PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
and its use for payments and settlements and fiat currencies .
• QR codes : The past 12 months have seen considerable adoption of QR code usage as contactless payment methods have become necessary for millions of businesses . Experts believe their usage will continue to rise as they ’ re cheap to implement , can contain large amounts of data and are fast becoming a very comfortable channel of engagement .
• CBDC : Central Bank Digital Currencies . Experts believe these can and will disintermediate banks at a massive scale with a likely hit to their balance sheets .
Digital remittances : This market is growing , despite dire predictions the market would drop due to COVID-19 . Senders are demanding more from their payment providers .
New payment trends The digital payments sphere is constantly evolving with dynamic new platforms , and currencies are entering the fray . As cold hard cash transactions diminish , new trends for the coming decade are emerging .
These include :
• Blockchain : Currently helping cryptocurrencies enter the mainstream
• Big Tech : Google Pay has partnered with Western Union and Wise , while Opera has launched its own fintech . These new market entrants will most likely hit the banks hard as they offer transparent , lowcost remittances from the US . It ’ s worth remembering that any of the big platforms that control vast networks can stake a claim in the payments space . And this is even before Big Tech goes into obtaining banking licenses .
• More partnerships : Greater numbers of banks will partner with niche payments fintech players that offer turnkey remittance solutions on a white-label basis , thus enabling banks to compete directly with brand name fintech ’ s that are currently taking their business .