Javelin Strategy & Research Inc.

This article focuses on one of many startups in the consumer protective services space, as evidence of an "evergreen" market category. Current challenging economic times make investment in this ID Fraud sector a natural, and desperate times could actually bring about increased criminal activity leading to higher revenues. Key companies include Affinion, CardCops, Debix, Experian, Equifax, Fair Isaac,...

Mobile PtoP payments are a disruptive technology that must be monitored by financial industry investors, because it requires no hardware infrastructure change, and can be adopted by consumers today to send payments between individuals. All leading payments brands, banks, and processors could be affected by growth in mobile PtoP payments, and Javelin's research data shows that this is a technology...

Although companies are trying to transform the traditional interchange system and provide a reduced interchange fee structure, consumers don't believe that merchants will share the gains with them. Companies should focus more on security and the ability to accept the method of payment through existing infrastructure and/or with existing payment partners, which may resonate better with consumers.

Cardholders crave the ability to control which transactions are allowed to occur in their accounts, as well as which specific transactions, channels and thresholds are used to alert them of specific activity based on conditions they have set in advance. These capabilities may go beyond just preventing fraud losses, but also may have a big impact on which card consumers decide to use or what new account...

Consumers should have more control in how their identity information is used. In financial services and payments, the trick is to bridge the islands of identity directly from the core processing systems or payment account record out to notifications and controls that securely and conveniently reside in the hands of the authenticated customer.