The biggest story in the news at the moment is of course the coronavirus pandemic and its impact and implications, not just nationally but on a global basis.
Since the last issue of MarketEye, the world has become a different place and when we get through this undoubtedly it will have changed.
Already the virus has made an impact on not just the national and global economic markets but also the payments industry.
The World Health Organisation has advised consumers to avoid handling bank notes and instead switch to contactless payments to deter the spread of coronavirus.
Many retailers have started to refuse cash in an attempt to limit its spread.
UK Finance has announced that the spending limit for contactless card payments will be increased from £30 to £45, with a national roll-out beginning from 1 April 2020.
The decision to raise the limit was taken following consultation between the retail sector and the finance and payments industry. It follows similar increases in several other countries over the past week including Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Poland and Turkey.
The changes were apparently already under consideration, but have been brought forward as part of the industry’s response to the coronavirus outbreak to support consumers who choose to pay using contactless at this time.
Irish bank AIB says that in light of the coronavirus outbreak it is suspending its recently announced plan to introduce transaction charges for contactless payments.
This is not an easy time for anyone. Savantor wishes all our MarketEye readers and their families good health during this difficult time.
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"Savantor's support in our platform selection process has enabled us to sustain our profitability and positioning for the future. Their advice and guidance was essential to our decision-making."
Robert Lambert, Head of Cards Strategy - Permanent tsb bank - Ireland
"This was a major business transformation that required us to build an excellent team made up of internal bank specialists, supported by external card business, technical and operations expertise. Savantor provided specialists from the local market and with international experience to fill a variety of important roles. The Savantor resourcing team are professional, reliable and good people to work with."
Ricardo Gomez, Director - Operations & Technology - WiZink Bank - Spain
"Savantor did a superb job in confirming what we believed was an area of weakness. The detail we now have will enable us to agree internally what we need to do to improve structure, control and income. Nationwide management were very impressed with the quality of the Savantor team."
Adam Slater, Senior Manager - Banking - Nationwide Building Society - UK
"Savantor helped ACI build a payments onboarding workshop for new technical staff in ACI EMEA. Their extensive experience took our outline and built a great starting presentation of industry facts that we have now customised further into a half day session that is used for all new joiners. Our Americas and APAC regions have also taken the material and customised it for their regions. A great job by Savantor has meant new joiners to ACI hit the ground running."
Richard Sanders, Principal Solution Consultant - ACI - Worldwide EMEA
"Savantor brought an effective blend of European acquirer market expertise and transaction processing solution design. Their experts quickly forged strong working relationships with our team. We enjoyed working with them to create our future acquirer strategy."
Mikko Hyttinen, SVP - Lending Services - OP-Pohjola Group - Finland
"We needed expert help at short notice and Savantor were very impressive in their response and knowledge. The results were very clear and useful, enabling us to quickly make good progress on the next steps."
Sami Karhunen, Head of Business Intelligence and SME Sales - Point Transaction Systems Oy - Finland
"It was a strategic imperative for the bank to be EMV compliant for our payment cards and the experience that Savantor brought to the company has proved to be invaluable."
Eddie Sweeney, Chief Technology Officer - AIB Bank - Ireland
"The bank has undergone significant transformation of its card business on both the issuing and acquiring sides. One business partner we have looked to for support in the areas of strategy, major project leadership, management analysis and ongoing business support is Savantor. The Savantor team has contributed to our success as we have leveraged their deep industry knowledge and broad range of operational skills."
Sean Sheehan, Service Management Director - Bank of Ireland
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