Rachel

payments nerd @Visa, former strategy consultant @Deloitte and medievalist @Columbia, endlessly curious

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Nearly 70% of GenZers learn about products through social media

compared to other generations, who predominantly learn via recommendations or reviews

social media has high conversion rates too with ~41% of GenZ purchasing products via social media in the last 6 months

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

@BrianFOConnor Amazing !!

I’m sure it’s all the talk on the streets!

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Exciting to see Peru adopt an open banking platform!

Similar to India's UPI, Peru will develop real-time rails designed for consumers and businesses

The goal is to bring banking products to the unbanked - unlocking credit and improving security of payments

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

And for Peru this is big news!!

with a population >34 million people, there are estimates that more than 50% of the population are unbanked

that's 17 million people with limited or no access to banking infrastructure

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

So what does this mean?

Adoption of UPI has grown near exponentially, with 118 billion UPI transactions in 2023 up 59% YOY

b/c more people having access to payments = more transactions

Source: National Payments Corp. of India

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

But without any fiduciary responsibilities, and often paid for their endorsements, are influencers the right party to recommend financial products ?

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Payments companies rely on consumer trust

So it’s interesting to see consumer payments companies spend less on digital ads and starting to spend more on influencers

Easy to see how you can trust an influencer more than a static ad

curious to see comparative conversion rates

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

The main driver towards influencers seems to be reach

With nearly 8 out of every 10 social media users learning about financial products across social media channels

And for many payments companies, these people their target segment

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

@OmarMora1es @skylarromines I rarely shop, but I’m a great investor

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

@tlambers8 Dream team!!

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Makes you wonder what the secret is behind Whole Foods’ pay with palm feature

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

You can't make this up:

In 2016, Amazon, $AMZN, launched "Just Walk Out" at their Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

The technology allows customers to literally walk out without seeing a cashier and they are charged "automatically."

For years, it seemed like Amazon had created an AI-based and fully automated concept.

However, now as Amazon is shutting down the service it turns out this has NOTHING to do with AI.

Rather, "Just Walk Out" relied on 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts.

The cashiers literally watched you as you shopped and charged you for what you left with.

"Fully automated" is far from reality.

[Omar Morales | Miami Multifamily @OmarMora1es]

Happy Saturday friends

love you all 🤍

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

For those interested, my research is now live!

https://t.co/iCorn0Wu4B

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Trade finance is rapidly transforming as an industry

I'm writing a paper focused on 3 forces shifting the future of trade finance:

1) Evolution of payments infrastructure
2) Regional and Global conflict
3) Shifting monetary and regulatory policies

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

@OmarMora1es Wild part is that photo was taken standing in the middle of the group

Great night, perfect weather, amazing run!

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

There’s an estimated $120 trillion trade finance gap globally

Assuming most of the untapped potential is trapped in emerging markets

And incumbent players exacerbate the gap because their trade finance offerings are limited by regional regulations

New players in emerging markets should be the solution to meet this gap

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Source: https://t.co/iC1q8cm8Na

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

Department stores, like Macy's and Nordstrom, drive profits from consumer credit card debt

Macy’s revenue (excluding cards) shrank 5.7% from 2016 to 2022

but credit-card driven income rose 53% in that same period

[Rachel @RachelCWagman]

So if the CFPB succeeds in implementing a ruling on minimizing credit card fees from ~$40 to $8

retailers could be hit hard

the WSJ predicts "Macy’s earnings per share could take a 6% to 14% hit"