#2023TRENDS: FUTURE OF PAYMENTS

Money on the Move

We’re increasingly seeing shifts in the movement of money from offline to online in the digital world we live in today. These terms will become as outdated as the distinction they describe. How often is anyone “offline” anymore. Cash usage has decreased with the change in shopping habits amplified by the pandemic, favouring contactless payments options. According to Visa, its worldwide networks handled an estimated $13 trillion worth of contactless transactions last year.

There is a global shift towards digital payments adoption post-pandemic, fuelled by increasing digital access. As of 2021, 76% of adults globally have an account with a financial institution or mobile money provider, up from 68% in 2017 and 51% in 2011, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database.

The expansion of digital financial services greatly accelerated during the pandemic and will continue to drive innovations in the coming year. Moving money digitally is no longer a good-to-have but an essential requirement for all businesses.

At MYPINPAD, we’ve shortlisted 5 digital payments trends to watch out for in 2023.

Trend #1: Innovating the checkout process

Innovating the checkout process is crucial to keeping customers happy and coming back for more. Some examples of checkout innovations are retail apps for large chains like Starbucks, MacDonald’s self-serve ordering/checkout kiosks, Shopify’s email cart feature, and others like showrooming model and curbside pickup.

Another key checkout innovation that is transforming the checkout experience is mobile checkouts, with Apple perhaps the best known for adopting this approach. Powered by MYPINPAD’s SoftPOS technology, retailers such as HEMA in the Netherlands and FrostHead AB in Sweden are also melding innovation, operational efficiency with great customer experience by allowing checkouts to happen seamlessly anywhere in-store and even beyond at outdoor events/festivals.

Anywhere you see a traditional terminal strapped beneath or beside a cool digital client interface — think airline check-in, fast food order points or even within bank branches — expect to see that terminal disappear as its integration and transformation to SoftPOS evolves.

Technology is increasingly playing a key role in defining the way people browse, shop and pay, with online and in-store shopping merging to make way for a new shopping experience.

Trend #2: Value-added services

With the multitude of mobile apps out there that aim to add convenience to our daily lives, from ordering groceries to monitoring our fitness, customers are no longer satisfied with apps that serve only a single purpose. Enter the Super App — a single portal that connects to a wide range of value-added services to serve all the needs of a user in one place. A well-known example is China’s WeChat app, which expanded beyond a simple messaging platform to offer a range of value-added services including mobile wallets, taxi booking, and even medical consultations.

Similarly, for acquirers and PSPs, providing value-added services such as integrated CRM or Marketing through a single multi-use merchant app would bring added convenience to merchants (and their customers). Offering value-added services is the next step as acquirers target a broader share of merchants’ expense wallets. While brands may negotiate hard over transaction fees, they are often willing to fork out marketing dollars on services that help close a sale or enable better customer experience.

Trend #3: Stepping up authentication to combat fraud

With criminals simultaneously targeting online and offline vulnerabilities as in-person commerce returns to pre-pandemic levels, there is a growing urgency for secure payments and authentication solutions to mitigate fraud risk while ensuring a familiar, user-friendly experience.

To provide better security for customers, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the largest bank in Canada, recently integrated MYPINPAD’s Mobile Banking Authentication SDK (MBAS) into their mobile banking application. MYPINPAD’s bank-grade technology provides a tool-kit, utilising the near field communications capacity of the cardholder’s Android device to confirm that their RBC client card is present. It then facilitates the secure collection of the cardholders’ PIN via PCI-approved methodology, which, with the card data, combine to provide a strong customer authentication. iOS users can use biometrics to access the app before securely inputting their PIN.

The recent publication of PCI’s third mobile payments acceptance standard, MPoC, will provide a universal set of security standards for all stakeholders wishing to scale SDK-architected, Tap on Phone solutions with PIN.

Trend #4: Proliferation of SoftPOS

“Tap to Pay”, “Tap on Mobile”, “Tap on Phone”, “Tap to Phone” and “SoftPOS” – Industry insiders are familiar with the various terms associated with software-based payments acceptance solutions by now. This technology, which allows merchants to accept contactless payments using an off-the-shelf smartphone or tablet without the need for additional hardware, will continue to grow in adoption throughout the world.

According to an article by Payments Cards & Mobile, analysts predict the Tap on Mobile market will grow to more than $76 billion by 2025. MYPINPAD’s SoftPOS technology has similarly been adopted globally by acquirers & PSPs across 27 countries, with continued expansion into 2023.

There are many benefits associated with implementing a SoftPOS solution:

No purchase of expensive hardware required for merchants
Same-day digital merchant onboarding
Seamless integration with pre-existing banking/payments solution to greatly shorten time to market
Pre-certified SDK toolkits and connection to global gateways for fast and secure integration

SoftPOS technology opens up a multitude of use cases, including contactless payments on delivery, selling/confirming tickets on board trains and ordering/bill-splitting options in restaurants.

Trend #5: What the future holds – Consumers transacting on their own phones using NFC

The explosive growth of eCommerce as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic came with its own downside: increased fraud. To address this rising concern, card-present transactions in eCommerce is the next logical step. This evolution in SoftPOS contactless payments technology allows consumers to make payments for their online transactions simply by tapping their credit card on their NFC-enabled personal smartphones or tablet. The need to key in credit card details on merchant sites or store personal card details online is no longer necessary. Card-present payments not only benefit consumers in terms of security but result in lower risks and processing fees for merchants and acquirers/issuers.

Leveraging the use of NFC capabilities on personal mobile phones in mobile commerce transactions will provide greater security, and also introduce a new, convenient checkout experience for customers.

Conclusion

According to a MIT Technology Review Insights survey, global business leaders expressed high interest in digital payment technologies across all types and sizes of businesses:

36% of respondents are getting started with digital payments
43% expect to expand their offerings over the next 18 months
Many are venturing into cross-border transactions (37%) and cryptocurrency (18%).

We will continue to see exciting innovations in Payments and the emergence of interesting use cases in 2023.

References:

MIT Technology Review Insights, Moving money in a digital world

The World Bank, The Global Findex Database 2021

Shopify, The Future of Checkout: How Retailers are Innovating the Payment Experience

Gartner, What Is a Superapp?

Payments Cards & Mobile, Tap on Mobile: the digital revolution moves from payment to acceptance