A key topic of conversation lately is the significant consumption of energy used by AI systems and how it has become a significant emitter of CO2. Where a regular Google search uses around 0.3 watt-hours, a single ChatGPT query uses 2.9 watt-hours and training AI models uses about the same amount of power in a year as 130 homes. In short, AI uses a lot of power. And it’s only going to increase. In fact, according to Morgan Stanley , power demand from generative AI is expected to grow by an average of 70% annually by 2027, primarily driven by the expansion of data centres. This is as much power as Spain used in 2022! Furthermore, Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently looked at various AI models to estimate the energy cost required to train them and published their staggering findings. In short, the carbon footprint of training a single large natural language processing (NLP) model is over 272,000 kg of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of 125 round-trip flights between New York and Beijing. But it’s not just our carbon footprint we need to be aware of when it comes to AI’s impact on the environment. According to the Center for Secure Water (C4SW), the rapid growth of AI is having a significant and serious impact on the world’s water supply . “The data centers required to run large AI models consume vast amounts of power. This significant energy consumption generates large amounts of heat, which in turn requires cooling systems to prevent server overheating. Most common cooling methods (e.g., cooling towers) depend on substantial quantities of clean, fresh water.” There are an estimated 11,000 data centres in the world, each using anywhere between 68,000 and 2.1 million litres of water per day. A large datacentre in the US uses about the same amount of water per day as 4,200 people. And to put this into context, of all the water on earth, only 3% is fresh and 2.5% is locked away in glaciers and polar ice caps, leaving only 0.5% of Earth’s water available to meet our needs. AI integration into payments means a significant energy spike Until recently, payments had not been a drain on energy resources. Traditional card-present terminals are simple to operate and primarily perform basic functions such as reading card data, verifying transactions, and printing receipts, all of which have very low energy demands. But… the acceleration of online purchases, increasing levels of online payment fraud and the subsequent adoption of fraud-mitigating AI systems means payments are now adding to the drain on energy resources. This is largely due to the use of AI. The AI-driven systems used by online merchants for fraud detection operate in a continuous analytical cadence, looking at transaction data using complex machine learning models. This high-frequency, high-volume data processing requires powerful servers and extensive computational resources. And data centres optimised for AI workloads consume vast amounts of electricity – a recent article reported that AI data centres could be consuming 25% of electricity in the US by 2030. The proliferation of AI in payments With the rate of payments fraud increasing year-on-year, the average online retailer now uses up to five AI systems to analyse a range of data to assess the probability of each transaction being fraudulent. This requires a high degree of accuracy, which means more sophisticated algorithms, extensive testing, and constant evolution and fine-tuning of AI models. And all this demands additional computational power – and therefore energy. This additional strain on energy isn’t going away anytime soon, which is why there is study upon study that talk about ways organisations can reduce the amount of energy AI is consuming. Now, for most industries, this is extremely relevant, and important. Because AI has become integral to how they operate and is here to stay. Indeed, Google has just signed the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small reactors in order to support AI technologies with clean energy sources whilst reliably meeting electricity demands with carbon-free energy, around the clock. Now, for payments, there is actually a far simpler, much more energy efficient option – simply, don’t use AI. You’re probably thinking to yourself that this is crazy given the statement I just made about how integral and useful AI has become. But for payments fraud, there actually is technology that solves the problem at its root – it’s called CPoI ® . Solving fraud I have written a number of articles about how AI is costing merchants more than fraud , and the fact that AI is responsible for false positives , which is a massive issue that merchants may not actually be aware of. So, if you’ve already read these articles, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. If you haven’t, here’s a quick summary: While AI enhances fraud detection, it also increases the risk of false positives, which is when legitimate transactions are incorrectly flagged as fraudulent, and therefore blocked. The pressing matter here, is that there’s data from the global payments experts such as Mastercard that suggests the AI is actually blocking a significant amount of legitimate transactions by incorrectly identifying them as fraudulent. And it’s costing merchants $443 billion per year. Burbank’s CPoI®, or Card Present over Internet, is a groundbreaking technology that turns consumer devices into a one-time payment terminal. During the checkout process the customer simply taps their card against their own device and securely enters their PIN, thus creating a card present transaction over the internet.  This offers a range of benefits including significantly less fraud and therefore liability shift (away from the merchant), lower processing fees, and a much faster, easier customer experience. But the best part about CPoI® is that there are zero false positives.  So, if we remove the opportunity for fraud with online payments by changing the majority of them to card-present, then we reduce the need for fraud detecting AI systems, we reduce the impact online payments have on the environment, and we’re doing our part towards helping the world achieve Net Zero. A pretty big win all around if you ask me. So, if you want to know more about CPoI®, reach out to the Burbank team today for a chat and a demo.

USK, WALES: An historic milestone will be achieved today, Thursday 13th March, where payment executives from around the globe have gathered to witness the world’s first online card-present payment. This groundbreaking advancement brings tap and PIN—the globally familiar, simple, and universally trusted way to pay—into the online world for the first time, marking a pivotal moment in the evolution of payment technologies. Known as 'Card-Present over Internet' (CPoI®), this innovative payment solution, developed by Welsh company Burbank , enables merchants to securely process card-present transactions in online channels. “With CPoI®, we are aligning in-store and digital payments. Our goal is to transform e-commerce by significantly reducing fraud and eliminating false positives—issues that have long plagued online sellers”, said Burbank CEO, Justin Pike. “CPoI® will open up internet purchases to all ages and give consumers the highest level of protection when shopping online, whilst revolutionising online commerce for merchants by mitigating fraud, setting a new standard for secure online transactions”, he adds. Currently, online merchants face over $40 billion annually in fraud and chargebacks, which is when a cardholder disputes a transaction and the merchant is obligated to provide a refund. Payment fraud is growing an enormous 69% per year, and chargebacks at 52%. Mr Pike expands, “With CPoI®, online shoppers simply tap their payment card against their own mobile device and securely enter their PIN to complete payment, just as they do in-store. The physical card and PIN confirm the true cardholder’s identity, therefore significantly reducing the opportunity for fraud”. Beyond fraud prevention, CPoI® addresses an even costlier problem for online businesses: false positives, where legitimate transactions are incorrectly flagged as fraud by anti-fraud systems, giving merchants a considerable revenue boost. “These erroneous actions cost merchants $443 billion per year, with 65% of blocked transactions being false positives. Worse still, 41% of affected customers never return to the retailer. With CPoI® enabling card-present payments online, merchants no longer need anti-fraud technology, effectively eliminating false positives and improving the customer experience, whilst costing the merchant nothing to deploy”, says Mr Pike. Online retailers may experience other benefits with CPoI® as it removes barriers to online shopping by enabling consumers to pay online the same way they do in-store. Great news for consumers wary of entering and storing card details online, or who may struggle with convoluted online checkout experiences. By making online payments as seamless and secure as in-store transactions, CPoI® has the potential to drive greater consumer confidence, increase conversion rates, and enhance the overall online shopping experience. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, this breakthrough technology paves the way for a future where fraud is minimised, false positives are eliminated, and shopping online is more accessible than ever. With this historic milestone, Burbank is setting a new global standard for secure and frictionless online commerce.

CARDIFF, WALES: Burbank , a pioneer in next-generation payments technology, has announced its GBP 5 million Series Seed financing to support the launch of its ground-breaking payments platform, Card Present over Internet (CPoI®). The funding round was led by Mouro Capital with participation from Anthemis (supported by Foxe Capital) , Portfolio Ventures and others. These funds will accelerate the global scalability of Burbank's platform. CPoI® redefines two-factor authentication by enabling Card Present Payments (CPP) in online channels. When shopping online, consumers can simply tap their card to their mobile device and securely enter their PIN. Until now, online payments were Card Not Present (CNP) transactions, which have high, and increasing levels of fraud, chargebacks, and false positives. In addition to Burbank’s platform eliminating these challenges faced by online merchants, CPoI® also removes barriers to online shopping by enabling consumers to pay online the same way they do in-store in. Great news for those wary of entering and storing card details online, or who may struggle with convoluted online checkout experiences.   Additionally, Burbank has developed an innovative SoftPOS product and an issuer toolkit. Justin Pike , founder and CEO of Burbank, said, “We are extremely excited to bring this evolution in payments to the world. The payments experience should be the same for everyone, regardless of channel. In-store we pay tap and PIN, which is globally trusted and familiar, and now we’re enabling the same process in online channels. Simple, secure, and scalable. The way it should be.” Manuel Silva Martinez , General Partner at Mouro Capital, explained the investment, stating, “I’m thrilled to support Justin and his team of payments experts. Burbank offers a simple, seamless integration through a single while-label SDK, which securely integrates into existing technology stacks, and supports multiple schemes on iOS and Android. It’s what the market needs.” Ruth Foxe Blader , General Partner at Foxe Capital, added, “CPoI® is the first protocol that legally shifts liability away from the merchant. It’s a massively scalable approach, with global demand.” Burbank’s advanced platform offers unparalleled convenience and robust security, empowering consumer-facing businesses to innovate in customer experience and unlock new revenue opportunities. By combining ease of use with cutting-edge security, Burbank’s technology supports businesses in delivering exceptional and innovative customer interactions that fuel growth and set new standards in the market.

Burbank has today announced a major strategic partnership with global payments technology provider Transactility (creators of jPOS) to accelerate the adoption of Card Present over Internet (CPoI®) across the banking sector. The partnership will make CPoI® globally available to banks and PSPs, including many of the world’s top financial institutions and fintechs. The agreement will empower financial institutions and payment providers to better serve their merchant customers by making secure, fraud-resistant payment technology quickly and easily accessible globally.  CPoI® enables card-present payments to be accepted in digital environments, tackling a critical challenge in modern payments: reducing fraud and chargebacks and eliminating false positives without compromising the customer experience. With these benefits, merchants can expect to see revenue increases of up to 7%. Furthermore, transitioning card-not-present businesses to the gold standard of card-present transactions will support greater confidence for businesses and consumers across the entire payments chain. “CPoI® is now within reach for nearly every major financial institution in the world,” said Justin Pike , Founder and CEO of Burbank. “This partnership with jPOS marks a major step forward in our mission to help financial institutions, payment providers and merchants access secure, reliable, and revenue-driving technology without the complexity. What makes CPoI® so powerful is that it delivers genuine innovation using the systems and processes banks already have in place. There’s no need for consumer re-education or infrastructure changes. It’s a simple, secure, and scalable way to enable the security of card-present payments in digital channels.” Alejandro Revilla at Transactility, added: “We’re excited that jPOS customers around the world can now seamlessly activate CPoI® through this new partnership with Burbank. Through this partnership, jPOS customers will gain access to CPoI® integration capabilities, enabling financial institutions and merchants to adopt the technology efficiently - and it gives merchants and financial institutions the confidence they need to eliminate fraud and grow faster.”

There are a range of industry sectors such as online gaming, gambling, adult entertainment, cryptocurrency, travel and ticketing that are deemed  high-risk  by schemes, financial institutions and payments processors.    But “high-risk” doesn’t necessarily refer to the nature of the business itself. It often has more to do with the financial and regulatory exposure associated with the industry. These sectors are more prone to fraud, chargebacks, or sudden regulatory shifts, making them tougher propositions for traditional payments infrastructure.   What gets a business flagged as high risk? Here are some common factors that can put a business into the high-risk category:  Historical trends: If your business model or industry has historically seen a high level of chargebacks.  Fraud potential:   Selling goods that are easy to resell and therefore pose a higher risk of fraud, such as electronics.  Industry volatility: If fraud and chargebacks are trending up across a sector, businesses in that industry may all inherit that high-risk label.  Regulatory grey areas:   Highly regulated or legally ambiguous sectors are more vulnerable to sudden rule changes.  New or unproven businesses:   If your business is new or in an emerging category, you may be viewed as untested.  High transaction value:   Bigger-ticket items carry greater exposure for chargebacks.  Subscription models:  Recurring billing, especially following free trials, can lead to spikes in chargebacks.  Businesses in high-risk sectors also pay much higher Merchant Services Fees (MSF) – in some cases up to 9%.  And it’s not just industries—some countries are also considered high-risk due to elevated levels of online payment fraud, prompting many global retailers to avoid selling into those markets altogether.  A flawed online payments process If you’ve been following my other articles , you’ll know that the root cause of many of these issues is the very foundation of online payments: card-not-present (CNP) transactions. They inherently leave too much room for fraud and chargebacks.  Two decades ago, the introduction of Chip and PIN revolutionised in-store payments. Thanks to encrypted chips and secure PIN entry, fraud rates for physical retailers plummeted, and remain extremely low today. But fraud didn’t disappear–it simply shifted into online channels.    When ecommerce started to ramp up, instead of replicating the in-store (card-present) process online, fraud-mitigating workarounds such as tokenisation were put into place to protect the Primary Account Number (PAN). Ironically, Chip and PIN doesn’t even require tokenisation–the data is encrypted and never stored.  Had we adopted the same, secure approach for online payments from the beginning, many of the issues around high-risk businesses and fraud exposure wouldn’t exist today.  CPoI® will fix this This brings me to Card Present over Internet– CPoI ®. The world’s first technology that enables card-present payments in online channels.    In short, it’s the way online payments should  have been right from the start.    With CPoI, high-risk online payments will be a thing of the past.  There will be no need to protect the PAN because the transaction is secure by design.  Tokenisation will become obsolete, like fax machines.   And “high-risk” businesses can choose to only accept card-present transactions, thus moving them out of high-risk and away from exorbitantly high MSFs.   And while CPoI ®  is ground-breaking, it’s actually not new. It is tried and testing technology that we’ve been using for decades. Just in a new channel.   Simple. Secure. Scalable. That’s CPoI ® . And it’s exactly what online payments have been missing.  Reach out  to the team today about CPoI ® .

Just a decade ago, most of us couldn’t fathom leaving home without a wallet or purse. Yet, digital wallets are making this a reality for millions of consumers worldwide, with 60% of eCommerce transactions projected to be done through digital wallets by 2026. But how do digital wallets impact merchants? And what role does CPoI ® play in this new landscape? Digital wallets have gained significant popularity over the past decade, offering a convenient way to pay with something we almost never leave the house with – our phones. They are particularly favoured by the younger Gen Z and Millennial generations, who prefer not to carry a physical card at all and have their wallets linked to their bank accounts and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) accounts. With most retailers accepting wallet payments both in-store and online and as the tech savvy Generations Alpha and Beta come of age, digital wallets adoption is only going to increase.   So how does CPoI ® fit in with digital wallets, and why should consumers and merchants care?   Merchants do not significantly benefit from wallet payments The biggest thing for merchants is that digital wallet payments made online are card-not-present, the same as online payments made by entering card details.  While digital wallets can improve the user’s payment experience by removing some of the friction, for all intents and purposes there is no difference to the merchant. And in the case of some digital wallets that operate their own payment schemes, there may even be additional fees the merchant has to pay on top of the usual transaction processing fees. Merchants do significantly benefit from CPoI® Regardless of whether the consumer is entering their card details or using a digital wallet, CPoI® enables card present payments to be made over the internet. The liability for card present payments sits with the card issuer, which means in the highly unlikely event of a card present transaction being fraudulent, the merchant does not have to refund the cardholder. This responsibility lies with the issuer. Conversely, the liability for traditional card-not-present payments made over the internet by entering card details or via a digital wallet sits with the merchant. This means that if a transaction is deemed fraudulent, the merchant not only must refund the consumer, but they are also out of pocket for the goods or service that will have been delivered. The other benefit of CPoI® is that there is no need for anti-fraud software because the likelihood of a fraudulent card present transaction is incredibly low. Therefore, if you don’t have anti-fraud software, you don’t have false positives . And false positives are ten times more costly to merchants than online payment fraud. Digital wallet security is not impenetrable Digital wallets add a layer of security with biometrics, making it harder for unauthorized users to gain access. However, as with all technology, it’s important for consumers to stay aware of its limitations and take steps to protect their personal information. Fingerprints can be copied and cloned.  Facial recognition can be fooled with deepfake technology and 3D masks.  Iris scans can be tricked using high-quality photos or contact lenses.  In 2015 the US Office of Personnel Management was breached and the personal data of over 21.5 million people, including 5.6 million fingerprints was exposed.   The attackers could have used the stolen data for any number of crimes, including identity theft.  Biometric information is linked to a person’s physical body, so it is permanent. Unlike a PIN, it cannot be changed. Therefore, while digital wallets with biometric security have a degree of security, they can be used fraudulently.   Chip and PIN offer the highest degree of security For consumers, there is no safer way to pay than with Chip (card) and PIN. I cover this in a previous blog  so I’ll just recap here:   The digital certificate in the chips means they cannot be cloned, and unless someone figures out how to read minds, the PIN cannot be stolen. This is what makes Chip and PIN the most enduring and safest way to pay.  We’ve been trusting it for more than two decades and it hasn’t failed us yet. Digital wallets + CPoI ® As digital wallets become more ubiquitous, it's important to understand their benefits and limitations. While they offer unparalleled convenience for consumers, digital wallets still lack the security of card-present transactions like Chip and PIN. And for merchants, adopting CPoI ® could provide the best of both worlds—security, fraud protection, and a smoother payment experience. Reach out to our team if you’d like to know more.