The digital payments industry has faced difficult challenges over the past two years, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic and ending with the current phase of high economic and currency uncertainty, but you always can stay up to date with currency rates with money exchange – Rates. And moreover, a landscape of ups and downs, during the last 12 months, which could, however, reserve some surprises in this 2024, such as Business-to-Business (B2B) and instant payments, the mergers and acquisitions market, digital wallets, sustainability and the inevitable digital fraud.
In this article, our team and Iryna Tsymbaliuk have identified the 10 strongest trends in the industry, estimating their performance in the new year.
B2B 3.0
Version 3.0 of B2B payments has been in operation for almost a year. It was a new, more flexible and secure frontier for digital commerce. We’ve seen an increase in B2B mobile payments, as the trend for companies to pay and receive money via terminal, phone, or online is already an ongoing trend. Also, in the coming year, we can claim that this trend will grow.
More and more companies are making payments online now, and by 2025, it’s predicted that 80% of B2B transactions will be digital. Along with the regular paper checks and invoices, business process digitization will hasten B2B transactions and integrated payment options.
Diversification of payment systems to meet consumer needs
Consumers already have the ability to choose between different payment systems depending on the services they want to use, and companies see this as an opportunity to leverage this trend and turn it into a satisfying user experience.
Now more and more opportunities and systems are appearing, including digital wallets, PayPal and its analogues, as well as payment through banking applications, various forms of installments, and much more. And in the future, more such opportunities will appear to meet the growing need.
There are many scenarios where people need different forms of payment systems. And therefore, each such scenario and its consumer needs a unique method of payment/disbursement that is determined by real, perhaps even urgent/emergency situations. In 2023, brands will increasingly invest in a variety of payment options to create experiences that drive loyalty.
Payments in real time
Globalization of the economy is growing every year. And this directly contributes to the more frequent use of real-time payments. But it is worth noting that the future success of RTP depends on whether FIs and fintechs can use practical applications. One such example is instant payroll for company employees. That is, the growth of this sector directly depends on technological development and the interest of companies in implementing such systems.
Online fraud
With the Covid-19 outbreak, many of us have been working remotely for the first time or for a longer period of time than normal. Cybercriminals swiftly changed their techniques and sophisticated criminal solutions to the new scenario.
The return to regular life gives a fresh chance to deceive customers, not just internet users, but also corporations themselves, who are increasingly buying and performing transactions online.
All of this means that by 2024, there will be two major developments in cyber security and system reliability. An innovative authentication and user data protection technology that contributes to the global security of real-time e-commerce solutions. Digital payment solutions such as virtual cards will continue to ease everything from purchasing plane tickets to paying for supper.
Growth of M&A activity
Globalization opens up more and more opportunities for banks to gain control over payment companies, and this can lead to the emergence of new services on the market. Most likely, we will soon be able to see the consolidation of payment systems, and the number of providers of such services will only grow.
Even now, every smartphone can become a POS terminal. SoftPOS allows smartphones and tablets with NFC support to function as payment terminals without additional equipment. Currently, about 3 billion smartphones have NFC solutions worldwide, giving approximately 20% of the world’s population access to this payment technology. And in the future, small businesses and other enterprises will be able to change their payment strategies to implement SoftPOS, Software Point of Sale solutions for specific use cases, encouraging existing POS companies to develop SoftPOS.
Consumers want more sustainable payments
Climate change and environmental sustainability have dominated the scene for more than a year now, and consumers expect technological solutions that meet these collective and epochal challenges also in consumption patterns and in the payment sector.
There is a trend that consumers in the USA and Europe are willing to pay at least 2% more for carbon neutral flights. In 2024, we can expect more consumers to be ready for green options.
Digital wallets
The younger generation is fast adopting the digital wallet as their preferred method of communication with the many payment systems and businesses that provide them. We will see businesses choose a digital wallet over handling cash and physical cards, and for example, Visa cards are accepted by 150 countries, because of the overall shortage of cash coins and the continual desire to streamline and digitize every process and service. The same holds true for a meta world or Web 3.0, where users would be forced to utilize digital wallets because cash and conventional cards would be useless. But even with a digital wallet based on exchange rates, such as the ratio of the US dollar to your currency, you need to monitor what the Rates service can help you with.
Companies will move payment data directly to the cloud
Payment organizations may benefit from increased data value, improved security, efficiency, and analytics thanks to cloud solutions. Many businesses in the market will base their judgments in the future on this continuous and growing migration.
Businesses will enhance consumer interactions by integrating data into the payment process, bolstering loyalty programs, enhancing integrated financial services, and bolstering fraud protection by utilizing real-time data across all corporate activities.
Conclusion
Digital transformation is sweeping the global economy, and with it, fintech services will also be integrated into most economic processes to offer consumers digital solutions to their financial needs. Every company will have to develop this type of expertise if it wants to remain competitive internationally.
