2015: The Payments Year in Review

As we approach the final weeks of the year, the Aite Group team took a look back on the big events in retail banking and payments in 2015. What a year it was! Here’s a roundup of some of the notable events, all of which have the potential for long-term ripple effects. 

January:

• U.S. Federal Reserve publishes faster payments roadmap.

February: 

• Google partners with AT&T Wireless, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA for Wallet.
• Samsung acquires LoopPay and sets the stage for a differentiated mobile payments play (and future data breach headlines).
• CostCo announces end to U.S. partnership agreement with Amex.

March:

• D+H buys Fundtech.
• American Express launches Plenti.
• PayPal acquires Paydiant.

April:

• Regulation on interchange fees becomes law in Europe.
• China opens its payments market. The devil will be in the details (and regulation), but this represents an attractive opportunity for networks such as Visa and MasterCard.
• Apple Pay comes to Best Buy, a blow to MCX.
• BBVA opens its application programming interface to Dwolla to speed up payments.

May:

• Nasdaq embraces the blockchain for its private market tech backbone.
• Visa launches VDEP.

July:

• PayPal acquires Xoom. This acquisition combines a disruptive business model with a company that has hundreds of millions of global users, accelerating the potential for disruption of legacy cross-border remittance providers.
• Apple Pay debuts in the U.K.
• PayPal launches its initial public offering.
• EBA Clearing publishes its Blueprint for a pan-European retail real-time payment system.
• FCC releases a Declaratory Ruling and Order in an effort to clarify TCPA robo-calling restrictions and the use of autodialers for cell phones in debt collections.

August:

• Envestnet buys Yodlee.
• FIS buys SunGard.

September:

• Samsung Pay lands in the United States.
• Major banks join forces with R3 to form a blockchain research and development consortium.

October:

• U.S. EMV liability shifts. While the day itself is anticlimactic, the networks stick to their guns and don’t push the date out, and the United States is now well on its way to EMV enablement.
• Chase Pay is announced. The announcement breathes fresh life into MCX and creates a real competitive concern for other acquirers, as Paymentech will now be engaged in collaborative conversations with the top merchants in the country.
• Early Warning acquires clearXchange. The combined entity could substantially shift the faster payments discussion, as it has the ability to address a number of the stated goals of the Fed’s faster payments roadmap.
• Early Warning and Fiserv announce real-time bill pay service.
• RushCard breakdown affects thousands of prepaid debit card users.
• Square files for IPO. Does the pricing signal there is a deflating bubble?
• First Data files its IPO.
• Diebold offers to buy Wincor Nixdorf.

November:

• Visa Inc. agrees to buy Visa Europe.
• ACI acquires PAY.ON.
• EU Council passes PSD2. This legislation significantly changes the economic model for card issuing and introduces opportunities for a number of disruptors in the EU market.

Anything notable we missed? Comment and join the conversation! What will December bring?​