Carriers have built strong local footholds, but cross-border payments capability is almost non-existent.
" Delivering payments capability as a series of services will provide new channel opportunities and help power Open Banking and wholesale initiatives," said Leigh Mahoney, head of wholesale digital, ANZ, pointing out the difficulty of applying ROI to the unknown.
He expects to initial launch payments capabilities outside of the U.S. in 2012.
The showcase is a portal-based forum where solution providers, both from the general public and the Faster and Secure Payments Task Forces, can showcase their payments capabilities.
Meanwhile, as Starbucks builds its payments capabilities through a partnership with Square, a popular loyalty platform and a highly rated smartphone app, it may have the right infrastructure to grow in emerging markets like India and China.
"We are taking sophisticated payments capabilities and making them accessible to startups and big companies, and when small businesses grow into larger organizations, we will have everything they need," says Ready.
Wong followed up, asking "Why would you go start your own payments capabilities, your own payment analytics, your own map capabilities when they're so easily accessible from these other companies and are arguably better?" Take background checks, for example.
It's unclear yet how Venmo's technology will be integrated into PayPal's core platform but eBay noted in its statement today that it "will help to contribute to PayPal's mobile payments capabilities".
It's doing so not so much to offer an alternative to other options on the market, but to improve its "omni-channel" payments capabilities — they is, supporting online, mobile, and in-person processing.
The combination of acquiring Fundamo and expanding the relationship with Monitise will enable Visa to deliver best-in-class mobile financial services and payments capabilities to consumers across the full spectrum of uses, geographies and mobile environments from basic services on simple handsets to more advanced services for smart phone owners.
Ready tells us that there are a few areas that he feels are ripe for innovation in the payments space, including providing payments services to businesses that previously didn't have specialized payments products (i.e. extending niche payments capabilities to small businesses).
