Eight Embedded-Payments Players Issue a ‘Bill of Rights’ to Bolster Industry Ethics

Eight companies involved in the rapidly expanding industry of weaving payments capability into business software have announced an “Embedded Payments Bill of Rights” to stress ethical practices for the young industry. More companies will join these eight very soon, says Todd Ablowitz, co-chief executive and co-founder of Denver-based Infinicept, one of the co-signers.

The eight principles set out in the document include transparency, quality of care, equality, flexibility, control, portability, ethical treatment, and freedom. The principles aim at such practices as clear pricing, equal treatment of all clients, and freedom from “lock-in” or other barriers to data portability.

The idea for a bill of rights for the embedded-payments business stemmed from a recent phone conversation with a client, Ablowitz says. “We were disappointed with what we were seeing [in the industry],” he says. “Someone needs to take a leadership role. These things are obvious, basic principles, what your Mom would tell you.”

Ablowitz will not give details of the incidents he says gave rise to the document, though he laments the need for such a list of basic principles. “These are simple things that shouldn’t even need to be said,” he adds. He adds that laying out ethical practices with respect to clients now will help bolster the foundation of what is a fast-growing industry for payments as an integral part of business software. He also expects many more firms to join the initial eight signers, which include, besides Infinicept, Aben, Authvia, Handpoint, Oasis Consulting, SumUp, Valpay, and WorkWave.

The business of embedded payments has gained momentum in recent years. with firms looking to specialists to include digital-payments capability as the companies add to or upgrade their technology base. Now, Ablowitz says, the time has come to lay down ground rules for the business. “You can imagine we wouldn’t have to do this if everyone were doing this already,” he says.

The list of principles, he adds, recalls a similar “Bill of Rights” promulgated some years ago by Bob Carr, then the chief executive of the payments provider Heartland Payments. Disappointed by what he saw as a widespread departure from ethical practices in the industry, Carr released a set of rules he hoped would help improve the industry’s treatment of merchants and other clients. Carr stepped down earlier this year as the leader of Beyond, a company he had founded after leaving Heartland.

Ablowitz stresses there are no restrictions on companies interested in joining the new effort. “Everyone is welcome,” he says. “This is an industry thing.”