GFG GROUP - NEWS ARCHIVES - 2007
"Right Place, Right Time, Right Product"
04 April 2007 - reprinted with the kind permission of Unlimited Magazine
GFG's new CEO discusses his reasons for joining GFG and shares some insights into the changing global payments market and the growth opportunities which those changes are opening up for GFG.
You come from a 'big company' background. What was it about GFG Group which appealed?
Grant Halverson: It's not the size of the company that's particularly relevant. It's the size of the opportunity. With around 50 customers, GFG is small compared to many of its competitors. But some of those customers are relatively large and its worth noting that GFG's Cadencie (formerly UniCard) software is managing card systems with more than 30 million customers. But, as I said, it's the size of the opportunity that's important from my perspective. GFG has the only Java-based Card management software (Cadencie) that I know about, and - with three large Telco customers for its Simfonie product (formerly GFG:Mobile) - it has a leadership position in the rapidly emerging mobile payments market. It also has a global footprint with customers in China, North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. This ability to deliver products that work and are scalable is very important. These attributes are all critical when you look at the changes taking place in the global payments market.
So the appeal of GFG is to be involved in a company which has huge growth potential and is right at the cutting edge of the payments market. It's also headquartered in New Zealand and I'm from this part of the world, so that was a factor. And having fun is important. I'm keen to work in an organisation which wants to grow and wants to have some fun along the way.
Can you expand on your comment about market change. What changes are most relevant to GFG?
Grant Halverson: GFG's competitors are very large organisations with dated architectures, difficult to change and slow to move. These competitors are challenged by the demands of their global customers for, on the one hand consistent, standardized global 'backbone' products, and on the other hand fast, agile, highly differentiated products designed for local market conditions, local banking regulations and local consumer preferences.
Having a Java-based Card product is critical because that means speed to market for new products. Likewise a proven Mobile payments product is critical, because mobile payments is probably the largest single new growth opportunity in the global payments market - particularly outside the developed countries. The paradox is that it's really only a smaller player such as GFG which can be sufficiently fast moving and innovative and can be in the right place at the right time with the right products. And that's key to why GFG is such an exciting opportunity. I see GFG as having a powerful ability to bring new card and mobile payment products to market quickly, locally, but conforming to global standards and integrating smoothly and easily with existing global hubs.
Do you see growth slowing in the payments market?
Grant Halverson: No, but the market is becoming much more complex and fragmented. The overall global payments market is still growing rapidly. Only 1.6 billion out of a total population of 6.5 billion now have credit and debit cards. So there's huge potential. Of that only 750 million are using a mobile phone to make payments and most of that number is limited to simple top ups of mobile phone accounts. And GFG's pool of potential customers is also expanding. Today there are around 24,000 banks issuing Visa and MasterCard, and around 10,000 non-banks issuing various credit and debit cards of different varieties. The ability to use a cell phone to make payments brings Telcos into the payments equation, taking the 'unbanked' from the stone age to the space age in a single step. Mobile payments using a cell phone now include Telcos in the customer mix.
What do you see as your immediate priorities?
Grant Halverson: Immediately, the priority to get to know GFG's people and its customers. At the same time, there are strategic opportunities for growth that I want to focus on. We also need to look at partnerships. Our technology is designed to scale, but we need to look at ways to use partnerships to leverage our growth.
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