EMEA FINANCE
The changing face of the consumer We live in an increasingly connected and digitalised world. Consumers have become accustomed to living a life of constant connectivity and maximum convenience. The digitalisation of services means that consumers now have a social and intellectual network quite literally at their fingertips, accessible through the tap of a screen at any time, day or night. Nor is this convenience purely confined to the bounds of the virtual. Services like Amazon Prime Now enable customers to place an order online and have the physical item delivered to their door in a matter of hours. The payments industry has seen the manifestation of this trend through everincreasing consumer expectations. Features such as instantaneous connectivity, mobile access to financial services, a higher degree of personalisation and seamless, frictionless transaction experience are no longer considered luxuries, but necessities. In order to compete, organisations are under mounting pressure to integrate these features into their offerings. This shift inevitably means that the preferred environment for payments is moving from the bank branch to the digital sphere. Evidence of this can be seen through the increasing popularity of alternative payment methods – payments made using something other than a credit card e.g. bank transfers, prepaid cards, cash, coupons, etc. – which currently2 account for 59% of transactions across the globe. The international demand for easilyintegrated transaction methods that deliver on the consumer demand for real-time, personalised and seamless payment experience, is palpable.
What next? As technology continues to innovate the payments industry, traditional infrastructure will become more and more displaced and legacy payment methods uprooted. The landscape is likely to become more densely populated with a growing number of players capitalising on the opportunity of digital to create flexible payments solutions that offer a wide range of services. In order to ensure a consistent level of service and security, regulations will be implemented. To support regulatory compliance in new markets, maximise business scalability and expand their technology portfolio, organisations will find themselves incentivised to forge strategic partnerships with other businesses. The monumental potential of new technologies such as AI and machine learning, along with continued deployment of traditional solutions such as costefficient storage, computing power and open source, is poised to be at the core of revolutionary advancements, the impact of which could be ground-breaking. When considering all that is going on within the payments space, I can’t help but feel as though we are just at the start of a hugely exciting chapter in the future of payments.
Matthias Setzer CCO PayU
1
“Most Global Financial Services Companies Plan to Increase FinTech Partnerships, as 88% Fear Loss of Revenue to Innovators.” PwC Press Room, 5 Apr. 2017, press.pwc.com/ News-releases/most-global-financial-services-companiesplan-to-increase-fintech-partnerships--as-88--fear-loss-of/s/1bb9507c-65f4-4014-a3ab-3784ac2ed7eb.
2
http://offers.worldpayglobal.com/rs/worldpay/images/ worldpay-alternative-payments-2nd-edition-report.pdf
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