Peter Cavicchia

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Posts tagged Fiserv
New Fiserv Fintech Innovation Center to Open at Rutgers University
New Fiserv Fintech Innovation Center to Open at Rutgers University

Fiserv has partnered with Rutgers University-Newark to create the Fiserv-RU-N Program for Inclusive Innovation. This exciting new project is designed to drive diversity and innovation within the field of financial technology by providing resources, jobs and opportunities to students, faculty, and local businesses.

As part of the program, Fiserv is providing $5.15 million in funding to open a state-of-the-art innovation center on its campus at Berkeley Heights, announced last fall. It will house technology and provide ample space for collaboration and research. Fiserv-RU-N will support research involving technology and commerce, such as cybersecurity and legal and ethical topics in the field of fintech.

Additionally, Fiserv-RU-N will offer forty $2,500 scholarships annually to Rutgers undergraduates, half of which will go to military veterans and Rutgers Business School students. RU-N will also provide support for career modules to prepare students for internships and jobs, including positions at Fiserv.

Deepening Our New Jersey Roots

Fiserv’s foothold in Berkeley Heights, together with the RU-N program, is slated to retain or create roughly 3,000 new jobs, providing a significant boost to commerce in the Newark region and beyond.

Apart from the Fiserv-RU-N Program, Fiserv supports Rutgers-Newark through the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship (CUEED) and Rutgers Advanced Institute for the Study of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (RAISED), which work with minority, women, and veteran owned businesses throughout New Jersey.

Facilitating Innovation Through Diversity

Diversity and inclusion are two of Fiserv’s core principles. The diverse Rutgers community is the perfect incubator for creative fintech solutions that benefit people from every walk of life. A wide range of perspectives helps develop new answers to the challenges we face in the financial services industry.

As Chief Technology Officer at Fiserv, I am looking forward to seeing the creative solutions that will come from the young minds at RU-N. Since beginning my career 20 years ago, I’ve seen the business technology landscape change more rapidly each day. I have no doubt that the RU-N community will deftly meet these challenges.

You can follow Fiserv’s developments at our newsroom.

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Peter CavicchiaFiserv, Rutgers, Fiserv-RU-N
Fintech and the Physical World
Fintech and the Physical World

The latest innovations in Fintech are transforming how we experience the world around us, from our daily physical interactions to our relationships with the many different spaces we inhabit and traverse.

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of some digital technologies. One trend that Fiserv highlighted in its 2021 Commerce and Fintech Midyear Review is cashierless checkouts. While self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores, pharmacies and other retail businesses have been common for years, Amazon has taken cashierless shopping to the next level in its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores. They harness AI, sensors and computer vision technology to provide an even more automated and frictionless in-person shopping experience. New cashierless Whole Food Market locations opening next year will expand the use of this “Just Walk Out” technology, and wide adoption will surely follow—Amazon has already begun licensing it to third-party retailers.

Fintech is also reshaping the fan experience at sports and entertainment events. Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, home of NBA champions the Bucks, is one of many venues around the world now employing a connected ecosystem of omnichannel commerce, mobile phone integration and cloud-based point of sale technology to create a more efficient, safe and intuitive customer experience. Fans avoid long concession lines and spend more time in their seats enjoying the game, while the venues have new sources of data to analyze and improve operations.

Other technologies Fintech is using to connect the physical and digital worlds include augmented reality (AR) and biometrics. Retailers and brands such as Warby Parker, L’Oreal, IKEA and BMW already employ AR apps that allow customers to preview what their products will look like on their faces, in their homes and behind the wheel. Biometric authentication, which can verify a person’s identity by scanning their face, fingerprint, palm or voice, has emerged as a critical fraud protection technology and will serve as the foundation for the secure digital wallets of tomorrow.

The lines between physical and digital blurs further every day. The most influential and exciting Fintech innovations are those that bridge these worlds with hybrid solutions. It will be fascinating to see where such advances take us as we emerge from the pandemic and head back out into a changed world.

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Peter CavicchiaFiserv, Amazon, Omnichannel Commerce
Fiserv’s 2020 Fraud and Security Survey
Fiserv’s 2020 Fraud and Security Survey

Over the summer Fiserv interviewed 1,037 American adults to determine consumer trends in digital commerce. The results shed light on ways the COVID-19 pandemic has been central to consumer decisions, especially in driving greater adoption of digital commerce and payment options. Even as 79% of consumers say they are at least as concerned about cybersecurity threats as they were last year.

A third of respondents have increased their use of touchless payments, and more (69%) anticipate increasing their use of touchless payments going forward. Credit and debit cards are still the preferred payment types (used by 52% of respondents), but 33% said they often use phone apps to pay and 15% use QR codes. Gen Z consumers lead in adoption of mobile payments apps (with 41% using them regularly). Millennials are close behind at 38%, while 21% of both groups report using QR code payments regularly.

Touchless payments have facilitated a rise in buying online and picking up in-store (or “BOPIS” shopping, at 43% usage) or curbside (50%). In fact, 43% of Gen Z’ers report that their phone has replaced their physical wallet—against only 16% of Baby Boomers.

Increasing confidence in the security of e-commerce platforms

Consumers show increasing confidence in the security of e-commerce platforms. Only 18% considered it the most vulnerable channel (in 2017 52% felt they were most vulnerable to a cyber-attack while shopping online). And only 22% of consumers reported a credit card compromise in the last year (down from 57% in 2017), a decline that is attributable to the rise of chip cards as well as improved cyber security.

Younger consumers are much more likely to report having shared their personal data with someone through email, and perhaps therefore are seeing their personal information compromised as a much higher rate. Among all respondents, only 23% are confident in the security of the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) they use in payments. 36% report they are changing their passwords more frequently this year.

Based on these responses, Fiserv encourages businesses to incorporate multi-factor authentication into user profiles as a way of boosting security and customer confidence. Touchless payments will continue to grow in the years ahead. For more insight, read the survey results here.

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Peter CavicchiaFiserv, COVID-19, Cybersecurity