Exact Payments CEO, Phil Levy, Discusses the Future of Fintech With The Strawhecker Group

Exact Payments was honored to be chosen by globally recognized analytics and consulting firm, The Strawhecker Group, to be a part of their executive interview series. Exact’s CEO, Phil Levy, sat down with TSG’s Rachel Hartley to provide his insight on where the fintech industry is trending, growth initiatives, and our commitment to delivering the best payments experiences. Levy also discusses the role of fintech in the payments space and how Exact fits in. 

Check out some highlights below, and be sure to read the full interview on TSG’s website.

How do you see the role of fintech companies evolving in the payments ecosystem? How does Exact Payments fit into that ecosystem? 

A: Phil L.

I truly believe fintech companies are the innovation engine in financial services today. In fact, industry data supports the idea that terms like “embedded payments” and “embedded finance” are now synonymous with nimble fintechs.  

Exact Payments is at the forefront of this. As we are a team of industry veterans who believe commerce works best when seamlessly integrated into the software developed specifically to solve the needs of defined verticals.  

My favorite example here is fundraising software. Churches, schools, youth organizations, and national charities have so many options to consider for automating their business’s “revenue” function using this software. Yet, only 40% of software platforms have semi-integrated or embedded payment solutions. Of course, my first thought is to use embedded payments as a first filter in vendor selection. But my second thought is, how can donation payments exist outside the software platform? A disjointed experience clearly adds friction for every donor.  

That is where Exact Payments fits. We want to optimize payment experiences and eliminate transaction friction for software partners. Once that friction is removed, you can almost guarantee gains in customer satisfaction, retention, and revenue.  

What are some of Exact Payments’ growth initiatives for the next year? 

A: Phil L.

We have an ambitious roadmap for the second half of 2023 going into 2024. I’ll point to two exciting initiatives we are working on right now.  

The first is our launch of network tokenization later this summer. We partnered with Visa to integrate Visa’s token gateway service, which supports network tokenization for all four card networks. Everyone wins with network tokenization, starting with merchants who benefit from an increase in authorization rate, reduction in interchange, and improved security.  

The second initiative is expanded support of digital wallets, which are rapidly gaining market share in North America. We support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Paypal today. Later this year, we’ll launch Click to Pay in partnership with Mastercard, with a number of other integrations planned going into 2024.  

Where do you feel the fintech and payments industries are heading in the next five years? 

A: Phil L.

I’ll be bold here and say ubiquity. That’s where embedded payments and embedded finance solutions are going. Now, it may take more than five years, but I am absolutely confident that payments inside vertical SaaS is the future.

Last year, it was forecasted that 15% of global GDP would ultimately run through SaaS platforms. In 2022, global GDP was $95 trillion. So while true, 15% may not yet be ubiquitous, it’s a huge number and a massive opportunity we are enabling for our partners along with other innovators in the space.