The History of Payments: The rise of Prepaid Cards

Customers are presented with a wealth of payment methods daily, so Moorwand has created a new series where our team will delve into the different types available. First up: Prepaid Cards

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

The industry often talks about payments as if it’s one, homogeneous group. But in actual fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. A ‘payment’ is simply the action of paying or being paid. But the method this action chooses in order to complete itself is completely variable. Today, customers are presented with a wealth […]

What do customers want from their banking products?

The UK is crowded when it comes to banking, so businesses wanting to succeed in this space need to ascertain what customers really want from their payments and banking products. But does what the market think?

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

The UK is already a crowded market when it comes to banking. And it has been for some time now. An Accenture report from 2018 found new entrants accounted for an “eye-popping” 63% of companies operating in the UK’s banking and payments industry. “It’s a pretty saturated market as things stand, with some very big […]

Mobile wallets aren’t going anywhere, and here’s why…

In a pre-pandemic world, mobile wallets struggled to compete with the penetration rates of alternative - more embedded - payment methods. But then COVID happened, and it caused the payments landscape to shift.

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

In a pre-pandemic world, mobile wallets struggled to compete with the penetration rates of alternative – more embedded – payment methods. According to Capgemini’s World Payments Report, there were 708.5 billion non-cash transactions in 2019 globally. But just one billion of these were via mobile wallets. Whilst a staggering 81% of Chinese consumers were using […]

Let’s look back at 2020’s 12 days of payments

To bring a bit of festive cheer to an otherwise gruelling year, Moorwand has put together 12 days of payments from 2020 which we think the industry should be proud of.

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

It’s no secret that COVID-19 has disrupted payment firms’ transaction volumes this year. Particularly those who rely heavily on brick and mortar customers or international travel, as opposed to e-commerce-based merchants. When the UK lockdown began, Revolut saw a dramatic 40% dip in revenues due to its reliance on interchange fees. But eight months later, […]

From Open Banking to contactless payments, what will shape the fintech industry in 2021?

2020 has been dramatic to say the least. We can expect this turbulent year to have a longstanding impact with even more drastic change on the horizon. So, what do the next 12 months have in store?

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

2021 predictions from Luc Gueriane, Chief Commercial Officer at Moorwand 2020 has been dramatic to say the least. In the fintech industry there has been a monumental shift towards digital payments. The mix of shop closures, lockdown measures and the booming ecommerce sector have made fintech products more relevant, and more important, than ever. And […]

Open banking has struggled to take off in the UK, but could this change?

Despite growing numbers, Open banking has so far struggled to take off in the UK, but this could all change as investment and collaboration grows, it is discussed more and a longer-term view is taken for usage

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

It’s been nearly three years since the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) came into force in the UK. Back in September, the country hit two million open banking users among the big nine high street banks, increasing from one million in January. Of the 66.65 million people living in the UK, at least 3% now […]

Why fintech firms must avoid becoming a jack of all trades and master of none

The fintech industry was driven by the financial crisis of 2008 with a view to changing financial services, but have some fintech firms lost sight of their individuality in an attempt to please too many customers?

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

The fintech industry was driven by the financial crisis of 2008 with a view to changing financial services through new technologies and business models. Billions of dollars of VC money has been channelled into ‘challengers’ seeking to deliver better, more digital services, at competitive price points that gain mass consumer adoption. The pandemic and accelerated […]

How can fintechs build more trust with users after COVID-19?

As some customers have chosen to move back to familiar, ‘trusted’ financial brands during COVID-19, how can relatively new faces in the market keep and boost their credibility after a year like 2020?

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

It’s been a trying time for fintechs and incumbents alike during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sets of players have tried to fight off its economic reverberations, though not always successfully. This month, German challenger N26 became the first banking service in Ireland to charge negative interest rates on large savings. And there’s talk, following the […]

The seven payments trends to pay attention to post-Coronavirus

Moorwand asks the question: what should payments firms’ post-coronavirus priority list look like? We put together some of the key trends in the industry to get firms thinking.

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

During Covid-19, payments giants like Stripe ($36 billion) and Square ($55 billion) have watched their valuations soar to dizzying heights. Smaller payments start-ups like Checkout.com, which almost tripled its valuation to $5.5 billion in June, have experienced burgeoning growth too, riding the wave of a lockdown-induced e-commerce boom.  Whilst global payment revenues are set to […]

How COVID is turning the UK cashless

Luc Gueriane writes about how moving closer to a cashless society is a good thing for the public and fintechs, and how many programmes (with digital banking) are helping to make banking more financially inclusive.

Luc Gueriane, Moorwand CCO

The UK has slowly been moving away from using cash over the last decade. London is also the fintech capital of the world, so it’s not surprising that more and more people are exposed to and becoming comfortable with digital payments. From contactless cards to contactless payment rings, even before the global pandemic having cash […]