[W3C Press Release] W3C Launches Web Payments Initiative

Hello,

W3C issued a press release a moment ago in conjunction 
with the launch of the new Web Payments Activity [1].
  
 W3C Launches Web Payments Initiative
 https://www.w3.org/2014/10/payments.html.en

There are links in the online version, and the text is below.

In addition, see below for testimonials from W3C Members Bloomberg,
Gemalto, GRIN Technologies, Ingenico Group, NACS, Rabobank, and
Yandex.

For any translations of the press release, see:
 http://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2014#payments-launch

Media contact:
 Ian Jacobs, <w3t-pr@w3.org>, +1.718 260 9447

Ian Jacobs, Head of W3C Communications

[1] http://www.w3.org/Payments/

=====================

W3C Launches Web Payments Initiative

Opportunity for Industry to Reduce Fraud, Improve Usability, and Encourage Innovation

15 October 2014 — The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced today
a new initiative to integrate payments seamlessly into the Open Web
Platform. W3C calls upon all industry stakeholders —banks, credit card
companies, governments, mobile network operators, payment solution
providers, technology companies, retailers, and content creators— to
join the new Web Payments Interest Group and leverage the unique
ability of the Web to bridge ecosystem diversity and reach users
everywhere, on any device. The result will be new business
opportunities, an improved user experience for online transactions,
reduced fraud, and increased interoperability among traditional
solutions and future payment innovations.

"The Federal Reserve is working with diverse participants and
organizations to improve the payment system in ways that make it
safer, faster, more efficient and accessible for everyone," said
Claudia Swendseid, Senior Vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank
of Minneapolis. "We appreciate W3C's efforts in this regard and look
forward to participating in the new Web Payments Interest Group."  Big
Challenges, but Big Potential for Global E-Commerce

E-Commerce is thriving and predicted to reach $1.471 trillion this
year, an increase of nearly 20% from last year. According to Forrester
research, one third of those transactions will take place on a mobile
device. And yet, a number of obstacles stand in the way of even
stronger growth on those devices.

The first is usability. People shopping online add to their shopping
carts, but they rarely complete their purchases. Small screens and
small keyboards, combined with the usual requirement to create an
account and share personal information with unknown merchants are some
of the reasons that the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 97%
on mobile devices.

A second reason is fraud. High-profile stories of massive credit card
number theft have demonstrated both the inadequacy of today's
approaches to sharing sensitive information and their high cost. The
rate of fraud in "card not present" transactions (such as those common
for transactions via Web sites) is 10 times higher than that when
physical cards are used. These risks must be addressed if online
commerce is to flourish.

"Today, payment details being stolen has outpaced all other consumer
concerns worldwide to shop on-line," said Michel Leger, Ingenico
Group. "Bringing together all stakeholders into this Interest Group is
the opportunity to create open standards that will minimize online
fraud, increase consumer confidence and improve shopping
experience. Working all together will enable us to do it right."

Because the Web is so widely available, strengthening support for
payments has the potential not just to improve usability and reduce
the risk of fraud, but also to create new opportunities for businesses
and consumers in areas such as coupons and loyalty programs and
crypto-currencies. Through mobile applications, the Web can also make
"brick and mortar" transactions more secure and convenient. Although
we are seeing innovation in mobile payment systems, the lack of
standards makes it more difficult to adapt to new payment approaches
(e.g,. crypto-currencies) or new payment providers. Fragmented
regulatory environments further complicate the payments landscape.

-----------------------------------------------
Integrating Payments into the Open Web Platform
-----------------------------------------------

To deepen our understanding of these challenges and integrate
solutions into Open Web Platform, W3C has chartered a Web Payments
Interest Group, chaired by Erik Anderson (Bloomberg) and David Ezell
(Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing).

Global stakeholders from all parts of the industry will enumerate use
cases and scenarios, for topics such as online payments, off-line
payments, "floor-limits," the role of regulations on technology,
international low-value remittances, general retail payments, bill
payments, and utility payments. The group will study the current gaps
in Web technology regarding usability, security, and privacy, and
recommend new work to fill those gaps. Because a successful
integration of payments into the Web requires extensive cooperation,
the Interest Group will also liaise with other organizations in the
payment industry that are using Web Technologies to foster alignment
and interoperability on a global scale.

The Interest Group will first focus on digital wallets, which many in
industry consider an effective way to reduce fraud and improve privacy
by having users share sensitive information only with payment
providers, rather than merchants. In addition, wallets can simplify
transactions from mobile devices and make it easier to integrate new
payment innovations. To be successful, all parties involved in a
transaction must agree to use the wallet system, but systems to date
have not demonstrated the level of interoperability required for broad
adoption. Lack of standards for processing payments makes it difficult
to implement wallets and gain the benefits of automation. While the
Web Payments Interest Group is not chartered to develop new payment
methods, it will create a framework to ensure that Web applications
can interface in a standard ways with all current and future payment
methods. Mobile use cases play an important role in this work, but the
framework will encompass the full range of devices people use for
online payments.

The new Interest Group will be the focal point for W3C's work on Web
payments, but discussions have happened and will continue to happen in
many venues within W3C, including:

* Recent W3C Workshops on Cryptography, Authentication, and Hardware
  Tokens and the Web and Payments

* The Web Cryptography Working Group and the Near Field Communications
  (NFC) Working Group.

* The Web Payments Community Group, a community-led pre-standards
  discussion forum.

Learn more about W3C's work on Payments on the Web, supported in part
by the European Union through the HTML5Apps project.

[END OF PRESS RELEASE]

=====================================================
Testimonials from W3C Members

---------
Bloomberg

  We are entering a transformational moment in time in the field of
  payment technologies as there are more options then ever offering
  frictionless & borderless transactions. Adapting existing payment
  standards, as well as old and new technologies to work in a browser
  environment will help connect more than 1 billion people to the
  "Internet of Money." We must work together to achieve this goal and
  make a difference for everyone. Bloomberg is a proud supporter of
  these efforts.

  --  Justin Erenkrantz, Head of Compute Architecture at Bloomberg

-------
Gemalto

  We are pleased to support W3C's initiative as this will boost and
  facilitate online digital payments by providing a smooth & secure
  integration of payment functions within web merchants' portals. Our
  solutions encompasses mobile Payments, mobile Banking and Mobile ID,
  across a comprehensive portfolio of devices and multiple security
  frameworks.

  -- Philippe Cabos - Product Director - Mobile Wallet & Secure
     Applications at Gemalto

-----------------
GRIN Technologies

  The exponential growth in online payments is only exceeded today by
  the growth in connected devices. GRIN Technologies, Inc, the
  Connected Life Company, is pleased to participate in the future
  development of Web Payments standards at W3C and are looking forward
  to working with others to create the digital wallet of the
  future. We recognize the challenges and welcome the opportunity to
  participate in the development of a healthy, secure payments
  ecosystem, enabling a future where everyone's life is connected.

  -- Daniel Austin, CEO & Founder, GRIN Technologies, Inc.

--------------
Ingenico Group

  Payment is all about security, universality and increasingly cross
  channel - in store, on line and mobile. Our new OS is the place
  where security and open world meet. Web-based technologies are the
  backbone of tomorrow’s payment eco-system, enabling consumers to
  enjoy a seamless, open whilst secure, purchasing experience. We look
  forward to actively participating in the new Web Payments Interest
  Group, leveraging on our 30-year expertise in payment services.

  -- Michel Leger, Executive Vice President Global Sales, Strategy and
     Marketing

----
NACS

  W3C serves a critical role in defining the future of commerce - both
  online and on the go," says Gray Taylor, Executive Director of
  PCATS, the Convenience and Petroleum Industry's technology
  organization, and Payments Consultant to the National Association of
  Convenience Stores (NACS). "The importance of mobile commerce to our
  membership motivates us to support the efforts of W3C in payments,
  and we will continue to do so. The Web Payments Workshop was a great
  example of how W3C can use its well-known brand to bring together
  the industry thought leaders to solve hard problems on the web, and
  the creation of the new Web Payments Interest Group is essential to
  carry the momentum forward. W3C's IP policy and focus on open and
  transparent standards will enable the consumer to have a feature
  rich and consistent experience as mobile commerce evolves, and we at
  PCATS and NACS are excited to continue participation in this
  valuable work.

  -- Gray Taylor, Executive Director of PCATS, the Convenience and
     Petroleum Industry's technology organization, and Payments
     Consultant to the National Association of Convenience Stores
     (NACS)

--------
Rabobank

  As an innovator in the payments industry, Rabobank is well aware of
  customer needs for web payments. If standards are drafted from
  either a customer, a technology or a retail perspective only, they
  would be lacking many ingredients to be a global success for all
  customer segments and service providers worldwide. Therefore, it is
  important for Rabobank and for many banks for that matter, to be
  involved in this process at W3C from the beginning.

  -- Evert Fekkes, Business Information Manager, Rabobank Nederland

----------------
Yandex (English)

  We sat down with the major players in the Russian payments market to
  discuss the idea of the emerging standard that the W3C is going to
  start developing and we received a lot of positive responses. The
  emergence of a unified set of rules is an important issue for
  businesses, who waste lots of resources every time they want to
  integrate with new payment solutions. The lack of industry standards
  also hinders the development of payment projects that are truly
  'cross-border'. A unified standard for online payments would help
  reduce risks associated with fraud, save businesses time and
  resources wasted on technical integration, lay the groundwork for
  entirely new products, and make sending and receiving payments
  online as easy as sending and receiving email thanks to 'mailto'.

  -- Evgeny Vinogradov, Head of Analytic Services at Yandex.Money

----------------
Yandex (Russian)

  Мы обсуждали с крупнейшими игроками российского платежного рынка
  идею появления единого стандарта, который сейчас будет
  разрабатываться в W3C, и получили много позитивных
  откликов. Появление единых правил для онлайн-платежей – насущный
  вопрос для бизнеса, которому каждый раз приходится преодолевать
  сложности интеграции различных платежных решений, из-за чего
  появление по-настоящему трансграничных платежных проектов
  затруднено. Единый стандарт для онлайн-платежей поможет снизить
  риски мошенничества, сократить время и затраты на техническую
  интеграцию, создать почву для появления принципиально новых
  продуктов и сделать отправку и получение денег в интернете таким же
  простым, как отправка и получение почты благодаря «mailto».

  -- Евгений Виноградов, руководитель отдела аналитических сервисов
     Яндекс.Денег

-----------------------------------
About the World Wide Web Consortium
-----------------------------------

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium
where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work
together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission
through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to
ensure long-term growth for the Web. The Open Web Platform is a
current major focus. Over 400 organizations are Members of the
Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM)
headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan, and Beihang
University in China, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more
information see http://www.w3.org/

--
Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>      http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                       +1 718 260 9447

Received on Wednesday, 15 October 2014 14:04:48 UTC