TRANSACT 16: Giants Take the Keynote Stage on Day 3

Las Vegas, Nevada – When your brand touches millions of people every day, how do you figure out what’s next? Today’s keynote speakers – Paul Galant of Verifone and David Nelms of Discover – make it their business to keep their companies on the cutting edge of innovation. As CEOs of two hugely successful companies, every decision they make has a dramatic impact on commerce – here in the United States and all around the world. We were fortunate to hear some of their insights last Thursday, April 21.

Paul Galant’s number one priority is to make Verifone the technological backbone of the payments industry. In an informal fireside chat with ETA CEO Jason Oxman, Paul walked through the evolution of the point of sale, starting with the original “feature phone” style POS, which did one thing – swiping cards – and did it well, all the way through to the modern “network end point” which can accept any payment form factor and works across all kinds of devices and platforms. As the Internet of Things grows, the tradeoff between a secure transaction and a frictionless one is rapidly eroding. Verifone is working to make every device a point of sale and create a single, consistent experience for consumer and merchant alike regardless of the form factor. During this remarkable fireside chat, Paul shared his thoughts on EMV – arguing that “EMV gave merchants a new budget” which they’re putting towards new and innovative POS systems – and finding the right people for the Verifone team.

David Nelms understands how the payments ecosystem fits into the broader landscape of financial services. Discover has expanded its business to include direct banking services like checking accounts, loans, and home equity, all while maintaining a robust credit card business and reporting a staggering 8% growth in the last quarter. David shared his optimism about the new payments devices proliferating on the market – from chip cards to smartphones to watches, wearables, and IoT-connected appliances – and the innovations that lie ahead. As a financial services company offering a wide range of products and services, Discover is subject to a complex and challenging regulatory environment, which can make innovation difficult at times. But for David, the key is building strong partnerships with companies that can offer services that merchants and consumers want quickly and flexibly. He was candid about the need for our industry to coordinate more closely to complete the EMV migration, and expressed a preference for “chip-and-choice” rather than a mandate imposing either PIN or signature authentication on issuers and acquirers. But as David put it, no one has ever executed an EMV migration in an industry as large and complex as ours – and overall, we can be confident that this upgrade will be successful.

Thursday’s keynotes offered a valuable – if brief – glimpse into the mindset and motivations of our industry’s greatest visionaries, and kicked off the final day of TRANSACT with energizing and inspiring insights.