TDB: Your appointment as Chief Revenue Officer at Episode Six (E6) comes at a challenging time for businesses across various segments and verticals given ongoing economic uncertainty. What are your immediate priorities in terms of driving new growth for the business and expanding E6’s reach?
Brian: At Episode Six, our mission is to empower companies to create payment products that customers love. With the broader market challenges and economic uncertainty, payment solutions are an increasingly important value lever for businesses to capture, unlock and scale.
My immediate priority as Chief Revenue Officer is to enable more banks and companies to capture that value, by providing them the modern payments and ledger infrastructure they need to build compelling customer propositions.
Payments and cards solutions that are instant, always accessible and personalized to the user are the key to driving improved customer satisfaction, and with that, higher levels of customer retention, growth, and profit.
Our technology platform, TRITIUM®, was designed and built for that purpose. As a truly globally distributed platform on a single code base, E6 already operates in 40+ countries, and my focus will be on reaching and powering more banks and companies in those markets, and others, all around the world.
TDB: Where does the TRITIUM® platform sit within these plans and how is it demonstrating value to banks and payment companies in terms of augmenting their existing technology stack and addressing various payment related use-cases?
Brian: As a technology company, the TRITIUM platform lies at the heart of everything we do, enabling E6 to deliver unparalleled value to banks and payment companies seeking to enhance their payment offerings and upgrade their infrastructure.
Our platform’s cloud-native architecture and extensive suite of features empower banks to seamlessly adapt to the evolving payment landscape and stay ahead of the market.
TRITIUM provides a full range of payments solutions, from issuer processing, ledger management and credit to deposits, rewards, and instalments. The platform’s flexibility and scalability allow for rapid customization, ensuring companies can create various payment-related use-cases across different markets and verticals, all with the robust performance, controls and security needed to operate payment products at scale.
By utilizing our innovative ionic plugin framework, banks can integrate TRITIUM into their existing technology stack in a simple and powerful manner, augmenting their existing infrastructure to create new use cases combining any number of products and features.
TRITIUM provides banks the platform they need to leapfrog the competition and deliver better payment products for their customers, with quicker development timelines, maximum flexibility and performance, and everything in real-time.
TDB: Globally, there is pressure on banks, market infrastructures and regulators to consider the adoption of new payment rails to effectively meet client demands for real-time payment solutions. What has been holding these institutions back in terms of undertaking much needed payment innovation?
Brian: The adoption of new real-time payment rails has indeed been a topic of increasing importance in the financial market landscape.
We have seen several successes in the recent years, such as in India, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. In these markets, the wide-spread usage from real-time payments is evident and leading to ever-greater customer and ecosystem benefits.
Several factors need to be overcome to do this correctly. Most important is security and compliance. The financial industry operates in a highly regulated environment, and any new payment rail or technology must adhere to strict security standards and compliance requirements to ensure the protection of customers’ data and funds.
There is also the need to build consensus among multiple stakeholders within the ecosystem, which can slow down the pace of innovation.
At Episode Six, we believe people deserve payments that are instant and accessible in real-time. And it is incumbent on all market participants to work together to bring secure and compliant real-time payment solutions to market, as expeditiously as possible.
TDB: Given the extent of disruption that has already taken place in payments globally and the existing complexity of international payments infrastructure, what changes are needed to refine payment strategies for a simpler and more streamlined architecture? Is the industry prepared and ready to make those adjustments?
Brian: The global payments landscape has indeed witnessed significant disruption, and the complexity of international payments infrastructure poses challenges for the industry. To achieve a simpler and more streamlined architecture, several changes are necessary.
Embracing modern cloud-native technologies, like our TRITIUM platform, is critical. Adopting flexible, scalable solutions allows financial institutions to respond more swiftly and cost-effectively to changing market dynamics and customer demands, while maintaining the highest levels of performance, controls and security.
Additionally, the industry must prioritize collaboration and partnerships to accelerate innovation and address challenges collectively. By working together, banks, fintechs, and technology providers can leverage each other’s strengths and expertise, fostering a more customer-centric and cohesive approach to payment solutions.
As for the readiness of the industry, we see positive signs of progress. Many institutions are recognizing the need for digital transformation and are actively progressing modernization efforts with the support of partners and new technologies.
At Episode Six, we are committed to helping institutions navigate these changes and capitalize on the opportunities presented by the evolving payments landscape.
TDB: How do you view the immediate impact of the FedNow Service on existing stakeholders and do you consider this as a potential game-changer in the US similar to how Pix is seemingly displacing card-based payment transactions in Brazil?
Brian: The launch of the FedNow Service is undoubtedly a significant development in the US payment ecosystem.
As a real-time payment system operated by the Federal Reserve, it has the potential to materially impact the payments market in the US. It can enable quicker settlement of transactions and improve cash flow for businesses while providing customers with a more convenient and instant payment experience.
As for the immediate impact of the FedNow Service, this is less clear. An important factor will be the uptake of market participants, such that the service is widely available. This may take some time.
Ultimately, the adoption and success of the FedNow Service will hinge on how well it addresses the needs of the market, its interoperability with other payment systems, and the level of collaboration and innovation among stakeholders. It is certainly an important development to watch closely.
