Though
it’s too early to say that cash is an endangered species, the stage is
set for even more rapid adoption of new payments choices over the next
decade.PwC and Strategyforecastthat
global cashless payment volumes will increase by more than 80% from
2020 to 2025 from 1 trillion transactions to almost 1.9 trillion and
almost triple
that by 2030.
We
had the rapid adoption of digital wallets, NFC and QR code payments
during lockdowns, but that was just the beginning. Alternative payment
methods such as
cryptocurrency, QR code-based wallets and account to account are on the
ascent, and most central banks are in the early phases of piloting and
developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Removing friction from payments
Consumers,
meanwhile, have become accustomed to the slick customer experience they
get from options such as BNPL embedded into ecommerce platforms.
Increasingly,
they — and the merchants that serve them — are gravitating towards
payments tools that remove as much friction from their lives as
possible.
As
the rapid adoption of BNPL and digital wallets shows, customers are
willing to try new payments options, provided they are convenient and
can be trusted. This
has created gaps for BigTech companies like Amazon, Google and Apple to
embed their brands into the consumer experience as well as for the rise
of fintech disruptors like Ripple and Stripe.
The
winners in this environment will be the financial institutions that can
offer customers a seamless, secure and truly omnichannel payments
solution. The IT
department is thus under growing pressure to meet the business’s need
to deploy new payments features, experiences and products in a rapid,
efficient and cost-effective manner.
Yet
most incumbents face significant challenges in empowering their account
holders with seamless experiences and complete control over their
payments. Legacy
systems constrain their agility, while many banks face significant
skills gaps in their payments businesses. Sweeping away legacy systems
is a far from trivial task, but the pressure to keep up with account
holders’ evolving needs is relentless.
To
remain competitive, payments players need to be able to accelerate
their time to market with new products and offerings, while minimising
the operational and
security risks of rapid innovation. One obstacle to meeting this
requirement lies in the complexity of orchestrating multiple intricate
systems elements at high speed to deliver new services.
Towards a modern payments environment
To
break through this barrier, leading financial institutions are
investing in modern payments solutions such as Verto, Stanchion’s
Digital Platform. The platform
comprises a library of components that connect traditional payment
rails with new digital channels, allowing organisations to reduce the
risks of their digitisation journey.
Such
a platform reduces the need for the institution to make large-scale
changes to underlying systems, many of which are built on legacy
technology. Furthermore,
the platform enables an institution to move fast in response to
regulatory and competitive changes.
Verto orchestrates
the fulfilment of service requests from multiple systems, reducing risk
and simplifying architectural complexity in use cases such as instant
card issuance and personalised printing; cardholder authentication with
OTP messages validated at an ATM; acquisition
of QR code wallet transactions through POS terminals; and TLCM for
digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Stanchion supports clients with the consulting and software development services they need to deploy the platform.
Meeting the demand for instant, seamless payments
Financial
institutions must address end-customers’ demands for instant, seamless
and rewarding payments experiences if they are to remain competitive in a
landscape
of digital disruption. The good news is that solutions such as Verto support them on their payments modernisation journey, helping them to meet customer needs with solutions that minimise
risk and complexity.
About Stanchion Payment Solutions
Over
the past two decades since its establishment in South Africa in 2001,
Stanchion has expanded its offerings and solutions across the globe,
with offices in
Australia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States and,
most recently, Israel.
The
growth of its global footprint is testament to the value of its
offerings and specialist team, along with Stanchion’s ability to
constantly innovate and adapt
to the changes within the dynamic payments landscape and the needs of
the industries it serves.Stanchion’s
access to global operational management expertise across the banking,
retail and payment processing sectors serves as the foundation to
creating this
world-class service.
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