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Author: Rachael Shupe

RFi interview: Ashley on mobile banking and payments

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

Image of Ashley Williams, Senior Digital Manager, CuscalAs we jump feet first into 2016, RFi Group had the pleasure of sitting down with Ashley Williams, Cuscal’s Senior Manager – Digital, and someone right in the Cuscal workroom, to discuss progression in the mobile banking and payments apps space and what the latest is when it comes to digital wallets.

As General Manager of Product & Service at Cuscal Adrian Lovney stated in a LinkedIn Pulse Post early this year, 2016 is set to be the year mobile wallets go mainstream in Australia.

The announcement just before Christmas that Android Pay will arrive in Australia in early 2016 is big news for payments, but it’s also another significant step that’s slowly, but inevitably, taking mobile payments from niche to mainstream. There has been a lot of chatter about mobile wallets being the future of payments in Australia, but so far we haven’t seen many people actually use their mobile phones as wallets. 2016 is looking like the year that will change this.

RFi Group met with Ashley who went on to explain Cuscal’s sharp focus on providing superlative technical integration for their customers and are currently nothing short of delighted to be experiencing such a huge take up for the new product. With 41 of their clients signing up to The Pays for day one, the figures are accounting for roughly 90% of their card volume.

Providing these solutions for our clients means that the work we do for them now, puts them in a key position to be able to launch into other wallets as soon as they’re available. We are focused on that technical build, creating and facilitating the links into the schemes (specifically Mastercard, Visa and eftpos) and then into the three different wallet providers (Google, Apple and Android) – meaning phones can in effect become a digital wallet.

As well as managing the technical integration and back end ‘maze’ of complexity this project brings, Cuscal will be providing customers with marketing toolkits and training support to guide them through the adverting process.

And to help, they have some pretty stellar partners –

We’re collaborating with Google to ensure the campaigns are consistent across the market and offer a seamless customer experience. In terms of Cuscal itself, all 41 of our clients will be out in the market promoting and marketing from day one.

With all this change, we wondered, what can customers expect? Ashley is frank but fair –

Obviously mobile banking apps with contactless payments have been around for some time, and the payments part of the equation isn’t something new, what we do believe is going to change is the market awareness and public’s perception of payments – it is really set to shift dramatically.

Ashley goes on to cite the key differences for the Android Pay launch, compared to the way Australian financial institutions launched their mobile wallets in dribs and drabs. There is a clear plan to wait until everyone is ready and “all the ducks are in a row”, before they go live. “From a market perspective, it will be a huge coordinated push.” She says.

The concept and launch of the digital wallet itself, Ashley explains, is when things will get interesting. Cuscal’s view is that the ecosystem will change as pay providers (Google, Apple and Samsung) begin to partner with merchants and the in-out purchasing becomes a big component of the wallet. The loyalty of that ‘front of wallet’ card provider will move it from purely a transactional product, to an all-encompassing solution.

Other benefits lie, perhaps unsurprisingly, in data.

Because of the richness of the data we can receive, Cuscal’s FI customers will have full exposure to behaviour and trends of their card holders. They will have access to information such as default card choice or individual selection of card, which will deliver great insight to a bank regarding what their customers are doing.

This all provides banks with more information than they have ever had before and therefore the ability to reach out to their customers about card choice or behaviours. Other advantages can be found in the origination process of Android Pay. If a customer doesn’t have a banks mobile banking app, the functionality will prompt them to register. Again, providing yet another way for banks to increase the amount of customers they have using their banking app.

Ashley thinks this increased functionality is likely to take mobile payments to the masses.

With increased advertising and marketing from Google, as well as almost every Australian FI encouraging people to use these new offerings, the shift to mobile payments as the major, if not one day, sole, channel, is inevitable.

It is a huge shift, but we are at a stage now that it is not about acceptance, but more so, customer preference. It will need to work and it will need to work consistently, but we expect customer take-up to be rapid.

If it is in fact to become a comprehensive digital “wallet”, Cuscal sees the need for other parties to get one board and quickly. As seen in the UK, the rise in mobile tap and pay payments since its integration with transport for London’s Oyster network, was exponential. If case studies such as this are anything to go by, it is obvious that with the inclusion of an individual’s drivers licence, Opal/ Myki (travel) card, Medicare card, health insurance card, could really begin to speed things up and quickly. As Ashley quickly points out, the payments piece is only one component.

Ashley closes noting that Cuscal is in fact in a unique position compared to other affiliate parties.

“We are not just one institution, we are representing so many. Essentially we have 41 individual projects running seamlessly and in many ways, in conjunction, which is a huge achievement. For us to be able to match the market and to be there for day one of the launch, mobilising teams so quickly, is exciting and we really feel like it is going to make a huge impact.”

This article first appeared in the March 2015 edition of RFi Group’s Australian Retail Banker (which is no longer available on their website).

Cuscal partners with Square for Australian entry

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

A picture of Adrian Lovney, Jack Dorsey and Kieran McKenna

.

Sydney, 8 March 2016: Square today announced that it would be selling its point of sale solution in Australia, its 4th market after the USA, Canada and Japan.

Cuscal has been assisting Square every step of the way on its Australian journey and Cuscal Managing Director, Craig Kennedy, said of the news:

“We’re very pleased for Ben and the team at Square and delighted that the Square Reader is now on sale in Australia. It will make it possible for anyone in Australia to accept card payments by turning their smart phone into a POS device. We think thousands of new Australian merchants will start accepting non-cash payments who previously thought it was too expensive or too difficult. At Cuscal we’ve always supported offering Australians increased choice in the way they pay for things – it increases competition, keeps prices down and levels the playing field.”

Speaking about the partnership with Cuscal, Ben Pfisterer, Australian Country Manager, Square said:

“Square is excited to work with the team at Cuscal, who demonstrate the same commitment to innovation and small business that Square does. Our entry to Australia is strengthened by our partnership with Cuscal which is a world class end-to-end payments leader with over 40 years’ experience in the local market.”

For more information about Square go to https://squareup.com/au

Media contact
Jake Waddell jwaddell@cuscal.com.au 0417 312 902

Using the New Payments Platform

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

A lady smiling looking at mobile phone

Starting in 2017, the New Payments Platform (NPP) will transform the way Australians make payments. For the first time, it will be possible to transfer funds quickly and easily, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – even between accounts at different banks. This initiative promises to bring value to financial institutions, consumers and businesses alike, and is expected to be rapidly adopted.

Among the NPP’s key features available at launch will be a centralised real-time addressing service allowing payments to be delivered to a user-friendly alias such as a mobile number or email address rather than the BSB and account numbers used today. Another important feature will be the Initial Convenience Service (ICS), the NPP’s first overlay service that will make it possible for consumers to send and receive payments in real-time.

While there’s already a lot of information available about the NPP (including Cuscal’s recent white paper “New Payments Platform: How the NPP can help you win the war for customer relationships”), it’s important to understand how its core functionality – what’s often referred to as the Basic Infrastructure – differs from the ICS and the other overlay services that will help bring the NPP to life. These overlay services will not only add tremendous value to the NPP for end-users, but also create considerable opportunities for financial institutions and fintech companies.

In the pages that follow, we’ll take a closer look at the different types of overlay services and the role they will play in driving NPP usage. This includes a variety of scenarios where financial institutions and businesses will try to create more seamless customer experiences. We’ll also explain some real-life applications of the ICS, along with its benefits and how it differs from the NPP’s Basic Infrastructure. Finally, we’ll outline several ideas for overlay services which you might see launched in the months.

Download the White Paper [PDF, 7.7MB]

RFi interview: Adrian Lovney on the NPP

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

Adrian Lovney, General Manager, Product and Service, Cuscal

Rapid innovation has made it an exciting time in the Australian banking industry. At the centre of that excitement is the forthcoming New Payments Platform (NPP), an important initiative that promises to not only position Australia as a global leader in real-time payments, but also help the banking industry address some of its greatest challenges. In the process, it will bring numerous benefits to financial institutions and other organisations, as well as to the customers they serve.

RFi Group recently met with Cuscal’s General Manager of Product & Service, Adrian Lovney who echoed the exciting times ahead for Australian market participants and consumers alike.

Cuscal recently released a white paper on this very subject and we thought it an opportune moment to meet with Adrian and hear all about it from the horse’s mouth.

Speaking on the whitepaper and key messages Cuscal have for market participants, Adrian was quite frank.

“There are obviously a group of banks in Australia who are intimately familiar with the NPP development and organisations like ours (Cuscal), have been involved since day one. What this whitepaper explores are specific opportunities to increase the level of knowledge in the banking sector for not only what the NPP does but how it will go about changing the relationships between banks and their customers.”

Adrian explains that Cuscal’s aim with this particular whitepaper and other forthcoming material, is to close some of those information gaps.

“Obviously agency banking and agency payments is the core of Cuscal’s business, it’s what we do, connecting financial institutions to the payments infrastructure. This paper is about what the NPP is, how we see it helping financial institutions address challenges in the banking sectors.”

He mentions the shift to mobile, the shift away from cash and, particularly relevant the rapid rise of Fintech.“We really just want to help FIs focus their attention on the things they need to do now, to be ready for 2017.”

For Cuscal, some of the insights they feel will be most interesting to the financial services industry start with looking at the New Payments Platform from a customer experience perspective, looking at channels but not forgetting the back office. Adrian stresses it is particularly this thinking about CX and back office processes, in parallel. “It is about looking at the detail and real value in a single national addressing service. How this will inherently shift from BSBs and account numbers, to aliases and mobile phone numbers.”

In the paper Cuscal notes that unlike in other countries, where uptake of the NPP was initially slow, in Australia they expect it will be rapid because of the advanced features the NPP will have from day one.

A few key features Cuscal identifies as setting it apart from its international counterpart platforms include: addressing service availability from its inception and the work banks are doing to coordinate a set of simple, easy to understand messages about the services in a coordinated way. The convenience services launching on the very first day again represents the collaboration of banks working together to roll out what will be good user experiences and products.

It’s also important to note that Adrian’s (and Cuscal’s) perceptions have changed over time in regards to the expected ‘product category’ of the Australian NPP. Three years ago, he would not have hesitated in saying that they thought the NPP would be positioned as a “premium product”, but the same cannot be said for today. “At least in the retail sense, I no longer think this is the case. I see this as a product that is suitable for everyone and absolutely for the everyday banking space. Obviously organisations will make up their own minds regarding pricing, but consumers will categorically expect at a retail level that this will be available from day one, as part of their everyday banking proposition.”

The report goes on to note that, for the New Payments Platform to work quickly, the conditions ‘need to be right’. Cuscal identify, as do many, that Australians have clearly demonstrated that they are prepared to try new things, and quickly. “We love contactless, we love our mobile phones, we are quick to adopt and all of these characteristics showcase the NPP as being surely desired in our marketplace.”

Adrian continues, “Features such as line-by-line settlements mean that the product will be suitable for large value transactions from day one, which may not have been the case under a deferred net settlement model. We are fast to take up, our adoption, our willingness to try new things and a clear shift back to the bank account, shows the market is ripe for New Payments Platform implementation. The work the Australian banking sector has done around mobile banking and digital banking and the role of the mobile phone as a tool, will really mean that the platform will take off quickly. As a caveat here, I do think cards have a lot of life left in them, they are still very much the central part of the relationship, but I think there will be a pivot towards the bank account and I think there will continue to be a demise of cash.”

As far as this insatiable desire for technology and the use of new systems, Cuscal mentions a few noteworthy developments in customer behaviour and expectations, as they adopt new technologies.
“I think the bar is continually being lifted as far as what consumers expect. They don’t want clunky experiences, they don’t want solutions that take effort and time and they certainly don’t expect to read instruction manuals. They are used to ‘Spotify-like’ or ‘Uber-like’ experiences and we are also seeing that they are prepared to sign up for a free service, then, when impressed, willing to pay for added value or experience.”

And finally, what tangible economic benefits will the New Payments Platform provide – “I think it will create more opportunities to attract customers and their money, it will increase ability to cross-sell other products and I think it will bring the transaction account back into the frame and make those accounts more important to customers’ lives. Other clear opportunities are on the cost side, addressing service to reduce mistakes in payments, reducing manual back-office processing and delivering self-service for digital channels.”

It’s certainly picking up pace and we are excited to see Cuscal’s next move.

This article first appeared in the October 2015 edition of RFi Group’s Australian Retail Banker.

RFi interview: integrity, innovation & inspiration

Posted on by Rachael Shupe

RFi-Group-Interview---Integrity,-Innovation-and-InspirationThis month RFi Group sat down with the experienced and personable Craig Kennedy, Managing Director of Cuscal, to discuss the payments landscape in Australia, the shift towards ‘mobile first’ and the three themes that will drive growth for Cuscal in the coming year.

Craig cites the great people he works with, both internally and externally, as the aspect that he enjoys most about his role.  “There is a great team here at Cuscal. We’ve got interesting and engaged clients and a bunch of supportive and aligned shareholders with a great board of directors – that’s a pretty inspiring combination.”

Craig references two stand out factors at Cuscal that incite his pride in the brand. “We function with integrity. I think anyone that has engaged with Cuscal or worked with us will say that we go about our business with a high degree of integrity. We also have a can-do approach. I’m pretty proud – there are things we have done that other organisations couldn’t get done in the time allotted. We’ve been able to do that for our clients without compromising the end result. For me it’s a combination of the can-do attitude and integrity.”

“We now manufacture almost all of our own products. Because we don’t have legacy platforms and are not competing with other clients for priority… our time and cost to market has significantly improved in the last five years.”

Over the last five years, Cuscal has grown and evolved significantly. Craig explains that Cuscal now has control over its key products and processes. “We now manufacture almost all of our own products. We have processing capabilities and the payments links necessary to perform key payment functions in Australia. When you’ve got those functions sitting out with a third party, the reality is that you have to compete with other clients to get priority, which is generally given to the largest paying client. Because we don’t have legacy platforms and are not competing with other clients for priority, our time and cost to market has significantly improved in the last five years.”

Craig mentions that the diversity at Cuscal, in relation to both staff and clients, has experienced dramatic change in recent years. “A lot of people perceive us to be associated with credit unions or the mutual industry. While that’s still the case, the reality is we now have a very diverse shareholding and our client base is growing significantly, especially outside the mutual sector. We have major retailers, national banks, regional banks, international banks ¿ we are a very different organisation today. If you walked through the floor here you would see people from all different nationalities and cultures. We’ve got a pretty good gender balance too: 30% of our senior leaders are female and that’s growing. We are in the process of putting in more structure and setting some objectives and targets across all of those attributes.”

“I expect that in a couple of years from now when we look back at the 12 months that we are about to embark on, it will be the year that payments via mobile phones move from the fringe to the main stream. There have been a lot of barriers and friction points, but they are breaking down at such a rate that I expect the tipping point will occur in the next 12 months.”

Craig gave us some insight into his predictions for the payments market in Australia over the next 12 months and what he believes will be essential to winning in this market. “I expect that in a couple of years from now when we look back on the 12 months we are about to embark on, it will be the year that payments via mobile phones move from the fringe to the main stream. There have been a lot of barriers and friction points, but they are breaking down at such a rate that I expect that in a couple of years from now when we look back at the 12 months that we are about to embark on, it will be the year that payments via mobile phones move from the fringe to the main stream. There have been a lot of barriers and friction points, but they are breaking down at such a rate that I expect the tipping point will occur in the next 12 months. I think that will drive mobile banking and payment activity closer together and as a result, increase the level of customer engagement with banks via mobile.”

“The key elements to win in this market will be to keep things simple and convenient, to use well integrated applications and to execute regular and relevant functional updates. I don’t think it’s difficult to stand up an interesting application, but to keep it contemporary and top of the pile – that’s a constant challenge. It’s much more dynamic today than historic ways of engaging with a customer.”

Craig believes that as Cuscal’s profile is raised due to the products it is building, combined with the acquisition of SPS (Strategic Payments Services), one of its main challenges will be to keep current and prospective clients abreast of its core capabilities.

“There is more demand for our products and services than ever before, but ironically we are still finding that some long standing clients aren’t aware of all the things we can do. One of our challenges is keeping the market up to date with what our capabilities are. With all of the opportunities for Cuscal, I think managing our capacity and our priorities will be our biggest challenge in the next 12 months.”

When it comes to innovation, Craig provides some insights from alternative and offshore markets. “I think Uber is a really innovative concept and a cool experience. That to me, when you combine functionality with utility and remove the friction, that’s when it gets interesting. I also think the New Payments Platform provides a really interesting piece of infrastructure for people to innovate and apply. I’m expecting in time there will be lots of innovation around overlay services.”

“I was in the States about a year ago and did the Silicon Valley tour and what struck me over there is that the more dysfunctional and the more legacy you’ve got to deal with and the less cooperation there is at the centre, by necessity it drives innovation. There is such a great source of innovation there because there are so many disconnected parts and people are building applications to bring them together.”

Craig elaborates on the three points of focus for Cuscal over the coming year. “There are three themes that we are looking to build more product and investment around; mobility, real time and data/analytics. We are building out more mobile banking and transactional applications – that will continue to be a focus. The second focus for us as an organisation is real time and NPP. From our point of view, the concept that you could ask for information or get confirmation over night or the next business day has long since passed and people are looking for instant gratification. If you combine that with mobility it’s a pretty powerful combination. Finally, the third theme is the relevance of data and the analytics around data. Whether that is to give more protection around fraudulent transactions, to be able to make you the right offer at the right time or simply to understand you better. If we were looking to build new products, buy more capability into the organisation or acquire another business, it would fit into one of those categories and we would want it to bring some of those capabilities and an attached client base with it.”

“We are looking for further acquisitions at the moment. We find that there’s either someone who has got a legacy business that has peaked and they are looking to exit before they get stuck with it or you’ve got two teenagers who have set up an application in their parents’ garage and they think it is the next google.” Craig laughs, “I’m looking for something in between those two extremes.”

Before the interview concludes, we ask Craig about his success and where he draws his inspiration from. He allows us a rare look into his personal life. “Different people have very different definitions of success and I’m not sure that I have found a definition that I really want to adopt as my own yet. The person that has inspired me the most in my life would be my father. There are two main qualities that make him stand out; he was incredibly determined and persistent, which allowed him to overcome a lot of adversity and, right up until the day he died he had a huge thirst to learn. I’ve got teenage children and now that I see what they are going through, I don’t know how dad dealt with us – I don’t know how he had the energy or the desire. And I was the youngest of seven! As someone who used to start work at 4am he would come home and help us with our homework and if there were subjects he didn’t know, he would learn them so he could help us. To be really honest, I’m far more calculated with what I try to absorb and learn – he seemed to just soak it all up.” “I remember someone saying when they were 19, they couldn’t believe how out of touch and stupid their parents were and by the time they were 21, they were amazed by how much they had learnt. As you get older, you realise that there would have been a bit of advice you would have benefited from along the way. So I’m enjoying all of those clashes now with my boys!”

This article first appeared in the July 2015 edition of RFI Group‘s Australian Retail Banker