Are you prepared to succeed in the modern payments industry?

Cards dominate, but for how long?    

Financial institutions that want to deliver a positive, reliable experience for their customers must aim for high standards in card processing. Recent studies emphasize the vital role that debit and credit cards currently play in the wider payments landscape — they’re the transaction method of choice for many consumers.

In the UK, for example, the British Retail Consortium recently reported that card payments accounted for more than three-quarters of all retail sales, and that increased use of cards for lower-value purchases is driving this trend.

This followed earlier findings from trade association UK Finance indicating that debit cards had overtaken cash as the most frequently used payment method in the UK.

Looking at the international picture, a recent Worldpay's Global Payments Report showed credit cards were the most commonly used payment instrument around the world. In the EU, cards accounted for 49 percent of all non-cash transactions in 2016, making up a much larger share of the market than credit transfers (25 percent) and direct debits (20 percent).

With these industry statistics in mind, it’s clear that ensuring high standards for card processing, complete with a secure and reliable experience, is a major success factor for the modern financial institution. One of the key elements in maintaining these standards is the ability to evolve in line with significant changes in the industry, such as the EMV fraud liability shift that took effect in the U.S.

Against the backdrop of rapid evolution in technology, consumer expectations and regulatory developments such as Europe's PSD2, flexibility is key if you’re going to keep up. 

Succeeding in a shifting landscape    

Some of the most significant trends we’ve seen in recent years are likely to continue shifting in the coming decade and beyond, creating new challenges and opportunities for businesses.

Stephen Jones, chief executive of UK Finance, noted, "Developments such as open banking are expected to bring extensive changes to the payments landscape, something that will likely shape how we interact with our money in the coming years."

In Europe, the growth of alternative payment methods is expected to have a big impact on the ecommerce sector, while Asian nations are witnessing strong growth in mobile payments, driven by brands such as Alipay and WeChat Pay.   The emergence of voice based personal assistance is now always gaining traction as a payment interface.  Through your voice commands you can check on the balance on an account and direct your “assistance” to pay that bill.

If your business wants to succeed in the diverse and dynamic payments industry, you need transaction processing solutions that have the necessary qualities — such as flexibility and adaptability — to respond.

Traditional, silo-based legacy systems are no longer fit for purpose. They’re inflexible, inefficient and expensive to maintain— significant disadvantages that could hold your business back when you need to be moving forward to compete.

But with a modern transaction processing platform that gives you complete control over how you manage and process payments, you’ll have the best possible chance of success in an industry going through a major transformation.