Amex Exec on Digital Payments and Key Criteria for Success

A couple of days after Amex launched Serve, David Messenger, head of the online and mobile business unit at Amex today spoke at the Web2.0 Expo about the emergence of digital payments and what Amex views as the key criteria to excel.  Below is a summary of his talk along with a link to his talk.

Driver for digital payments:

• Mobile penetration
• Internet speed
• Social networking and commerce
• New POS technologies, such as NFC

Lessons from other industries: changes come faster than expected and many incumbent don't survive.

Promise to merchants: whole new approach to marketing and promotions.  Can we enable the insights from rich data captured to drive intelligent and personalised promotions.

Developing countries may be at the forefront:

• Limited existing infrastructure to replace
• Governments push for phasing out of money

Criteria for success in shaping digital payments going forward:

• Scale: essential to keep costs low and get the data required to develop interesting analytics
• Platforms must bridge distinction between online and offline
• Need to be open (agnostic to payment method, technologies and form factors)
• Partnerships to drive scale in complex ecosystem
• Security: particularly as organisations will manage increasing amounts of sensitive data
• Real-world servicing: managing money and sensitive data, providers must be able to provide service to customers

Range of players that will compete:

• Data players (Google, Facebook,etc), that are primarily entering for access to data
• Banks and incumbent payments companies
• Startups that are offering a new approach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsMsKBfWcSg&feature=relmfu