Full Biography

Nick Collin is an experienced, independent management consultant specialising in the banking and payments industry.  Particular areas of expertise include: EMV chip and PIN; chip-based added value applications; payment systems; e-commerce; on-line banking; e-trust and information security; application of advanced technologies; speech recognition; information systems strategy; business process improvement; product development; marketing; delivery strategy; scenario planning; workshop facilitation; training; and communications.  Through his company, Collin Consulting Ltd, Nick has access to an extensive network of associate consultants with complementary skills and experience.

Over the past 30 years, Nick has led numerous projects mainly for clients in the banking and payments industry in the UK, Europe and worldwide, for example:

• A long term contract for MasterCard in Brussels, working initially for the European E-Business team and then for the Global Chip Centre of Excellence. Major projects have included:
  • A major update of MasterCard's mobile payments documentation, including an Introduction to M/Chip Mobile and an Implementation Guide.
  • Development and delivery of training courses on all aspects of card payments for banks and for MasterCard staff, including gaming workshops based on a sophisticated credit card profitability computer simulation.
  • Development of a series of packaged “OneSmart” EMV chip propositions built around added value applications, and subsequent communication to member banks through interactive workshops. This work has had a significant influence on MasterCard’s global chip strategy.
  •  Long term assistance to the chip product management group on chip commercialisation, chip revenue modelling and establishing and managing OneSmart Clubs for banks in European markets.
  •  Product development, marketing and implementation of MasterCard’s remote Chip Authentication Program (CAP) for secure online banking, and secure e-commerce in combination with SecureCode.
  • Management of MasterCard’s UK Contactless Forum for launching OneSmart PayPass as a new cash displacement product.
  •  Establishment of an e-business team, development of an e-business strategy, and communication of the strategy to MasterCard banks in Europe. The strategy covers secure e-commerce using MasterCard SecureCode and CAP.
  •  Development of a “chip roadshow” and a comprehensive suite of chip presentations for communicating MasterCard’s EMV chip card migration program to banks worldwide and achieving buy-in.
  • Product development around MasterCard’s flagship chip card payment application M/Chip, including preparation of the M/Chip Product Roadmap and the M/Chip Program Guide.
  • Initiation and management of MasterCard’s e-trust programme, including chairing the E-Trust Working Party of MasterCard members. This assessed the feasibility of a MasterCard-branded PKI-based digital identity and digital signature scheme
•  Preparation of a major research report for Retail Banking Research (RBR) on “EMV Chip Applications: Catching the Next Wave” (published April 2010).
•  A project for the UK Payments Council (formerly APACS), forming part of the UK National Payments Plan, to assess problems associated with direct credit payment referencing, and to recommend solutions.
• Several SEPA-related projects, including: advice to a Private Equity firm considering acquisition of a major pan-European Automated Clearing House (PE-ACH); strategic analysis of the post-SEPA cards and non-cards processing landscape on behalf of a global IT services company (Fujitsu) wishing to strengthen its presence in this market.
• Several e-trust projects on the commercial feasibility of PKI-based digital certificate products (in addition to the work for MasterCard described above): preparation of a report on e-commerce opportunities and threats, including e-trust recommendations (leading to founding membership of the Identrus consortium) for a major bank (Barclays); analysis of a new digital signature banking product (Barclaycard); project manager of an inter-bank working party under the auspices of APACS to develop a scheme and associated e-trust services for facilitating secure business-to-business e-commerce (ECIPS).
• Information systems strategy studies for a range of companies including: a retail credit card company (Next/Club 24); a UK merchant bank (Henry Ansbacher); a multinational commodity and financial futures broker (Rudolph Wolff); a London metals trader (Brandeis Intsel); a building services supplier (GKN); and a large legal firm (Denton Hall).These studies all involved assistance in subsequently implementing the strategy.
•  Scenario planning and workshop facilitation for the boards of the banking and healthcare subsidiaries of a major insurance company (Standard Life).
•  Implementation of advanced automated speech recognition systems based on SRI’s Nuance natural language technology at two separate UK banks (Nationwide and Lloyds TSB).
•  Several projects over ten years for a large data centre serving the German savings banks (dvg), including a merger strategy (achieved annual savings of DM 20 million); and a review of planned network-centric IT architecture based on 3-tier client/server, thin clients, and distributed objects.
• Management over several years of a series of projects for a large UK building society (Nationwide), including: implementation of a speech recognition interface for a multimedia kiosk; Internet information security architecture; strategy, design, and development of an Internet delivery channel.
• Market studies for a range of clients, including: a major financial information vendor (Reuters - Far East market for new multimedia product); a large Japanese bank (Mitsubishi Trust - US investment advisory start-up); a US consumer finance company (Household Finance - new operation in Spain); a Japanese supplier of data encryption products (Advance - European market entry); and a Japanese software supplier (Zuno - digital library market assessment).
•  Development of a new organisation in support of a redesigned retail distribution strategy for a Netherlands bank (Credit Lyonnais Bank Netherlands), based on profitability analysis, market segmentation, and an assessment of alternative delivery channels.
• A study of strategic opportunities for the Spanish insurance industry.
• Creation of a performance improvement plan for the West Yorkshire police force, using the Rummler Brache process improvement methodology.
• Feasibility assessment for the DTI of a UK national reservation system based on viewdata.
• Design of a new IT Department for the Kuwait government, including structure, business processes, roles and responsibilities, and job descriptions (100 jobs).

Until 1998, Nick was a Principal Consultant at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and Director of the Financial Services Practice at SRI’s London offices.Prior to that he was an Executive Consultant with Ernst and Young, based first in London and then in New York.He has also worked for GEC Computers and as an operational research scientist at the National Coal Board.

He has written many articles and spoken at a number of conferences on financial and information technology topics, and has published a major research study on intercepting new telecommunications technologies.He has chaired several working groups on subjects such as e-trust, financial expert systems, payment system fallback arrangements, and Internet security.

Nick has a first class B.A. degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University.

He is a British citizen, born in 1951, married with two children, and lives in North London.