Digital payment methods used in online games appear as one of the fastest growing areas in the industry.
To understand the advantages of these products and their growing acceptance in Latin America, we interviewed Nathan Marion, General Manager Latin America for Volt.io.
Volt.io is building the global infrastructure for real-time payments. Its network unites the world’s state-of-the-art account-to-account (A2A) payment systems, enabling merchants everywhere to accept real-time payments from their customers.
In this exclusive interview, Nathan Marion, newcomer to Volt.io, tells how the operation works
iGaming Brazil – Quickly tell your background and why did you join Volt.io?
Nathan Marion – My background is sales, technology, digital and payments – these are my passions. I spent six years at Adyen, partly in Latin America from its early days in the region to the massive expansion that took place in subsequent years. Then a few years in the international team at the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam. Adyen is an unprecedented case of an unknown Dutch startup, which has become one of the biggest payment powerhouses in the world today. It was an honor to be part of this story. One of the things that attracted me to the Volt was the number of payment experts and ex-Adyens who work here – I know the potential of these people.
When I later moved to VTEX, the ambition was to make a Brazilian technology and software company go global, which had not been done before. I initially advised on international expansion and sales strategy before becoming VP Growth Enablement. In this period, we built the Brazilian software unicorn, dominant in Latin America, in full expansion to Europe, USA and Asia and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2021.
I like to build, to be part of something disruptive that will have a real impact on people’s lives and businesses. Open Banking is one of these areas that fascinates me as it is opening up a world of possibilities to democratize and make financial services in general more efficient. A combination of that, a first-class founding team, and an amazing product is what drew me to Volt. I’m enjoying the challenge.
iGaming Brazil – Speaking of which, what is your job like? What exactly does it consist of?
Nathan Marion – My main objective is to continue and accelerate the expansion of Volt.io to Latin America. Build a strong operation, from a commercial and product point of view, and successful in the region, which starts in Brazil but will be expanded to more countries.
iGaming Brazil – You have an important history of online payment companies. Has it always been your vocation to work in this sector?
Nathan Marion – Yes, I am fascinated by the payments industry, first of all because it is closely linked to the quality of the experience of any user who is purchasing a product or service, having a huge impact on the success or failure of a company. Second, because I understand that there are still many opportunities for evolution and disruption, to bring scale, reduce costs, democratize access and optimize the experience for both the consumer and the commercial establishment, not to mention the B2B interactions that are another world with even more potential. .
The payments market has been evolving at a speed never seen before, the advent of virtual wallets, credit, security, open banking, the advancement of technology and devices as a whole (IoT) and the adoption of digital, has been opening up many possibilities for the industry, and change must accelerate even more.
iGaming Brazil – We can talk about Volt.io and the instant payments revolution in the world.
Nathan Marion – Instant payments are set to dominate the global payments landscape in the near future. Reflecting this, FIS/Worldpay said in its annual report that it expects instant payments (A2A) to be its main revenue stream by 2024.
Historically, we have relied on Visa and Mastercard as the backbone of global e-commerce. But all that is about to change with the introduction of a new generation of payment services that are both real-time and account-to-account.
More than 60 countries are implementing real-time, account-to-account (A2A) payments, through their own infrastructure or payment method, or through Open Banking regulations. Companies around the world are also embracing a more digital way of working where results are immediate and the snapshot is the new normal.
At Volt.io, we are experts in new generation real-time payments infrastructure and Open Banking, we believe that next generation payments functionality will be provided by APIs that can be easily embedded directly into applications, allowing for more customization, analysis and control. .
Open Banking is an opportunity for merchants to allow consumers to initiate payments directly from their bank accounts quickly, conveniently and securely. The benefits are clear: merchants receive their funds in real time instead of days, as with a credit card, and at significantly lower fees. Well Open Banking (A2A) payments are also inherently safer, authenticated eliminating the fraud that exists with cards.
Yet the new global real-time infrastructure is domestically focused: instant payment methods and forms are owned and operated by local regulators and banks in each domestic market. They are also typically technologically fragmented.
Volt provides a single integration, a single connection that gives access to all next-generation instant payment networks – the metaPSP for real-time payments – with an orchestration layer. Our smart platform, which is expanding from a successful European core to serving global markets, makes instant cash flows interoperable.
iGaming Brazil – Why expand to Latin America?
Nathan Marion – In the world of instant payments, Brazil is a unique example. There is no precedent in the world in the speed of adoption of an instant payment method (A2A) like Pix in Brazil. Despite being launched only in November 2020, 120 million people – more than 60% of the population of Brazil – already use it. It is imperative for Volt to be present in a market with such widespread adoption of instant payments and to provide the opportunity for our international customers to rapidly expand into one of the largest and most dynamic digital markets in the world.
The Pix integration creates a huge opportunity not just for the Volt, but for international business. Likewise, it marks a significant development for the region at large.
Latin America is a fascinating ecosystem. There are major economic, political and payments challenges – but this builds resilience. Problems are faced by innovative companies with surprising ideas and solutions. This is part of the reason, in my opinion, Latin America is one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
Expansion to other countries in the region is certain, we see a lot of customer demand and we also see an environment maturing very quickly for instant payments and open banking.
iGaming Brazil – What do you think can change in the online payments market when the new gaming and casino law in Brazil is definitively approved?
Nathan Marion – I believe that the great potential that igaming has in the Brazilian market is already evident to the industry, and we are very close to a clear regulation of this market to allow national and international companies to act legally in Brazil. As we see globally, the iGaming market is usually an early adopter of new technologies, mainly payments, and they drive innovation in the sector, but mainly adoption by the general public. I understand that specifically in Brazil, the sector should drive high adoption of digital for security, ease and speed as well as monitoring, taking the user base along.
iGaming Brazil – What is the impact of instant payments (or open banking, or real-time payments) on igaming markets?
Nathan Marion – If you’re in the gaming & igaming industry, you know that payouts are considered high risk, difficult and expensive. With high fraud and chargeback rates at every level, game payments need to be well executed.
The gaming industry is privileged to have highly-experienced, highly-innovative payment professionals who are often early adopters of new technologies.
The status quo with payment methods other than cards is currently fragmented, limited in scope and market coverage, and typically quite expensive.
Volt is a unique API that connects thousands of banks across Europe, UK and Brazil to provide an extensive network of real-time payments and bank payment initiation (A2A) services at a highly competitive price.
The global move towards instant payments comes in response to many of these challenges. Payment initiation, open banking, instant methods like Pix are safe, authenticated, no chargebacks, such as immediate settlement and very low cost compared to other methods (eg cards). A unique opportunity to bring scale and competitiveness to the igaming sector.
