreign-owned enterprises (FOEs)
navigate the path for entry and expansion in the U.S. market.
Metro Atlanta
The Metro Atlanta Chamber is dedicated to leading our region
to a more prosperous and vibrant future. Our focus is advancing
economic growth, enhancing our business climate and improving
the quality of life for each and every person who calls Atlanta home.
Fintech Atlanta
FinTech Atlanta is a coalition of companies (from Fortune 500s
to startups) and organizations working to cement Atlanta as the
recognized global capital of financial technology. The group’s
priorities are to fund and fuel efforts to RECRUIT, RETAIN and
EXPAND businesses and jobs across the FinTech ecosystem in
metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia.
6

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Thought Leaders Corner
To go big in Latin America,
you better understand local
payment methods
by Andre Allain
For businesses looking to expand globally, Latin America
must be a target market. The region is growing, society
is ascending in economic power, and therefore avid to
consume. Besides being the biggest country in Latin
America, Brazil also dominates the cross-border market,
followed by Mexico. Another country who is getting a lot of
attention lately, Chile is receiving investments from China and
within the next months will gain a branch of Bank of China,
one of the four largest banks of the Asian Country, according
to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
An expanding middle class with an increasingly
sophisticated taste
Today Latin America is home to 600 million people. Almost
one-third of it is formed by the middle class, people with an
income of 4 to 50 dollars a day. This group has doubled in size
during the last decade, according to a study released in 2016
by the Inter-American Development Bank about the social
conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This new middle class is an avid user of the internet, its
consumption needs keep increasing in sophistication and
remain unsatisfied by the local supply of goods and services,
hence, turning to a more diverse global supply of goods and
services via e-commerce.
But these almost 200 million Latin Americans are not being
served well enough when it comes to e-commerce. They want
to buy from abroad but face the reality of a lack of payment
options. The consumer has the eager and the money to buy,
but can’t complete the purchase simply because the merchant
does not accept the payment method that he or she is used to
working with.
Just like any other market, Latin America has its own
specificities. The local payment methods are one of them.
In order to have a successful entering and good penetration
in the region, it is necessary to offer these local methods.
You can’t access the whole Latin American market with just
international acquirers.
But what are these local payment methods?
Credit cards are still the preferred payment method in Latin
America. However, global merchants should expect a low
credit card approval rate in Latin American countries in
general. Let’s take a look at some data from Brazil and Mexico,
the first and second largest region’s e-commerce markets.
In Brazil, this rate is between 30% and 50%. The main cause of
this low approval rate is the fact that internationally accepted
credit cards (that can process in foreign currency) represent
only 19% of the country’s digital payments market.
It means that 81% of these Brazilian consumers cannot buy
from global merchants if these merchants do not offer local
payment methods. Local payment methods are local credit
8

Thought Leaders Corner
Andre Allain
Head of Enterprise Sales at EBANX
Andre is the head of Enterprise Sales at EBANX, leading the team
through the expansion of EBANX current enterprise merchant base
to Latin America and to add new enterprise merchants, helping
businesses to overcome local barriers and reach the full potential
of consumption in the region. He holds a Master of Business
Administration from the University of Melbourne and has been working
on the e-commerce and payments market for the last 10 years.
cards (that only process BRL) such as Elo, Hipercard, local
Visa, and local MasterCard, debit cards, bank transfer, and
cash payments.
A very well-known and familiar Brazilian cash payment
method is the Boleto Bancário, or boleto for short. Millions
of Brazilians are used to pay utility bills like water, electricity,
rent, among others, with it. They are used to it and more
important, they trust in it.
One of the main reasons Brazilians prefer to pay using
Boleto Bancário is the transparency of it. All the information
needed is in one document, which includes the exact amount
the customer will have to pay and by when, the barcode,
corresponding serial number (that allows to pay it by using
internet banking), issuing bank code, customer information,
and description. The capillarity is another reason since the
boleto can be paid in more than 64K different locations around
the country such as supermarkets, lottery stores, and banks.
Another common payment method in Brazil is bank transfer,
or Electronic Funds Transfer. This method allows the
consumer to pay by using its own online bank account, by
being redirected to its bank website.
In Mexico, for each credit card, there are 5 debit cards. OXXO,
a cash payment alternative holds a 30% Mexican market share
of online shopping. It is powered by the OXXO convenience
stores chain. Like the Boleto Bancário in Brazil, OXXO is an
extremely popular cash payment method in which Mexicans
trust. They are used to it and can pay it in any one of the 14K
OXXO convenience stores around the country.
Besides Brazil and Mexico, e-commerce in Colombia is
booming in the last three years (growth of 50% since 2013 to
2016, according to American Market Intelligence), Colombians
are increasingly buying from online stores and also looking for
products and services provided by global merchants.
As the numbers show, Latin American nations are growing
fast as well as embracing the internet, social media, and
e-commerce with open arms. But it is still a market that
has very specific characteristics and needs. It is important
for global merchants to trust and use partners that have:
proven track record of success, understand the local culture,
what does and doesn’t work and knows the behavior of local
consumers.
Latin America is a market to be unlocked.
EBANX
EBANX is a Brazilian Fintech that offers Latin American local
payment methods to global businesses. The company provides
solutions for merchants such as AliExpress, Airbnb, Spotify, Wish,
and Udacity. EBANX is changing the way consumers in Brazil,
Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru pay on international websites and
has already enabled more than 21 million people in these countries
to access global products and services, as well as enabling global
e-commerces to reach new audiences.
Along these, there are the interest-free installments, or Meses
Sin Intereses, a widely popular method in the country. A
study released by AMIPCI (the Mexican Internet Association)
indicates that 6 out of 10 e-commerce buyers would prefer to
make an online purchase that offers interest-free installments,
over a discount or free shipping.
9

11 th Pan-European Conference in the P2P Series
P2P and Robotic Process Automation
Strategy Workshop
Moving to the next level of maturity
On a journey towards
Straight-Through-Processing
and Zero-Touch P2P
12 th – 14 th September 2017 — Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Attending this Premier marcus evans Conference
will Enable You to
• Benchmark experience on the journey towards Straight
Through Processing and Zero-Touch P2P
• Hear success stories on purchasing Master Data
Management projects
• Increase the Efficiency in SSC and improve the PO
Compliance Rate
• Get the Most out of Process Mining and Analytics
Expert Speaker Panel Includes
Henk Grol
Global Manager P2P
Liberty Global B.V.
Lars J Andersson
Head of Procurement Automation and Analytics
A.P. Moller - Maersk Group
Milena Galanciak-Nakouri
P2P Systems
Nordea
Linde Penn-Dijkgraaf
Global Process Owner PtP Express
DP DHL
Learn from Key Practical Case Studies
• Maersk is transforming procurement and supply chain roles
with robotics
• From P2P to S2P to M2P: Master Data Management journey
at Liberty Global
• Invoice Management Journey: from Integrated to Cloud
Solutions at HEINEKEN
• Integrated Purchase to Pay process in Indirect Purchasing
at Bosch
• UPM sharing analytics and process mining approach
and the journey/strive towards world-class P2P
Lars Bulow
Manager, Global Accounts Payable
Financial Global Shared Services
Cisco
Business Development Opportunities
Does your company have services, solutions or technologies that the
conference delegates would benefit from knowing about? If so, you
can find out more about the exhibiting, networking and branding
opportunities available by contacting:
Yiota Andreou, Digital Marketing & PR Executive,
marcus evans Cyprus
Tel: +357 22 849 404, E-Mail: YiotaA@marcusevanscy.com
conferences

Thought Leaders Corner
Omni-channel or Multi-channel Payments
in a Cross-Border POS Environment?
by Marcio Stervid
Following the introduction of many new and alternative
payment channels one can definitely say that
consumers find themselves in an increasingly complex
payment world.
From the traditional physical brick and mortar store
experience or catalogue sales where an order was placed by
mail or via telephone, to online shopping, which now can start
on our laptops/computers, move to our smart phones and/or
tablets and finally conclude in store with the collection of the
good (click and collect).
A variety of choices are also available in respect to the
payment itself, depending on the channel, the consumer can
either pay physically (card-present) or digitally (card-notpresent).
Today Chip and PIN cards, smart phones and many
other innovative payment devices allow us to pay through
different methods of contact, contactless and online payment
channels.
With the introduction of new and smart payment media,
consumers now have the ability to receive information
regarding special and spot promotions. These are pushed by
merchants depending on the customer’s location or based on
a specific shopping pattern behaviour. This allows for tailormade
offers, specifically targeting particular individuals.
High Complexity and Costs in A Fragmented Payment
Market
The European card payment market is still highly fragmented
in terms of standards and business models. National schemes
in most countries operate as barriers to external operators.
European merchants are required to adopt POS solutions that
comply with the specific regulations of each country in which
they operate. That means, having to certify local acceptance
with in-country acquirers for transaction routing. Achieving
and maintaining compliance is a complex, time consuming
process, requiring multiple POS terminal management
solutions, different conditions with local acquirers, heavy
accounting management and non-homogeneous consumer
shopping experience in every country, which usually results
in high costs.
As modern consumers living in a global market, we expect to
be able to get easy access to refunds in any country regardless
of where the product was originally purchased. We also expect
our loyalty scheme reward points to be accepted globally.
Unfortunately, these consumer needs are not always available
as a standardized process due to specific country payment
regulations and outdated back office legacy systems.
Unfortunately, in most cases, the variety of smart shopping
payment options offered by retailers do not fully satisfy
the demands of the international consumer. Refunds, as
previously mentioned, are a prime example of this. The
customer expects the process to be smooth and timely, even if
the product is being returned in a country different to the one
in which the purchase originated.
There is still a significant level of confusion within the retail
community. Companies are attempting to make this Omnichannel
and Multichannel payment solution concept a
reality. The goal is a marketplace (online and physical) where
11

Thought Leaders Corner
Marcio Stervid
Head of EMEA Market Development at AltaPay
Marcio’s professional experience spans for over 27 years working for
organisations within different business environments with focus on:
Financial Services, Information Technology & Services and Banking. For the
last 17+ years. Marcio has been closely involved with the payment industry
covering different aspects of the business ecosystem such as issuing, POS,
acquiring, services and advanced solutions. Marcio holds an MBA from
Manchester Business School in the UK, as well as two degrees from high
calibre universities in Brazil. Prior to joining AltaPay, Marcio has worked
for VeriFone and also for Gemalto.
consumers have complete freedom of movement, this can
only be achieved by a fully connected payment infrastructure.
Omni or Multi Channel Payments?
One of the fundamental differences between Omni and Multichannel
payments resides in the level of integration within
the payment ecosystem. Multi-channel is usually based on
a non-integrated system of serving consumers, while Omnichannel
requires a complete 360-degree integration of
systems.
In a true Omni-channel environment the boundaries and
challenges inherent in payment channels tend to disappear.
This enables the consumer to benefit from a completely
unified payment experience. The Omni-channel concept
not only extends the range of different payment channels
available to customers, it also unifies the needs of consumer
and retailer and improves communication and interaction
between both parties.
What has the payment industry done to support merchants
with an Omni-channel approach? In the coming months, the
payments industry will be heavily influenced by a number
of important development. These changes intend to address
fragmentation, overcome current barriers and harmonise
rules of acceptance. Examples include:
a. PSD2 is allowing Third Party Providers (TPPs) to play a
more important role in the payment ecosystem
b. The PCI Council is certifying Point-to-Point Encryption
(P2PE) solutions to limit the scope of merchant PCI
certifications
c. Tokenisation provides the additional security necessary
to protect cardholder data in relevant end-customer’s
purchasing scenarios.
Omni Channel Payment Solution for The Demanding
Consumer
Although these new regulatory changes are kicking down
barriers, there is still a very limited number of PSPs which
can claim to be able to offer a single card-present and cardnot-present
solution available throughout Europe. Legacy
systems, security and compliance to local regulations are the
biggest obstacles merchants face when attempting to offer a
comprehensive Omni-channel cross border payment solution.
The recent integration of AltaPay and IPS Ltd, both subsidiaries
of Valitor hf, (soon to be fully rebranded as AltaPay) and
the combination of our two well established platforms
has created a true Pan European Omni Channel Payment
Solution. Merchants can benefit from a card-not-present and
card-present solution which is currently live in 18 European
countries allowing multiple acquirers connections through
the same payment gateway.
With our solution, international merchants across multiple
verticals including retail, can benefit from a variety of
12

Thought Leaders Corner
payment acceptance services, delivered from a centralised
service model and supported by a customer centric care team.
The AltaPay PCI P2PE (Point to Point Encryption) certified
solution enables PCI DSS compliance while maintaining the
level of solution flexibility, different payment options, as well
as other associated services, which today’s consumers expect
The integration of our two state of the art platforms (card-notpresent
and card-present) allows us to use a unique token and
database to exchange data between different sales channels,
providing a complete track record of the consumer purchase
history to merchants, regardless of which channel or in which
country the transaction takes place.
AltaPay solution enables merchants to accept any alternative
payment methods from any channel, from any country, whilst
payment is tokenised with the transaction, allowing consumer
data to be combined across different channels to better
understand customers’ buying behaviour and to enhance
the overall consumer payment experience. The reporting
capabilities allow automatic reconciliation through one single
comprehensive report, independently to which channel or
location the purchase happens.
One aspect that makes the payment industry very exciting is
the pace in which new changes are constantly introduced.
Hopefully such changes will continue to improve the customer
payment experience on the whole. Today’s channel agnostic
consumers have increasingly high expectations, jumping
seamlessly between web, mobile and in-store, they expect
interactions to be contextual, consistent and most importantly,
relevant to them.
If you would like to know more about AltaPay Omni-channel
payment solution, please feel free to contact
sales@altapay.com
AltaPay
AltaPay provides a single connection for payments across
e-commerce, in-store and mobile to global businesses. Our
payment solution is fully tokenized for customer identification. This
enables personalized experiences, click and collect, and return to
store processes to increase customer satisfaction. AltaPay’s clients
include BooHoo.com, Fat Face, Sports Direct, Laura Ashley and
ECCO.
For more information, contact us at sales@altapay.com
13

expert interview
Repainting the payments
landscape with Don
Ginsel
Don Ginsel is trained as Civil Engineer and a former
banker at ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank, after
which he become an entrepreneur and investor in
early stage startups. He has been active as a mentor
and coach for startups through several accelerators
and incubators. He is a thought leader on Fintech
and the digital evolution, and the founder and CEO
of Holland FinTech.
by Don Ginsel
Fintech has created an environment
that gives space to new and
innovative solutions for the whole
financial services landscape.
Developments are changing the way we
use, move and make money. Furthermore,
with customer expectations on the rise,
financial institutions are forced to keep
up to date with the latest trends in
technology. It is necessary for financial
services providers, from big banks to
small sartups, to have a way to share
knowledge, find each other and develop
new ideas in order to keep up with the
pace of the world is changing.
PCM: How did the payments landscape
change in the past 10 years?
Don: Even though various regions deal
with change at different speeds, the
changes in the payments landscape
during the past 10 years have been
quite significant. The main obvious
trend perhaps, is a transition from
cash to cards, and then to digital. Ten
years ago, the vast majority of people
were predominantly paying with cash,
e-commerce was still in its early days
and digital payments were also very
limited. But, as time went by, we saw that
cards replaced cash, enabling digital
apps and other solutions to be attached to
the payment data flow. Now, we see that
cards are slowly being replaced by online
payments, whereby the contextual
payment data becomes even richer.
With that in mind, it’s important to
say that cards are still very dominant,
even in the digital payments landscape.
However, we are starting to see more
developments and solutions that allow
buyers to use digital wallets or have
digital access to their bank account
and move money digitally without the
necessity of having any type of card.
Regulatory changes also need to be
mentioned, as there have been regulatory
efforts to change the payments landscape
in Europe. The introduction of the Single
Euro Payments Area (SEPA) before, and
now, PSD2, are very strong European
initiatives to open up the market and
develop new payments solutions that will
improve the experience of consumers
across the continent.
PCM: What are the current trends and
developments in the payments and
Fintech industry?
Don: Currently everyone is all over PSD2,
open banking and instant payments.
Mayor players across the whole industry
are keen to follow and influence these
developments; as they will change the
way money is used and the role that
different financial institutions will play
in the future. For example the discussion
about screen scraping (which should
actually be about credential sharing) is
an interesting example.
PCM: How will these trends and
developments affect the landscape
as we know it now?
Don: Even though there are still a lot
of questions and uncertainty about
how is it going to be implemented,
PSD2 is definitely going to have a big
impact. It becomes more transparent
who is a customer “advisor” and who is
just providing product as part of that.
Traditional banks will be increasingly
seen as a payment backbone platform
rather than a financial services
provider, which means that the roles
of some institutions will change far
from where they want to be—customer
facing.
This also leads to challenges for
regulators and customers, who need to
adjust their understanding of who they
are dealing with. Nevertheless, it is very
likely that we will see a slow process of
implementation and a long transition
period; this can facilitate things and
give confidence to all players across the
financial sector.
The principle of open banking and
API’s represents a big opportunity
for innovation and change. The
possibilities that it unlocks can add a
lot of value to the payments sector by
allowing new talent to add solutions
to the data that established financial
15

expert interview
institutions already have. Nonetheless,
these developments also involve new
risks; and regulators across functions
need to work together to minimize
them.
We should altogether stop looking at
the financial industry stand alone,
as increasingly industry or sector
definitions will not fully cover all types
of companies, and various types of
parties that will be involved in financial
services. Therefore, we need to look at
the full digital ecosystem and create a
level playing field regardless of whether
you are in the financial services or in
other digital services. The game should
be increasingly the same for everyone;
to allow all players with value, whether
financial or not, to provide the best
services to their clients.
PCM: What things will we see fade
away and what things will we see rise
in the next 5 years?
Don: We will see less cash and fewer
cards. Bank branches will continue to
disappear, opening the door for new
hybrid models where financial services
are combined with other (retail)
services. Regarding online payments,
we will see an increasingly seamless
checkout procedure for the customer.
Furthermore, we will see many value
added services for merchants, reducing
fraud and credit risks.
The value chain will be ever more
fragmented and crowded, not only
within financial services, but also
throughout the full digital ecosystem.
P2P payment solutions will finally
take off and become common, just like
integrated solutions for corporates will
pop up increasingly.
PCM: What kind of (fin, insur, reg,
etc.) techs exist now and what will
we see more of in the future, based
on peoples/businesses needs?
Don: This year is definitely the year of
Regtech and security. Given the current
geopolitical situation, the role of security
is becoming more crucial. Besides that,
the burden of being compliant has
become so heavy that companies are
keen on technology solutions that can
help them be compliant, hence RegTech.
As both solutions deal with similar
processes with organisations, and that
security is a strong part of regulations,
both go well hand in hand.
In any case, this is short term. We need
to keep in mind that in the long run
all the industries (financial, security,
regulation, insurance, etc.) will go
through significant changes driven by
technology, regulations and changing
customer behaviour. It’s hard to predict
which one will be the most eye-catching.
The key lies in being aware that, sooner
or latter, change will happen in any
industry, and that even when change
goes slow, adaption usually goes slower.
So better start preparing for the future
now!
PCM: Social Media is one of the biggest
hypes nowadays, how will this affect
the landscape in terms of consumer
payments?
Don: Social media is a very large
gathering of various online interactions
that will all have their own dynamics.
Google is not Facebook nor Twitter nor
Amazon. However, as many of these
organisations survive on advertising,
they have a keen eye for payment data
and control over the user experience in
the full digital realm. But not all have
the same strategy and capacity to play
this role, especially without having to
transform (part of) their business into
a regulated entity.
What will happen,, is that financial
services experience will get closer to
the customer, very likely through social
media, as they have the best insights to
create a desirable customer experience.
In the end, the question is: who has the
power in the value chain?
As mentioned earlier in the interview,
we need to stop looking at the financial
industry as stand alone, we need to
move to an integral view on the digital
services ecosystem, as value is being
transferred far beyond just monetary.
Besides that, as newcomers -like
social media platforms- move into
the financial services experience of
consumers or businesses, is important
to ensure a level playing field. Otherwise
it will be hard to secure a trustworthy
(financial) services ecosystem, with
impact worldwide.
PCM: How is Holland FinTech helping
in shaping the future of the landscape?
Holland FinTech is making everyone
aware of all the solutions that are out
there supplied by all parties across the
financial value chain. By empowering
people to have the understanding of
the available solutions and market
dynamics, companies can, find potential
solutions and costumers, and therefore
strengthen their businesses for the
future. For all actors in the financial
value chain together, this helps to shape
a healthy ecosystem that is ready for the
challenges the future brings.
Holland Fintech
Holland Fintech is founded in 2014 in
Amsterdam as an open platform & network
for Fintech knowledge & business. Holland
FinTech aims to bring together the full
width of financial solutions in one place,
and provides services to support their
understanding of market developments and
do business in the ever faster developing
market. Its over 325 member companies
range from large institutions such as
banks and insurance companies, to small
companies like investors and start-ups. The
membership is open for all players in the
ecosystem with an interest in Fintech and
financial innovation.
16

Spotlight
You think you have what it takes to start a
business in a super-hot market?
PCM takes a close look at some of the most
innovative and promising startup companies in the
payment industry.

startup spotlight
“AN IN-STORE POS
IS JUST A GLORIFIED
CALCULATOR”
John Staunton, Co-Founder
& CEO of Countr POS
Apoint of sale of sale (POS) system is a combination
of software and hardware that allows merchants
to take transactions and simplify their day-to-day
business operations. Besides offering flexibility
when processing daily transactions, modern POS systems
improve a merchant’s marketing by providing them with tools
to centralise business processes. Managing inventory and
employees from anywhere with data stored in the cloud allows
merchants to easily run their business. The reporting system
help businesses understand about their profits and losses, and
make better decisions in order to better reach customers. To
get a better insight into this area of payments we interviewed
John Stauton, Co-Founder & CEO of Countr POS.
PCM: Tell us about Countr. How did this idea come to be?
John: We originally started as a provider of loyalty services
but quickly found that integrating with existing POS is very
difficult, time-consuming and costly. Further, retailers were
looking for extendible solutions that were future-proofed
and ready for the latest advancements in payments, loyalty,
e-accounting, etc. We saw that existing solutions available on
the market were ludicrously overpriced (€3k-4k for hardware
alone, with a huge monthly fee and excessive extra fees for
even the tiniest add-on or minor change). Given all of this, we
decided to build a next-generation POS from the ground up,
with the goal of making it accessible for all, easy to extend,
and able to use existing (relatively low-cost) hardware available
everywhere today.
PCM: Why is it called Countr?
John: It’s called Countr for a number of reasons – the shop
counter is where customers are served and where the business
operations come together, plus our platform is a counter of
sales and transactions.
PCM: Why is Countr needed?
John: As mentioned before, there is a huge need for reliable,
flexible, affordable software. Retailers of every size deserve
access to cutting-edge analytics and all of the latest payment
methods (from cryptocurrencies to mobile payments to PIN),
loyalty services, automated accounting, etc.
PCM: What makes Countr different?
John: We are the most flexible POS available, we work on
any Android or iOS tablet and shortly will be available on
any hardware currently being used in shops and cafes. On
top of that we provide detailed insights and analytics via our
back-end.
PCM: What were some of your biggest challenges for
launching this business?
John: Business owners who already have a POS are typically
locked into expensive long-term contracts and agreements
with their existing suppliers. These are hardware + software
lock-ins so it’s very difficult for them to quickly move supplier.
18

startup Spotlight
That’s why we are now making our software available on their
existing hardware, dramatically lowering the barrier to switch
for these business owners and making it much easier for them
to switch to a future-ready solution. We had a big advantage
in building the POS from scratch – we weren’t encumbered
with old systems or legacy thinking but rather could approach
this with a completely fresh perspective and build using the
latest (and most future-ready) technologies with a completely
omnichannel view of retail — our view being that a POS is
essentially a webshop operated by a staff member, while a
webshop or a kiosk is just a POS operated by a customer. The
channel via which a sale begins doesn’t have to be the one via
which it completes, and the switch between channels should
be entirely seamless.
In this day and age, it’s inconceivable that at some of the biggest
retailers in the world a customer still can’t begin a sale via a
webshop, walk into a store and add / remove items and pay
there and then. Even worse, if you buy online then most of
the time there is no way to return products in-store. Both of
these situations sound so simple but the reality is that systems
in use at the larger retailers were never designed to handle
more than one sales channel. The challenge for us is educating
the technology leaders at these companies in the possibilities.
PCM: Tell us about your expansion plans and how you go
about choosing the next region you expand into?
John: We go where the market dictates – as a software product
(without a restriction on using specific hardware) we can
rapidly distribute our software anywhere in the world. There
are local restrictions in several markets (e.g. fiscal, taxation,
etc.) but we are working with some of our global partners to
ensure we rapidly comply with local regulations for each new
market we gain customers in. We aim to quickly become a
global POS provider, and already have customers in over 100
countries. Our goals at the moment are to consolidate in the
heart of Europe (BeNeLux, Germany, France) and UK / Ireland
before picking up our focus on Central and Eastern Europe
over the coming few months.
PCM: What are the 3 things you want people to know about
your company?
John: We’re extremely flexible and adaptable, adding new
features and functionality on a very regular basis; we are easily
localised (language, currency and fiscal regulations) and are
currently available in 8 languages and over 30 currencies; we
are moving to a completely hardware-agnostic model, enabling
us to be used on any device currently in a business owner’s
location.
PCM: Any exciting news / announcements you would like
to share with our community?
John: We are adding crypto-currencies to our offering, having
closed a partnership with Coinify recently. We also offer
mobile payments via bunq, and will have the first accounting
platforms (Exact Online, Twinfields, Xero) integrated over the
coming weeks.
19

Payment Collective
To get a more complete view on the all
businesses in the payments ecosystem, in this
rubric PCM showcases how merchants deal
with payments and fintech challenges.

Floriane Gramlich
Global Head of Product Payment
Solutions at OLX Group
Floriane is a product leader specialised in
payments with over a decade of experience
gained in banks and international
cooperations such as PayPal, eBay and
Twitter. She is leading the global payments
efforts of the OLX Group as the Head of
Product Payment Solutions, solving customer
problems around payments in the over 40
markets OLX operates in.

Payment collective
Unlocking potential in highgrowth
markets
In this month’s Payment Collective we interviewed Floriane
Gramlich, who is the Global Head of Product Payment
Solutions at OLX Group. With a wealth of experience in
and outside the payments sector, she shares deep insights
into developments, challenges & opportunities of the current
payments landscape.
PCM: Tell us a bit more about yourself (background and
what lead you to Payments & the OLX Group specifically)?
Floriane: I have a long background in payments and
e-commerce. I started my career in payments heading up
the marketing department for the online department of
the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe – one of the biggest financial
institutions in Europe. Here, it was lot of ground work: how to
make the Sparkassen “fit” for the digital innovations to come
and the shift from physical branches to the digital space. The
next logical step for me was PayPal, where I first led efforts to
increase PayPal’s payment share on eBay in the DACH region
and later developed a new payments product aiming at the long
tail (SMB merchants) in DACH, Mexico and Brazil.
After a detour of almost 1.5 years outside the payments sector at
Twitter, I got the great opportunity to build up and head a new
payments team, responsible for all payments efforts of OLX
Group globally. Coming from rather big market players in the
developed countries, this was a big change for me as OLX Group
is the leading classifieds platform in high-growth markets.
In these markets, the payment landscape and regulations
differ enormously and many people are unbanked, so there
are large variations of cash payments needed – something not
yet catered for globally by most payment providers. A great
opportunity, as I always believed that companies also have a
social responsibility to support the unbanked and to enable
them.
PCM: What are you looking for when selecting a payment
vendor?
Floriane: OLX Group is a very fast and entrepreneurial thinking
company, which fits very well with my personality and style.
Moreover, I am very customer driven and also seek to optimize
experiences for our customers (consumers and businesses).
I am looking for the same spirit in 3rd partners cooperating
with us. OLX Group is expanding rapidly, which is a big chance
for partners going the “extra mile” and who understand the
opportunities of the high-growth markets. In many markets we
operate in, we have less than 10% Credit Card penetration and
so-called APMs (Alternative Payment Methods) are crucial to
offer. These APMs are often non-immediate, where users need
to e.g. go to a kiosk or supermarket to fulfill the transaction.
These payments are not seamless and there is a lot to do in
optimizing the experience.
There is also the consultancy component provided by payment
providers: companies often go through lifecycles during
their growth when it comes to payments. Payment providers
sometimes fail in growing with their customers when the
companies become more self-sufficient and independent.
Last but not least, I am never looking for the sales pitch: the
product should speak for itself and the documentation should
be straightforward. Unfortunately, that is not often the case.
PCM: What is the most undervalued part of Payments by
payment providers that you see and should be covered
more or would be great to outsource?
Floriane: Depending on the lifecycle of the merchant, the ability
to cater payments End2End, by owning the relationships with
acquirers with an easy to handle PCI compliance specification,
managing and implementing APMs, a solid reporting and
various tools to optimize the experience (e.g. risk management
tools). Ultimately, it depends very much on how the merchant
is set-up and how willing he is to invest in resources. Even
if you outsource everything, the merchant also needs to be
very clear about the requirements that a provider has to fulfill.
Also the experience payment providers have is often greatly
underappreciated. Payment providers often work with various
merchants of different sizes and from different industries. Of
course, there are NDAs, but their learnings can still benefit
other companies in their daily work when partnering with
these payment providers.
PCM: Taking a look at the payments landscape, what
developments do you see in the future?
Floriane: In Europe, PSD2 will change the payments landscape
significantly. The monopoly of banks basically ends and banks
will not compete against each other but against everyone
offering financial services. For banks this additionally creates
the challenge to adapt to the new security requirements and
to open their APIs. Not all banks are ready for that and the
realization that banks need to change to a technology and
customer focus is not the norm, yet. So, there are exciting
times ahead and we will see consolidations of banks and
(even) more and more fintechs evolving. Another exciting
thing to come is the ongoing challenge on how to bank the
unbanked – something that fascinated me throughout my
whole career. I always regarded it the social responsibility
of every major e-commerce player to support people to get
access to (digital) money and banking services. Micro-loans
by non-banks, payments by mobile phone and P2P are just a
few things that will change the life of many in the emerging
markets significantly.
PayU, which is the payments company of Naspers, same holding
company as the OLX Group, recently invested EUR 110m in
22

PAYMENT COLLECTIVE
Kreditech – a leading technology group for digital consumer
credit and also acquired Citrus Pay in India. Strategic moves
that recognize these trends.
PCM: How will these developments affect your payment
operations?
Floriane: With more payment companies offering viable P2P
solutions and operating their businesses in line with local
compliance and regulation, we are getting more choices with
whom to cooperate with. Also payment providers realize that
catering for the unbanked is a necessity for entering markets
successfully with strong partners. I expect to get more payment
provider into these more complex markets, which ultimately
leads to better experiences and enables our customers to pay
online even if they do not have access to a traditional bank
account or credit card.
PCM: From a merchant PoV, what need do you see coming
up in terms of payments in the near future?
Floriane: There will be more consolidation in the payments
sector and the realization that solutions for customer problems
should be the center of the strategic thinking. There is still
a huge untapped potential in the emerging markets where
providers simply do not offer the payment methods customers
can pay with. With the shift from banks becoming technology
companies and the competitive pressure, these gaps will
hopefully be closed soon.
PCM: Finally, what are a few words of advice you would like
to tell professionals who are looking to get in to payments
and more specifically payments from the merchant end?
Floriane: Payments are complicated, even if not everyone
recognizes that. Regulation differs from market to market;
also the payments behaviour is very diverse. You would expect
in the Western markets, e.g. Europe, some uniformity, but
actually there is not. Do not assume that Credit Cards are the
most common payment method, get yourself familiar with
regulation/compliance and start with payment providers
where you feel that they can both consult and at the same time
are deeply customer focussed. Try to apply a “test and learn”
approach and acknowledge failures fast. Also decide very early
what the main success metrics are: is it revenues, margins,
penetration? Depending on the goals, the payments strategy
will look different. Also aim at doing the basic implementation
right from the beginning with an End2End view and create a
flexible foundation with a solid technical infrastructure that
allows for a lot of testing.
OLX Group
OLX Group is the world’s leading online classifieds platform present
in more than 40 countries across six continents.
We connect local people to buy and sell used goods, services,
cars and properties. We make it fast and easy to buy or sell almost
anything through your mobile phone or on the web.
Through brands including OLX, Avito, dubizzle and letgo, OLX Group
is the home of online classifieds in high-growth markets. We are the
leading destination for buying and selling used goods and services
in 35 countries, and the #1 mobile app in our category in more
than 22 markets. Globally we estimate that around 11 million items
are exchanged through our platforms every single month, giving
products a second life and reducing their ecological footprint.
In Germany we have one of our most important technology hubs,
located in the heart of vibrant Berlin. Our world-class engineering
and product teams are contributing to the OLX Group success while
their driving innovation and excellence. Our international team -
more than 25 nationalities - is growing fast, to more than 150 OLXers
until the end of 2017.
23

Hot jobs
Hot Jobs
CORPORATE SALES
MANAGER
Remote / Germany or NL
SENIOR SALES MANAGER
PAYMENTS
Vienna, Austria
BUSINESS
DEVELOPER
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
CONTRÔLEUR DE
GESTION
Paris, France
PRODUCT SPECIALIST
CHECKOUT
Dortmund, Germany
CREDIT
UNDERWRITER
Malta
ONLINE MARKETING
MANAGER
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
SENIOR PAYMENTS CONSULTANT PSD2
(CONTRACT/FREELANCE)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
SENIOR SECURITY SOFTWARE
ENGINEER
Berlin, Germany
IMPLEMENTATION
SPECIALIST
London, UK
FRAUD
ANALYST
Dortmund, Germany
SENIOR PROJECT &
ACCOUNT MANAGER
Dortmund, Germany
These are the latest job opportunities we have available!
For more information please visit www.teampcn.com/jobs
or check out our international Job Board at www.payment.jobs
24

events
Events
PCNTMS17_10
Prague, Czech Republic
Discounted Ticket
We are delighted to announce the 10th annual International SAP
Conference for Treasury Management will be taking place from
11-13 July, in Prague. Designed for new and existing customers, hear
how your business processes can be reimagined to deliver live and
connected treasury operations. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet
with SAP experts and executives, customers, prospects and partners!
11-13
PCN300 = $300 off
Boston, US
18-19
The 10th Healthcare Payments Innovations conference is the only
event where top Hospitals, Health Systems, ACOs and other Provider
Groups come together with Leading Banks. Scheduled for July 18-
19, 2017, at the Hilton Boston Back Bay, this highly acclaimed event
features over 20 well-known industry leaders, cutting-edge talks,
controversial panel debates and ample time for networking!
PCNFIPS2017
Discounted Ticket
Newport, US
Opal Group’s Financial Innovation and Payments Summit will
address the enterprising and adoption of innovative payments
solutions and practices. This conference will gather leading players and
thought leaders that are creating the landscape for the future of the
industry. Uniting executives in the payments realm, stakeholders from
business end-users, financial and technology services organizations
will discuss and explore the key issues and opportunities today.
30-1
Boston, US
14-17
eTail is where the top minds at America’s most successful retailers
meet and learn. Find the most disruptive content, designed to help you
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out the fluff to give you hundreds of strategic takeaways. Guaranteed.
Transformative. Inspiring. Actionable Insights. That’s eTail.
ETE17PCN = 25% Discount
25

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