Today's guest blogger is Paul Wilmore, Managing Director at Barclaycard US
I recently had the pleasure to attend the Future of Money & Technology Summit in San Francisco. There were about 1,000 attendees ranging from start-ups to well-established card issuers like American Express and many in between. It was a one-day event with a robust agenda featuring panel format discussions with three panels taking place simultaneously. The topics included virtual currency, new types of payment startups and the new automation of underwriting.
The Summit showed that there are a lot of hungry startups -- with venture capital backing -- that are redefining how consumers interact with payments. The new ways of transacting are totally different from the past and it is essential for big companies to watch and learn what people are doing in this space. In addition, I was able to see how innovative companies are serving the unbanked consumer base in unique ways.
I met great contacts including representatives from Bitcoin.com, Rally.org, Klout and Social Stock to name a few. The companies in attendance continuously think about new ways to deal with consumers. I also was able to see how the start-up world is different – it’s not corporate America and there is a strong focus on young folks.
I was on the panel that discussed financial innovation and changing the way we transact. Joining me on the panel were Antonio Benjamin, Global Chief Technology Officer at Citibank; Shamir Karkal, Chief Financial Officer of Bank Simple; and Michael Mikel, the co-founder of Burning Man.
We discussed different things around financial innovation, personal data, and how communities are impacting financial systems. I spoke about the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard, the first social credit card designed and built through the power of community crowdsourcing. I told the audience that reaction to Ring has been very positive and there was a great deal of audience interest in the concept. Several of the companies in attendance wanted to determine how to do business with us and take advantage of this new opportunity.
There was a Twitter board on view during the presentations and what I found interesting is that industry influencers and audience members tweeted during presentations resulting in instantaneous flow of information that spirals on the Web in real time. Twitter is a fascinating medium and it was fun to see it in action.
This was the third Future of Money & Technology Summit and the next event is scheduled for spring 2013. I look forward to attending and hearing where the future of money and technology will take us next.
- Paul Wilmore, Managing Director-Consumer Markets, Barclaycard US
Learn more about Paul and his vision for Barclaycard Ring in the "Buzz" section on BarclaycardRing.com or in the FastCompany article written when Barclaycard Ring was first launched.
Is Barclaycard Ring right for you?
Barclaycard Ring is based on a few core principles: we believe customers deserve a simple credit card that's also a great deal. We believe that as a bank, we need our customers' ongoing feedback to make Barclaycard Ring even better. And on that note, we think members should have a real say in how their credit card evolves over time.
