11/03/2015
Money 20/20 brought together a diverse set of industry stakeholders at a time of unprecedented change. We have identified key themes that caught our attention. This year Money20/20 had more than 10,000 attendees (including 1,000 CEOs) from 3,000 companies and 75 countries.First Annapolis attended with broad representation from all of our practice areas.In addition to being a great opportunity to connect with industry contacts, many payments companies announced new partnerships and innovations at the event.Money20/20’s size and attendance reflect how dynamic and innovative the payments industry is today.Key ThemesMobile Payments Are Gaining MomentumMore New Payment Solutions EmergeReal-Time Payments Move Closer to RealityAlternative Lenders are in the Spotlight with Credit Cards on the HorizonBlockchain Tech Moves Beyond Bitcoin 11% of Money20/20 attendees had signed up for Apple Pay, while broader surveys hover around 4% of mobile subscribers – either way, the most popular platform has a long road ahead. Google announced Android Pay has signed up “millions” of users in the United States and Samsung said Samsung Pay now has 1 million users in Korea. The payments landscape continues to evolve with notable announcements including Chase Pay’s launch and its partnership with CurrentC, Samsung Pay’s launch, planned new wallets (Sony Pay, LG G Pay, Windows Wallet, etc.), Venmo enablement on the PayPal merchant network, TCH’s Token Authority, etc. Early Warning set to acquire clearXchange and The Clearing House announced a deal with Vocalink to build a real-time bank payment system (Vocalink’s technology underpins systems in the UK, Sweden, Australia, etc.). For now, companies like BIM, Kash, and Dwolla are using real-time scoring – and taking some risk – to deliver real-time ACH-based payments. Personal loan originations by non-banks surpassed banks for the first time ever in 2015 as marketplace platforms grew and banks remained cautious. One alternative lender CEO said 7 of the 9 top alternative lenders are working on credit cards. Affirm, LendUp, and Final all spoke about cards at the show and FS Card announced its Build Card would launch before end of year. While cryptocurrencies are unlikely to replace fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, practical use cases for the blockchain technology are gaining traction, from Nasdaq’s new blockchain-powered Linq platform (see next page) to the R3 coalition of 22 investment banks, and Ripple’s continued evolution.