The Payment Monkey
banner
paymentmonkey.net
The Payment Monkey
@paymentmonkey.net
The Halifax Permanent Building Society was founded in 1852 - a mutual endeavour to provide housing for working people. By embodying community values, it grew into the world’s largest - until the rise of corporate interests reshaped its mission forever.

paymentmonkey.net/halifax-and-...
Halifax and Beyond: What Happens When Communities Become Corporations? - PaymentMonkey.net
The Halifax: access to housing for working people, becoming the world’s largest building society ... until corporate interests destroyed it forever.
paymentmonkey.net
November 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Some people love it, but do they get it?

They say that x402 is clever, but I say it’s not the golden future of payments.

The clever x402 approach is well suited to machine-to-machine payments, but just because it's suited to one use case, it don't mean it's suited to them all!

Horses for Courses.
x402: The Old-New HTTP Code That’s isn't the Golden Future of Payments - PaymentMonkey.net
x402: seamless blockchain payments - and irreversible. Perfect for IoT, perilous for people. Finality without protection isn’t progress.
paymentmonkey.net
October 28, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Last week, I attended the Payments Knowledge Forum, and joined in with a lot of people with considerable amounts of knowledge about payments.

One conversation got me reminiscing about probably the wildest project delivery metod I have encountered.

Have a read ...

www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-on...
It's only Project Management
I attended the Payment Knowledge Forum last Thursday, I met a lot of people, I learned a lot and I reminisced a bit. At one point I was talking to someone I used to work with, and then I remembered ho...
www.linkedin.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Except for the mobile phone, the ATM is one of the few technologies to touch nearly every adult in the modern world. And yet today, it’s fading from view.

It takes with it a vital lifeline for millions who rely on cash for their basic needs.

paymentmonkey.net/the-atm-as-a...
The ATM as a Social Construct - PaymentMonkey.net
In the UK, the number of cash machines is quietly shrinking, and with every one that disappears, it takes with it a vital lifeline for millions who rely on cash for their basic needs.
paymentmonkey.net
September 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Have we allowed “innovation” to be hijacked by marketing?

We add a new colour, a shinier material, or a slicker UX and suddenly it’s a breakthrough.

If everything is innovation, then nothing is!

paymentmonkey.net/innovation-o...
Innovation, or Just a Faster Horse? - PaymentMonkey.net
Have we allowed “innovation” to be hijacked by marketing? We add a new colour, a shinier material, or a slicker User Experience and suddenly it’s a breakthrough. If everything is innovation, then noth...
paymentmonkey.net
September 11, 2025 at 10:11 AM
How many times have we heard: "It's only a payment, how hard can it be?"?

Payments look simple because we make them look simple ... and because they need to be simple so people can use them with confidence.

But we, in the industry know better, don't we?

paymentmonkey.net/money-moveme...
Money Movement Models - PaymentMonkey.net
There are essentially three ways of moving money around a payment ecosystem: bank rails, card rails and the Bucket of Money. Each can be ideally paired with some payment services but not with others. ...
paymentmonkey.net
September 7, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I had a non-standard problem on a Barclaycard account, I called Barclays Customer Services, I still have a non-standard problem!

paymentmonkey.net/talking-to-b...
Talking to Barclaycard Customer Services - PaymentMonkey.net
Is it any wonder that Barclays top the UK charts of crap customer service. I had a non-standard problem, I called customer services and I still have a non-standard problem.
paymentmonkey.net
August 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM
What makes for a good, solid, user-friendly global payment system that is, more or less, accessible to all.

I am going to start from first principles and apply a pragmatic analytical approach to establish what we would get if we started now.

see paymentmonkey.net

www.linkedin.com/posts/david-...
The UK National Payments Vision describes a future UK payments landscape based on the potential for Open Banking, which by its own admission (3.15) is recognised as bringing "particular technolog...
The UK National Payments Vision describes a future UK payments landscape based on the potential for Open Banking, which by its own admission (3.15) is recognised as bringing "particular technological ...
www.linkedin.com
July 28, 2025 at 12:08 PM
The UK National Payments Vision is far from representative of a nation looking to become a world-leader in payments.

Open Banking plays a large part but it plays straight into the hands of the Card Schemes. Competition - what competition?

paymentmonkey.net/national-pay...
National Payments Vision - PaymentMonkey.net
A short critique of the UK National Payments Vision, with emphasis on Open Banking as the UK National Payments Vision also emphasises Open Banking.
paymentmonkey.net
June 26, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Magstripe Security Features - how many do you remember?

First introduced in the late 1960s, the magstripe card quickly became widespread, and was constantly being attacked by crims.

Here are some of the Security Devices deployed over the years to stop them.

paymentmonkey.net/magstripe-se...
Magstripe Security Features - PaymentMonkey.net
Magstripe security: Discover some of the hidden and not so hidden security features of magnetic stripe (magstripe) technology payment cards.
paymentmonkey.net
June 3, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Would you give your savings to a complete stranger that you can't see?

Security technology and its associated inconvenience is no substitute for vigilance and education.

www.linkedin.com/posts/david-...
Over £1bn stolen by fraudsters in 2024 - UK Finance | David Griffiths
Highlighting APP fraud. Rather than looking to develop technical solutions to APP fraud, which on a positive note would open the door to entrepreneurial opportunities and profit, why don't we loo...
www.linkedin.com
May 30, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Taking inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Times might have passed, but they haven't changed anything, and it's not magic!

paymentmonkey.net/inspiration-...
Inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey - PaymentMonkey.net
What inspiration can we take about product and project management from 2001: A Space Odyssey? More than you think - still relevant!
paymentmonkey.net
May 26, 2025 at 5:28 PM
A few days ago, I received an email from Revlout. It was legitimate but used all the techniques of a phishing expedition.

Is there any wonder that people fall for this stuff?

@paymentmonkey.net
paymentmonkey.net

paymentmonkey.net/revolut-phis...
Revolut - phishing for your details - PaymentMonkey.net
Is it any surprise that phishing emails fool people when mainstream banks employ the same techniques?
paymentmonkey.net
May 19, 2025 at 10:11 AM
It would appear that we can trust AI research about as much as we can trust human research, but we’re more likely to believe the AI.

We have been warned!

paymentmonkey.net/how-ai-legit...
How AI Legitimises Flawed Human Responses - PaymentMonkey.net
In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly trusted as an authoritative source of information, a subtle but dangerous phenomenon is emerging – the tendency for AI to legitimise flawed...
paymentmonkey.net
May 13, 2025 at 9:28 AM
The PCI-DSS has led to the widespread use of the shimmer (Shim in UK), widespread because it works, and it works because of 20th Century thinking that is well past its sell by date, and because it's underpinned by the PCI-DSS.

It's time to look to the future.

paymentmonkey.net/how-the-pci-...
How the PCI-DSS facilitated the Shimmer - PaymentMonkey.net
The PCI-DSS has led directly to the widespread deployment of chip card shimmers across the US. Shimmers don't work if chip card technology is implemented properly, but the PCI-DSS, by design, focuses ...
paymentmonkey.net
May 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
It isn't just sad old men that make decisions against what might otherwise be their better judgement. Industry executives are just as likely to ignore common sense, but this time, it's with other people's money!

paymentmonkey.net/were-all-suc...
April 28, 2025 at 9:17 AM
So, we were building a pre-pay card proposition, and we were considering ways and means of adding cash to the card account.

You just wouldn't use a Direct Debit.

paymentmonkey.net/direct-debit...
April 15, 2025 at 2:48 PM
The Philips 6601 ATMs had a habit, although not particularly widespread, of dispensing more than the cardholder had requested, usually exceeding what they had in their account and often by several thousand pounds.

paymentmonkey.net/the-halifax-...
The Halifax ATM and The Sun Lotto – PaymentMonkey.net
paymentmonkey.net
April 7, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Payment Monkey was a name coined by the project team at Tesco. Read about it here.

paymentmonkey.net/the-birth-of...
March 19, 2025 at 4:58 PM
You had one job!
March 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The Observer is giving us the impression that there are links between Mastercard, Visa and illegal gambling sites, and it's all a big scam.

This is not true, but whilst the Card Schemes do a lot, are they doing what they can?

paymentmonkey.net/mastercard-a...
Mastercard and Visa linked to illegal gambling sites accused of scamming UK customers
Card giants processing payments for unlicensed operators as customers report losing thousands
www.theguardian.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Does anyone remember the PCI Singing Cowboy?

youtu.be/xpfCr4By71U?...

I was just reliving my Tesco days - the origin the name "Payment Monkey" - and remembered the sheer excitement of the PCI-DSS.

Hot Diggity Dawg - those were the days!
PCI Data Security Standards Rock
YouTube video by PCI SSC Global Content Library
youtu.be
March 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
FCA to remove £100 contactless limit.

Let's consider the risks.
www.instagram.com/p/DFSaHSuot2b/
Hmmm! That would be ... Not many.

www.finextra.com/newsarticle/...
FCA to remove £100 contactless limit
The UK Financial Conduct Authority is planning to remove the £100 contactless limit and implement an open finance regime tackling SME financing.
www.finextra.com
January 26, 2025 at 11:48 AM