These people are turning the payments industry on its head

BI Intelligence

The following is a blurb from BI Intelligence's "Payments Game Changers." To find out who's number 1, subscribe to BI Intelligence here.

Digital disruption is rocking the payments industry. Whether by developing new products or platforms, tapping new markets, or introducing fresh use cases, virtually every company is trying to navigate the ever-shifting ways people interact with their finances, and how that’s changing the way they purchase.

From legacy players trying to crack the digital code to startups hoping to break through, payments firms are looking to come up with the next big thing that changes the face of the industry. And whether that’s a new way to pay in-store, cutting-edge digital banking features, payment integration into popular chat apps, or fresh features that can be used to buy or sell, an influential group of key players are leading the charge. 

BI Intelligence has identified 17 of these payments industry game changers — folks that are reponsible for building products that solve major problems, the brains behind ideas that make payments easier and more seamless, and the forces behind industry-wide paradigm shifts in 2017. A portion of this list can be seen below:

17. Shreyas Doshi, Product Manager, Stripe

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• Who he is: Doshi leads the product management team at Stripe, a company that facilitates online and mobile payments, putting him at the helm of the firm's major applications, like Connect, Radar, and Stripe dashboard, and giving him significant leeway to innovate in important spaces, like business management and fraud protection. Previously, he worked in product management at Twitter, Google, and Yahoo. 
• Why he’s changing the game: Doshi and his team are working to build an innovative, all-encompassing payment platform that gives merchants 360-degree coverage of their needs. From paying contractors to managing payments to protecting from fraud, Stripe’s robust digital platform is giving legacy providers a run for their money. Offering products that combine new technology with old strategies is accelerating innovation in the digital payments space. And as e-commerce rises, the firm’s focus on APIs and simplicity, which keeps it accessible for smaller businesses while also catering to large enterprises, is building a model for scale that’s reflective of industry-wide trends.

16. Max Levchin, Co-Founder and CEO, Affirm

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• • Who he is: Levchin, who also co-founded PayPal, launched Affirm to redefine credit scoring and access in 2012. Since then, the company has taken off, forging multiple partnerships and piling up funding. Right now, Affirm is predominantly focused on partnering with retailers for POS financing — offering eligible consumers installment plans at the time of purchase — but plans on other ventures later, according to CNBC.
  • Why he’s changing the game: Traditional FICO scoring is outdated and doesn’t always share a full picture of consumers’ creditworthiness. That’s leading lenders to look closer at other metrics like utility bills to social media for credit scoring — something alternative lenders like Affirm have been doing for years. By doing so, these firms are using credit to give consumers access to a service they want — there’s demonstrated interest in POS financing. But they’re also encouraging consumers to buy more, which ultimately benefits payments players. We’ve seen payments firm take on Affirm-like models, like Mastercard’s Instalments offerings, and we’ll likely see more of it in order to increase high-volume buying. 

15. Ismail Ahmed, CEO and Founder, WorldRemit

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• Who he is: Ahmed, who spent much of his career working with the UN Remittance Program to help African remittance firms comply with anti-money-laundering policy, is the founder of WorldRemit, one of the largest digital-first remittance companies and a major industry disruptor. Founded in 2010, WorldRemit is now worth over $500 million, and allows customers to send cash from more than 50 countries to recipients in 125 markets worldwide.
• How he’s changing the game: Digital-first firms are aggressively disrupting the remittance space by undercutting legacy providers through lower fees and better online offerings. Ahmed told BI Intelligence last year that he sees WorldRemit as the “most global” digital player. But more importantly, his firm has embraced mobile money, partnering across the globe to give consumers options beyond bank accounts and cash payouts for receiving their funds. Though other firms are doing the same, Ahmed’s expertise in critical markets has put WorldRemit at the forefront, and could give it an advantage as demonetization in developing markets are rapidly giving rise to digital payments. 

14. David Thompson, Chief Technology Officer, Western Union

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• Who he is: Thompson is Western Union’s driving force behind machine learning and AI and also works on projects related to the firm’s digital transfer initiatives, including WU Connect, a series of APIs that allow the firm to integrate its offerings into messaging apps like Viber and WeChat. He joined the company in 2012, following stints at software firms like Oracle, and has served as CTO since 2012. 
• Why he’s changing the game: As the largest player in the space, Western Union sets the pace for innovation in the industry. And though it’s constantly feeling pressure from both its legacy peers as well as smaller, digital-first firms, the company has been able to effectively weather that storm and remain firmly in the lead. Its rapid innovation in the digital and mobile space has led to immense growth, but its also pushed its peers from across the industry to stay at the forefront in spaces like chat apps. It’s likely the work directed by Thompson will continue to set the pace for remittance disruption as the industry continues to change.

13. Mayur Patel, Director, Head of Business Development, Alipay USA

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• Who he is: Patel is the director of strategic partnerships and head of business development at Alipay USA, a role that follows other endeavors within the Ant Financial ecosystem. There, he’s responsible for a number of things, including driving merchant and consumer adoption of the wallet in the US, as well as managing bank and other partnerships.
• Why he’s changing the game: Alipay is massive — it’s the largest mobile wallet in China, controlling half of that country's mobile payments market in Q3 2016. And it’s rapidly expanding internationally, through partnerships in the US and Europe that will allow Chinese tourists to pay with Alipay while abroad. But in order to hit its goals, which include 60% of transactions coming from outside of China within 10 years, it will have to expand further into markets like the US. But the wallet's Chinese success could have lessons for the US, which means that with the right partnerships, Alipay's ultimate entry into the market could change the stagnant trajectory of mobile wallets and the way firms approach them as a service.

12. Shiv Singh, Senior Vice President, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Visa

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• Who he is: Singh has worn many hats at Visa since joining the company in 2013, but now works at the intersection of marketing and digital innovation for the firm. Shiv launched and helps manage Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, a startup competition that poses three Visa-specific business challenges and asks contestant firms to develop solutions using Visa’s digital tools and offerings. Winners are rewarded financially and with access to Visa mentorship and resources. The program, which launched in the US, now runs in several markets worldwide.
• Why he’s changing the game: The Everywhere Initiative is a refreshing approach to the way legacy companies interact with digital disruption — and with the companies that are threatening to disrupt them. It benefits both startups and Visa; Singh told BI Intelligence that the initiative essentially gives Visa a window into the startup community, ultimately providing the card network with access to what’s next in payments innovation, and into new ways it could leverage its tools and services. It could serve as a model for how legacy firms can embrace change and competition without risking cannibalization in a changing industry.

11. Luke Gebb, Senior Vice President and Head of Enterprise Digital, American Express

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• Who he is: Gebb oversees an organization responsible for digital commerce products at Amex, consolidating platforms from six groups under one unified segment. Previously, he worked on new marketing and analytics products connected to the firm's closed-loop data. Recently, he’s had a hand in a number of the firm’s digital initiatives, including Amex Express Checkout, the firm’s single-click buy button, and the Amex Facebook Messenger bot.
• Why he’s changing the game: Amex is harnessing digital extremely effectively — in its 2017 Investor Day presentation, Amex announced it had doubled the number of monthly users accessing its mobile card apps in 2015 and 2016. That’s massive digital growth, and the results underscore the importance of investment in digital card services across the board. That could help lift Amex following the loss of the Costco portfolio in mid-2016. But more importantly, the firm's digital success, and willingness to experiment, led by Gebb, demonstrates the ways a luxury card brand can appeal to and attract a younger audience at a time that millennials don’t have credit — something that we’ll likely see more of in the next years. 

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