Interview | Ed Adshead-Grant, Director of Strategic Business Development at Bottomline

We caught up with Ed Adshead-Grant, Director of Strategic Business Development at Bottomline to find out the role Bottomline plays within the complex payments ecosystem, their real life examples of being innovative with payements. Ed also gives us his opinion on whether we are moving to a cashless society.

What are you most excited about for payments in 2021?

The transformational models emerging with Open Banking in the UK and then further across the world with over 60 countries now running some form of open banking initiative. This digitalisation of our industry is irreversible.

The payments ecosystem is hugely complex; what role does your company play?

Bottomline is focused on enterprise payments and the ecosystem immediately around it. This means everything from Faster Payments, ACH rails and SWIFT through to Visa B2B networks, financial crime and local settlement systems.

Have you got any recent examples of some of the innovation in payments coming out of your organisation?

The SWIFT API gpi project we delivered was the first in the world and we are just in the process of launching Beneficiary Account Verification to help improve the STP rates on payments globally. This year we were also recognised in the industry for the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service we set up for Banks in the UK to stem the alarming rise in Authorised Push Payment fraud.

In this age of accelerated digital transformation what do you think can be done to keep payments secure?

The ideal scenario is to prevent not sure so more controls and pre-validation of payments is a key ingredient. We also see companies investing in more captive sanctions solutions so they know where their payments are going and who exactly they are paying. Its not reasonable to rely on the banks every time in a transaction. The data science is now real time and smart with the AI algorithms to pick out both unusual transactions and any internal employee behaviours that are unusual.

How do you think payments has been impacted by the pandemic?

Yes, increase in digitalization, reduction in cash and cheques, higher customer expectation. However, more fraud as there is a lack of education as the transition has been unnaturally accelerated. In the UKK APP fraud has now overtaken card fraud and may well burst through £1 billion losses this year – a first in the history of payments.

What is your opinion on Buy Now Pay Later; what impact do you think it could have on both consumers and industry?

BNPL is another interesting innovation at the point of transaction, which satisfies the realtime economy. Much more consumer led which is not Bottomline’s focus but we are watching the models with interest to see how it may apply to the world of corporate payments.

Are you excited about the proliferation of Open Finance and Open APIs? Is this the next stage of Open Banking?

The Open Banking model is the biggest change in my lifetime in payments. Similar to the internet back in 1998, people are still working out the power of real time access to data, payments and instructions that come in the Open Banking world. I expect the use cases will exponentially grow over the next couple of years. We are already seeing a large inflow of investment capital into this area with 518 TPPs registered across Europe in Open Banking as of October 2021. Open Banking leads to Open Finance which naturally leads to Open/Smart Data.

Do you think we are moving towards a cashless society?

Yes, over the longer term with digital banking, smartphones and cards. Since Covid, I have become comfortable leaving the house without my wallet. Now its just keys and phone. However, there is the concern that if we are monitored on what we buy via bank account or card then it is a privacy issue. Whether we like it or not, e-money and digital wallets are so popular because of things that customer s want to keep secret e.g. online gaming & gambling.. Also, it has repercussions for the unbanked and the most vulnerable in our society.

Are you seeing an evolution in B2B payments?

Yes of course. Move towards innovation, globalization, level playing fields between traditional + incumbents. Much more collaboration and support from market infrastructures, gov + industry bodes – OBIE etc.

What role do you think digital currencies could play in the future of payments?

Given the level of uncertainty over digital money and the various forms it might take, it’s hard to be certain of anything but I think we can say that digital currencies will become mainstream in some jurisdictions, and therefore we’ll need to plan for them to be part of the future of payments. There are now a number of live pilots running across the globe exploring various use cases and that momentum coupled with the high levels of engagement from the world’s leading central banks have taken us past the tipping point. Programmable money is one area where digital money based around DLT will likely gather traction – payments triggered automatically once the conditions of a contract are satisfied or perhaps payments made to consumers or businesses that can only be used for specific purposes.

Lastly you are kindly sponsoring FinTech Connect; are you able to give a little preview of what you will be discussing there?

Bottomline is focused on some of the mandated changes where our customers need support over the next 12 months so we are covering the ISO20022 deadlines from SWIFT, the growing use of real-time domestic payments, the improvements coming into cross-border border payments especially with the G20 review project and the ways we can stop or deter fraud across the enterprise, both internal employee and external fraud.