Past Articles
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European Payments: And Now, for Something Completely Different!
Jun 9, 2023In comparison to other regions, Europe is quite uniquely organised. The European Union and the wider European Economic Area are complex due to the multi-cultural mix of member states. The law-making process is lengthy and somewhat convoluted, with the European Commission taking most of the initiative. During the entire process, external interest groups are invited to submit their views but may also send in unsolicited positions, hoping to influence lawmaking to suit their constituencies.
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An Inside Look at the Last 15 Years With the MAG: A Conversation with Founding Board Member Chris Priebe
Jun 6, 2023Fifteen years ago, Chris Priebe, Senior Director – Treasury Payments and Risk, Southwest Airlines and Vice Chair, MAG Board of Directors, felt fortunate enough to be in the room at Southwest Airlines Headquarters with a few really ambitious merchants who were gearing up for an exciting endeavor. The goal of this endeavor was to make a merchant-led educational and advocacy group, now known as the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG), that would bring merchants together for two semi-annual meetings.
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To surcharge or not to surcharge? Making sense of payment method incentive programs.
May 24, 2023Merchants who want to incentivize customers to use a lower-cost payment method can surcharge credit card transactions, perhaps charge a convenience fee, or even offer a cash discount. But merchants beware: a complex matrix of rules stands between you and the decision. As you begin to consider surcharging, it is important to consider the tangled web of requirements to be evaluated from multiple sources including case law, legislation, court actions, state/city laws, card brand rules, and even your own merchant agreements.
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Membership News: Spring has Sprung…and so has MAG Growth!
May 18, 2023We are excited to share that in addition to our continued MAG member and sponsor growth, our internal team has grown as well. With our focus on growing the MAG, we are targeting several industry verticals for membership growth, including eCommerce, healthcare, insurance, education, hospitality, gaming, fitness, and, as always, the Retail Top 100.
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Get Involved in Faster Payments
May 3, 2023There is a lot of attention on Faster Payments these days, but there is also a lot of confusion. The United States is in a unique position where, come summer of 2023, there will be two real-time payments networks: The Clearing House (TCH), owned by the banks, and FedNow that the Fed will launch this summer. This competitive landscape highlights the endorsement of real-time payments and will drive innovation.
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Debit Routing: Lowering Your Cost of Payments Acceptance Through Taking Control
May 1, 2023Over ten years ago, Congress passed legislation aimed at making debit acceptance more competitive. The law, known as Regulation II or the Durbin Amendment, locked in merchants’ right to choose between two unaffiliated networks in the routing of a PIN debit transaction.
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The 118th Congress Convenes and Regulatory Activity Kicks Off the New Year
Mar 30, 2023With such an exciting 2022 for payments policy, it is important to look ahead at what 2023 will bring. In 2023, we will see the enforcement date of the Federal Reserve Board’s (Fed) Regulation II Debit Routing Clarification come into effect on July 1, renewed efforts on the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), and regulatory agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will remain hard at work. Below is an update as to what is going on in DC.
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Leverage MAG Resources to Expand Your Growth in the Payments Ecosystem
Mar 29, 2023There are many ways to utilize the MAG’s member benefits and available resources to help move your business forward.
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A Closer Look at ISO 20022
Mar 22, 2023For most of the last 40 years, the payments industry has primarily relied on the ISO 8583 standard for processing payment transactions. More recently another standard, ISO 20022, has begun making appearances in certain payment applications in the U.S. ISO 20022 is a global standard for exchanging electronic financial messages of all sorts. While it may seem to many that 20022 is a new standard, it has actually been around for almost two decades being first published by ISO in 2004 and has been adopted in a number of countries around the globe.
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MAG Mid-Year Conference and Tech Forum was THE Place to Be
Mar 8, 2023MAG’s conferences continue to grow! With nearly 900 merchants and sponsors in attendance, we once again surpassed previous in-person attendance numbers for our Mid-Year Conference & Tech Forum. The amount of active networking throughout the event created a palpable buzz - supporting the fact that MAG Conferences are the ‘can’t-miss-event’ in the payments industry.
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The True Cost of Buy Now Pay Later
Feb 13, 2023The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) industry appears to be on the brink of a shake-up. On the surface, the deal is simple: consumers have a way to split their purchase into multiple payments over time, and merchants pay service fees to the providers. In theory, the flexibility should drive additional sales to retailers, but is this model the best idea for both consumers and retailers? In this article, Grant Thornton Australia’s Merchant Payments Advisory lead, Partner Dhun Karai, outlines the current BNPL challenges and what the proposed tightening of regulations and increasing consumer discontent might translate to for merchants. She encourages merchants to speak up about their wishes for the future of BNPL products to protect both shoppers and merchants from escalating costs and increase the attractiveness for both sides of the retail industry.
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Building the Next Generation of Payments Leaders
Feb 10, 2023We all dream of that day in our professional careers when we hang up our hat and enjoy retirement by relaxing on a beach, partaking in an early morning tee time, spending time with our grandchildren, or taking up tennis lessons. For some, that might be sooner than we think. For others, maybe decades away still.
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Collaboration: 2022 In Review
Jan 6, 2023Well, here we are – the end of another year. As we rapidly approach New Years, it’s common to look back and evaluate progress (or lack thereof) that was made during the year. Maybe you finally paid off that debt. Maybe you finally fixed that creaky floorboard in your house. Or maybe it was progress you made in your professional life…like learning a new skill, developing your team, or making new connections. We all have personal and professional goals that we strive to accomplish over the course of our lives and the MAG’s Collaboration Pillar is no different.
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Payments, Technology, and the MAG
Jan 5, 2023Payments and technology have changed at a blistering pace in the last 20 years. Today, merchants face many challenges in keeping up with the latest changes in both payments and technology. How do we keep our customers happy, our systems safe, and our costs low all at the same time? Merchants simply cannot be complacent in any of these areas critical to success. But we also should not chase every shiny new payment process or technology that catches our eye. What is a merchant to do?
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Focus On Innovation
Jan 4, 2023First off, I am excited to have recently joined the MAG and look forward to meeting and working with all of you. Over the last twenty years, I have been fortunate to work for organizations such as InComm, MCX, and most recently FIS where I focused on Real Time Payments. As we grow our innovation efforts and tech engagement, I want to leverage my industry experience as well as my time as a MAG sponsor to develop our opportunities.
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MAG releases new eLearning course focused on debit routing!
Dec 29, 2022The Merchant Advisory Group is excited to officially introduce Merchant Payments 205: An Exploration of Debit Routing. The new eLearning course covers maximizing the economic opportunities of an effective debit routing strategy through learning how to Interpret the US debit market, implement a debit routing strategy with appropriate processes and controls, understand the basics for completing a technical implementation of debit routing, and identify potential obstacles and considerations.
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Getting Involved with the MAG
Dec 22, 2022Welcome to our new MAG merchant members, an impressive group of 26 merchants, as well as 25 new MAG sponsors! There are many ways to make the most of your MAG Membership or Sponsorship, and we hope you will engage with us in 2023!
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Giving a Voice to Merchants at a time it’s needed most
Dec 21, 2022In 2021, the Payments Data Community of Practice (COP) emerged out of the concluding Downgrades COP with two primary objectives. First, to offer some best practices to the increasingly complex process of managing payments data that merchants rely on to operate their business. Second, to conduct a study that gives merchants a tool to benchmark their own performance.
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Payments…“Life in the Fast Lane”
Dec 20, 2022As we approach the end of another year, the speed of change in the payments industry is not slowing down. Many areas of change are accelerating to address issues in the continuing growth of digital payments.
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From Student to Teacher in Payments
Dec 8, 2022New to Payments? Immerse yourself in the MAG and you will be on the stage sharing your knowledge in no time!
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