As fintech companies continue to reinvent the world of finance, some of the most daring innovations are happening in the Payments space. The recent Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas –the largest conferences in the US devoted to payments – put a spotlight on the many areas currently being transformed by financial technology.
Papaya Global took part in the conference and showed how payroll and payments work best when they are part of the same continuum. “With the addition of payments, our payroll solution now covers the process from A to Z,” said Papaya co-founder and CTO Ofer Herman, who led the Papaya team at the conference.
“Our goal is to ensure that cross-border payments are held to the same exacting standard as every other part of payroll,” he said. “That is to say, our job is to ensure that payments are carried out on time, every time, across the globe.
“The payroll process has two halves,” he added. “The first part is calculating the payroll, and our platform has automated that process for any company with a global workforce. The second part is making the payment. Many companies need an effective payments solution.
“As we saw at Money20/20, we’re the only company offering a complete workforce solution that covers all types of workers and includes both payroll and payments in over 100 countries.”
Compliance is the holy grail of the payroll process, requiring a unique solution for every country where a company has team members. With payroll, the challenge is even more acute, Ofer said, because the solution must also take into account the specific channels for the payments, and that means greater emphasis on legal regulations.
“Our challenge now is building a solution that can maintain compliance in many locations,” Ofer said. “The biggest barrier to making smooth payments and providing the best custom experience is regulation and compliance. We want to build the technology and experience that will make it seamless for both companies and employees.”
Additional Highlights of Money20/20
The three-day conference brought together hundreds of companies focused on the future of payments. The conference offered sessions on some of the biggest emerging technologies including the impact of blockchain in the payments space, solutions for unbanked people, the fusion of fintech and banking with new banking-as-a-Service capabilities, and the expanding role of credit cards in the coming years.
This year, big tech companies made some of the biggest waves, from Facebook’s foray into cryptocurrency to companies such as Amazon and Uber moving into the payments space, there was a visible trend of tech giants flexing their muscles in the worlds of finance and fintech.
The Rise of Cryptocurrencies
Facebook’s planned entry into the jungle of cryptocurrency was a major point of discussion at the conference, both in sessions and among many of the participants. The social media giant still has enough clout to influence the direction of cryptocurrencies everywhere, making it impossible to ignore FB’s Libra coin.
David Marcus, co-creator and head of Libra and keynote speaker on the second day of the conference, said his team was working hard on regulatory and licensing issues and hopes to have banks involved when those technical issues were resolved.
But that wasn’t the whole blockchain story at Money20/20. In fact, it’s only the beginning when speaking of the fintech space. Companies as large as MasterCard are transforming the financial service delivery.
Credit Cards Expand
Just as Facebook is taking meaningful steps outside its core business of social networking with its Libra crypto-coin, Uber and Amazon unveiled plans to move beyond their own core industries. Uber is seeking to become the primary banking option to its enormous cadre of drivers. It unveiled the Uber Wallet service to go along with its existing Uber Money program, bringing together all of its financial services in one place. The Uber credit card also got a boost. The card and bank account are available for free to Uber drivers.
The service is sure to appeal to the growing number of independent workers who have not been targeted by the banking industry.
Amazon also moved deeper into payments circle with its new service allowing people to pay their utility bills online, and has begun to experiment with the capability for its Alexa service to allow people to pay by voice. When perfected, that service can influence how bills are paid among the 100 million Amazon Prime members.
Artificial Intelligence Makes Loans Quicker and Easier
Whenever money changes hands, the danger of fraud is always present. That’s why fighting payment fraud with help from AI is a growing field that looks to have a bright future. AI has proven effective at identity detection and at mitigating the impact of fraud when it does turn up.
Spotting potential fraud in loans not only reduces risk for the lending party but also improves services for legitimate customers. The process takes less time when AI is employed, from calculating the level of risk to helping decision-makers assess bias, to helping underwrite the loans.
Learn More About Papaya’s Payments Solution
Hiring abroad or managing a global workforce can be a daunting task. Our mission is for you to regain control by offering complete transparency through direct access to our local partners, a consolidated overview of your global payrolls, EORs, and contractors; and fixed pricing without hidden fees.
The Papaya Platform integrates with your HRIS and ERP and ensures full legal compliance. Workers are paid in their local currency and receive payslips in their native language through our secure worker portal.
See how Papaya’s global payroll solution manages on all aspects of payroll, including hiring, onboarding, managing, and paying a global workforce.
