The History of Money 20/20 – In Three T-Shirts
When Money 20/20 launched in 2012, its name referred to a deep dive into the payments future… eight years out. Perhaps the brand mavens had already planned for the conference’s success, but as the decade drew to a close a slash was added to its title, shifting the meaning to perfect vision into an ever-evolving future.
Hold onto Your Wallets- Debit Interchange under Scrutiny
We at BIG have been advising credit unions for some time not to become overly reliant on revenue from interchange fees. The Credit Card Competition Act, currently winding its way through Congress, is a prime example of the persistent threat. But now there’s an even more clear and present danger.
A Belated Christmas Gift: New Fed Payments Data
In prior cycles the Fed released its treasure trove of payments data over the Christmas holiday- an apt metaphor for a small niche of obsessives (myself included) who eagerly unwrapped this industry gift in search of insights.
ChatGPT Runs off the (Guard)Rails
It’s all fun and games until someone falls in love with a robot.
A mere three weeks ago we were playing with ChatGPT to generate whimsical poems about Crypto Winter. In the short period since, Google parent Alphabet’s stock sank 11% when a video leaked of an internal demo of its competing generative AI engine going awry. Then the New York Times ran a lengthy front page story about the test version of Microsoft Bing’s chatbot going rogue and trying to seduce its reporter into leaving his spouse.
Our ChatGPT Poem is Funny- and Illuminating
Media coverage of last week’s Visa/Mastercard settlement predictably- and appropriately- focused on the impact to merchants and the card network behemoths. Fortunately most news outlets avoided the dubious claim that consumers would somehow benefit from the estimated $30 billion fee concession (there were exceptions- looking at you, New York Times).
Payments Stories You May Have Missed
The industry news has been coming so fast and furious lately- while many are trying to squeeze in a last summer trip to the beach- that even those plugged into the payments and fintech spaces could be forgiven for overlooking a few headlines. Here are four stories I think deserve a bit more attention.
Fed Report Advances the CBDC Conversation (a little)
The Federal Reserve’s long-promised report on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) finally arrived last week- and it could serve as a Rorschach test separating the supporters from the skeptics.
New Fed Research Highlights COVID’s Impact on Payments
We’re all aware the pandemic has altered Americans’ shopping and payments behavior- the remaining questions are how, and by how much. There are plenty of good sources to track pockets of data- the PSCU Payments Index and Mastercard’s SpendingPulse immediately come to mind. For an authoritative and comprehensive view, however, the Federal Reserve remains the gold standard.
All Eyes on 2022- BIG’s Predictions for a Complicated World
Everyone has their opinions on where the credit union and technology worlds are headed; we at BIG have been documenting our predictions for several years running. Although the navel-gazing part is fun, we believe it’s equally important to hold ourselves accountable.
The Biggest Stories of 2021
ntech and credit union landscape during 2021, it quickly became clear how fast our world has been spinning.