FST Media: What do you consider to be the most innovative technologies changing the face of the cards and payments landscape in Asia; and why?


Quinlan: Exciting innovation is occurring across the industry right now, as more people migrate from using cash and checks to electronic payments - which is a great thing.  A constant stream of new technologies and developments are driving innovation in the payments industry, bringing the benefits of digital currency to more consumers in more places. 


For several decades, Visa has kept ahead of the constant evolution of electronic payments through the investment of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars into VisaNet. Our recent upgrade in core operating system and processing memory, along with the implementation of “intelligent edge devices” have enabled a new level of flexibility, security and scalability, and have created one of the most advanced payment networks in the world.


These investments have allowed us to bring new, innovative products and services to Visa clients, and are enabling a new breed of payment products, such as mobile payments, real-time transaction alerts, and contactless payments that enable consumers to “pay, wave, and go” at the checkout.
 
VisaNet is also the engine that is supporting Visa Money Transfer. By using our sophisticated global network and existing merchant and bank connections, Visa clients can offer their account holders the ability to send funds to Visa accounts around the world in a convenient, cost-effective and secure manner. Best of all, the new agility in the Visa payment network means processing services can be tailored to the needs of individual countries, while also supporting international processing services.


Asia is arguably at the leading edge in terms of mobile innovation. Emerging markets effectively skip the traditional wired, terrestrial networks in favour of advanced mobile networks, while the more mature markets take advantage of the newer, highly functional devices available to consumers today.


FST Media: What do you envisage will be the next-generation of payment channels in the short term; and how will such trends evolve over the next 3 to 5 years?


Quinlan: The traditional point-of-sale channel continues to show fantastic growth and appeal. It is a massively scaled, convenient and secure channel in which I see continuing expansion, particularly across the emerging markets.


At the same time, new opportunities to deliver richer or deeper interaction beyond the basic swipe or tap at the point of sale will emerge.  New, information-intense services delivered through the Visa network will emerge, enhancing the consumer payment experience, and enabling account holders to better manage their accounts.


Whether on the go, at home, or at a physical point of sale, new channels such as mobile, ecommerce, money transfer and prepaid are offering Visa account holders more utility and flexibility in how they can access and manage their funds, and new ways to initiate payments. Already, consumers in Japan and across Asia are taking advantage of the mobile Internet to access funds, or make purchases. Person-to-person services, such as Visa Money Transfer, also offer new and varied opportunities. I think combining capabilities and offering services across multiple channels is not only a trend, but a must, if we want to meet consumer and client needs.


FST Media: What role do social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter play, if any, in the cards and payments sector?


Quinlan: Social media networks are a fascinating development.  Many organisations are looking at ways to take advantage of these networks and access large communities of existing or potentially new customers.  The challenge, as I see it, is how to do this in a planned, controlled manner, when these networks are by definition self-forming and somewhat uncontrollable.


Several high profile examples of security and privacy challenges have been seen in the press recently, highlighting the fact that these networks are simply not built with the same focus as the more traditional payments networks.  Finding ways to harness the value in these social networks, while preserving the strong security and privacy characteristics of the payments networks, is key.


FST Media: What are your technology priorities over the next 12-18 months? 


Quinlan: Our goals in technology are somewhat bifurcated.  We have a set of priorities which support our innovation programs, designed to accelerate the development and introduction of new and extended products and services.  At the same time, we continue to invest in core technologies that drive our existing business, where performance, reliability and security remain paramount.  In addition, we are increasingly investing in our abilities to work with third parties and extended groups, providing opportunities for others to build products and services that can leverage Visa's vast network and capabilities. This is a very exciting area for us.


FST Media: What new IT initiatives is Visa planning to roll out in the cards and payments sector in the next year; and how will these initiatives shape customer experience going forward? 


Quinlan: Innovation at Visa is a constant process.  We have exciting new developments across multiple sectors in the payments landscape including mobile, ecommerce, money transfer offerings and other new information rich services.  We invest in the technologies that support these initiatives. A specific example would be what we are doing with data, where we are making rich information sets available to add value to transactions and interactions in real time.  This may sound straightforward, however, when you consider Visa’s scale and the fact that Visa on average processes 150 million transactions every day, scaling to more than 9,000 transaction messages each second during peak processing periods, the task becomes anything but simple.


FST Media: Your portfolio spans the entire Asia Pacific region. How do you deal with the challenges of delivering a consistent roadmap in the region since some countries have less mature or IT-savvy markets?


Quinlan: Visa's business is very clearly organised around our clients. We define and execute our businesses at a local level which could be a country or country grouping.  Local needs are represented across these groups and channeled to the centrally organised functions such as technology and product.  In the IT space, we have a highly flexible, highly adaptable centralised architecture and systems. These centralised systems allow us to deliver against the extremely high performance and reliability expectations which underpin the Visa brand, whilst tailoring products and services to local market needs.  This approach also allows us to quickly offer products and services from one market into another as the local needs arise, or as maturity levels and infrastructure allow.


FST Media: What are the most urgent security threats facing the cards and payments industry; and how should these concerns be addressed?


Quinlan: Maintaining security is a constant vigil at Visa.  It has always been and will remain one of our top business and IT priorities.  The risk landscape constantly changes and we have an adaptive security architecture that enables Visa to stay ahead of new and emerging fraud patterns. I see one of the most significant developments in managing risk the increased sophistication and organisation of attacks. Fraudsters are getting more and more organised, and we are seeing more sponsored and orchestrated attacks from organised crime versus the individual hacker.  Social engineering and the exploitation of the new social networks are also presenting new challenges in the security and privacy arenas. Visa continues to invest heavily to protect its systems and educate merchants and financial institutions about how to protect themselves from the threat of fraud.


FST Media: In your personal time out of the office, do you use much technology or do you prefer more low-tech pursuits?


Quinlan: I would have to admit to both!  In my family of four, we have seven computers, a fully integrated home network, supporting any service to any device, for school homework, entertainment, household management etc.  The key, however, is that the technology should not be the focus rather the service you're trying to use.  For example, all our music, movies, email etc can be accessed from a central site by any device.  The real test for me is to see my children be able to effortlessly access what they want at the same time as a visiting grandparent or my wife, getting what they need.  At the end of the day though, l probably get most enjoyment from watching the kids in the pool - of course photographed or recorded by a very high-tech device for sharing with family and friends across the world!


FST Media: What keeps you passionate about your job – is it the technology or the financial services sector?


Quinlan: Again it's a combination.  The technology is great.  Seeing developments capable of solving challenges that were unthinkable a few years back is really exciting and gets me thinking about how I could exploit the technology.  Working for an organisation such as Visa which operates at such an impressive scale and can touch real peoples’ lives across all walks of life is the other side of the equation.


FST Media: Every IT leader, particularly at your level, has a legacy they wish to be remembered for. What is yours?


Quinlan: At the end of the day I see success through the efforts of people - individuals and teams.  Some people are great with new technologies, others have great market vision and understanding, and yet others are great at looking out for unintended risks.  For me, the greatest challenge and reward is bringing together a set of talented people and giving them the opportunity to use their respective strengths to deliver something.  The bonus at Visa is that you get to see your achievements in use just about every day, in every part of the world, as people use their Visa cards and devices to pay for purchases online, in-store and over the phone.  That's a huge buzz for me personally.