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.MAC UPDATES
MAC announces change in membership dues structure
The MAC Board of Directors, as part of its efforts to enhance the member experience, made the decision to restructure MAC’s membership dues effective later this year.
In this new model, membership will be open to anyone within your organization as part of your standard organizational membership, with no additional per person fees. This back-to-basics dues model is your chance to welcome more of your team to a MAC membership and all its benefits.
By simplifying the membership structure, MAC can provide members with better service at lower cost and renew our focus on MAC’s educational mission. It provides MAC volunteers and staff more time to focus on creating educational experiences and resources that further grow the value of membership.
As an additional benefit, MAC will remain one of the lowest cost nonprofit trade associations, according to benchmarks provided by the American Society of Association Executives. Minimizing the financial impact was a top priority for the MAC Board of Directors, and the new model will keep MAC in the top 10% of most affordable trade associations.
To enable this change, and introduce other new member-only benefits, MAC will unveil a new website this Spring. The new site will bring greater opportunities for members to network, share, and engage with other members. The new site also establishes a platform for MAC to expand benefits for all members, including new educational and volunteer leadership opportunities.
We look forward to continuing to provide members with great education as MAC creates its next stage of impact in the payments ecosystem. Please continue to read MAC Dispatch and watch for MAC emails for more updates and details on these exciting changes over the next few months.
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New leadership and growth opportunities are open
MAC seeks creative and innovative leaders from the payments industry to serve on the Board of Directors and Board Advisor roles. We seek individuals who are collaborative and interested in building a more inclusive organization where all members can engage and grow. This year we have six Director positions and the office of Treasurer open for election.
You may nominate yourself or another member. Applicant submissions are due by April 15th. Click here for more information. If you would like to nominate an applicant, please send an email with their name and current contact information to info@macmember.org with the word “Nomination” in the subject and someone will reach out to the nominated individual to encourage an application.
Not yet ready to serve on the MAC Board, but still interested in being more involved? It’s a great time to be a part of the MAC community. Only through our volunteer efforts, each taking a turn, will we be able to continue to build a strong, active, and successful association.
If you would like to be a part of making change happen, we are currently welcoming new volunteers in a variety of roles. This can be a great way to make new connections, develop new skills, and make a difference for the payments community. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, email volunteer@macmember.org.
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.INDUSTRY NEWS
Banks large and small turn to fintech friends for modernization
PYMNTS
From multinational banks to community financial institutions (FIs), teaming up with external help can be a valuable strategy to strengthening product offerings.
This week’s examination of bank-FinTech collaborations finds one FinTech embracing the Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) model for trade finance, while Deutsche Bank, Community Bank and others tap their FinTech friends to accelerate modernization.
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Legitimate merchants and bad actors alike can adapt to anything, including a pandemic. Whether you have a conservative or risky merchant portfolio, understanding shifts in payments risk is core to your success. This year’s event is dedicated to the tools of modern risk management—web forensics, data science, and automation.
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Digital banking trends evolve in 2021, but customer needs stay the same
Forbes
In 1914 an economist named William Scott wrote a book about banking called Banking. In his book, Scott outlined the four main services that commercial banks performed: The safekeeping of money and other valuables, the making of payments, the making of loans, and the making of investments
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Digital wallets are now the most popular payment method in the world
Motley Fool
Every year, FIS, a financial services company that performs retail analytics, documents payment trends around the world in its Global Payments Report. This report gives us an idea of the newest changes and what to expect in the future. The big news this year was a surge in digital wallet spending, which became the most popular payment method for e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) transactions.
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More physician practices move to contactless payment options
American Medical Association
Medical masks, surgical gloves, physical distancing and plexiglass barriers are now medical office standard equipment, but contactless payment technology and no-touch record keeping are not yet universal. Some physician practices still accept payments in the old-fashioned way with checks, spreadsheet ledgers and manual credit-card readers.
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AgeChecker.Net is the leading provider in online age verification for age-restricted industries. Compliance for Tobacco, Vape, CBD, gaming, supplements and many more. Require your merchants to use online age verification for age restricted products. Protect your merchant portfolio by adding an additional layer of KYC compliance.
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Kessler hotel chain takes high road on crypto payments
PYMNTS
In a move that separates it from the pack and provides a further signal that cryptocurrencies are moving mainstream, earlier this month, luxury hotel chain The Kessler Collection announced that it would begin accepting cryptocurrencies at eight of its high-end boutique hotels. While such a move might seem like little more than a publicity stunt, PYMNTS spoke with The Kessler Collection CFO Fravy Collazo and found that the benefits go far beyond a bit of good press. In fact, he said, there are several business-level advantages to adding crypto as a payment channel at their properties.
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Payment trends that are empowering consumers
FreightWaves
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught society so many lessons when it comes to e-commerce and the broader economy. Few, though, have been bigger than the ones the payments industry has learned. Cash transactions, and even traditional credit cards, are no longer enough for the billions of people who have embraced e-commerce.
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QR code payments are convenient, great for distancing, and targets for fraud
Total Retail
QR code payments have finally caught on in the U.S. after lagging behind adoption in China and other Asian markets. Why the change? The need for contactless payments brought on by the pandemic sent retailers looking for inexpensive, quick-to-implement ways to let customers pay from a distance, and QR codes fit the bill. However, with every payment method that gains popularity, fraudsters follow. Here’s what retailers and consumers need to know about using QR code payment technology safely.
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Promoted By LegitScript
Learn how an effective and accurate merchant monitoring solution can save risk teams hours of wasted time while enabling them to focus on important priorities like enforcement, merchant communications, and more.
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Real-time payments: Everything you need to know
PaymentsJournal
Real-time payments (RTP) are payments that are initiated and settled nearly instantaneously. A real-time payments rail is the digital infrastructure that facilitates real-time payments. Ideally, real-time payment networks provide 24x7x365 access, which means they are always online to process transfers. This includes weekends and holidays.
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SPAC boom or bubble? Another fintech SPAC launches amid lurking question
Business Insider
Tech-focused investment bank FT Partners founder and CEO Steve McLaughlin formed a $500M fintech
SPAC
with Gene Yoon, the founder of private equity firm Bregal Sagemount, per Finextra. Through them, their firms will be affiliated with the SPAC. Trading on the NASDAQ, the Independence Holdings Corp. will acquire fintechs valued between $2 billion and $10 billion and will pay particular attention to those that process payments between businesses or provide financial management services.
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The future of payments: 3 forces challenging the status quo
Forbes
The way merchants adopt and leverage payment-acceptance technologies is evolving. Increasingly, payments are viewed as something that should be 'baked in' instead of 'bolted on.' This is having a profound impact on the distribution model for payment processing, as well as the skill sets needed to succeed. It's also resulting in long-term implications to revenue and profit dynamics within the industry.
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The U.S. unemployment system is plagued by $63 billion in fraud and dysfunction
Bloomberg
President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package will send billions of dollars to America’s jobless. It’s also a potential bonanza for scammers.
Throughout the COVID crisis, unemployment programs have served as a lifeline, channeling more than $650 billion over the past year to millions of struggling households. But the state-run agencies that distribute the funds have been overwhelmed, making their harried staff as well as their glitchy computer systems easy prey for criminals.
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Promoted by
Sysnet Global Solutions
| Are you ‘prescribing’ the right security solution to your merchants?
When it comes to small businesses, an all-in-one cybersecurity solution is just what the doctor ordered. |
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Promoted by
MultiView
Nearly two decades ago we recognized that industry associations relied on offline communications in an increasingly online world. We also saw that businesses who sell to other businesses [B2B] were limited to just a few traditional tactics for reaching their niche groups.
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Deutsche Bank, TIS partner on corporate fraud prevention
PYMNTS
Deutsche Bank and Treasury Intelligence Solutions (TIS) will be entering a strategic partnership in order to work on multi-bank issues, including fraud, according to a press release.
The focus is on “new and innovative products and services combining the complementary capabilities and skills of an experienced payment platform provider with the expertise of a global corporate bank,” the release stated.
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