Payments

People’s decisions about where to shop and how to pay their bills hinge on a series of factors, including their grasp of technology, social media influences, demographics, and access to credit. Javelin’s analysts monitor this ever-changing landscape to provide data and insight through three practices: payments, cryptocurrency and small business digital banking & payments.

What shapes consumer transactions and payment technologies, and where is it going?

Any conventional wisdom about payments—how they’re made, the currencies being used, the cards presently in favor—doesn’t last long before the next wave of technology, innovation, and regulation. Javelin’s analysts conduct research at the forefront of payments, identifying the emerging trends for financial services companies and payments providers and offering insight into how they can best position themselves not just for what is current but also for what is coming.

Payments Research

Reports

The Federal Reserve Moves on Card Practices: One Big Shoe Drops

Impact Note
Date: December 21, 2008
Author(s): Mercator
Research Topic(s): Credit

The Fed's new rules present major changes that must be accommodated in issuer business practices. Issuers are not powerless, but disclosures have been strengthened. Will consumers use this added information? Will compliance become a high-visibil...

The Local ISO: Strategies for Hometown Merchant Services

Impact Note
Date: December 21, 2008
Author(s): Mercator
Research Topic(s): Credit, Prepaid

While many larger providers have broadened their geographical focus as they have grown, smaller ISOs and Merchant Level Sales (MLS) agents are often limited by their local geographies. But this "limitation" is mostly just a perception of the hom...

Innovation Loves a Crisis - Economic Uncertainty Drives Gift Cards of all Shapes, Sizes, and Values

Impact Note
Date: December 9, 2008
Author(s): Mercator
Research Topic(s): Prepaid

In a challenging economic climate, consumers are shopping with tighter budges and are aggressively seeking the best deals during these holidays. It is anticipated that this will be one of the slowest shopping seasons in decades, with declines in...

Open-Loop Retail Reload Networks: Drivers of Increased Retention or Agents of Churn?

Javelin Report
Date: December 9, 2008
Author(s): Mercator
Research Topic(s): Prepaid

NEW RESEARCH REPORT BY MERCATOR ADVISORY GROUP

Observations from Abroad: An Infamous Sample of One

Impact Note
Date: December 8, 2008
Author(s): Mercator
Research Topic(s): Credit

When a payments analyst (Ken Paterson) goes abroad, he sees the world in terms of... payments. Despite this limited "sample of one," implications are apparent for U.S. stakeholders to see: can chip & PIN be avoided, surcharging is OK (when you h...