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Fintech

The technology of payments

Digital payments have already made it easier to move and manage money. While there’s more work to do, the potential is real and understood.

Dan Schulman

Hello everyone, hope everyone is having a great time and are busy studying for your kids’ exam.  Unfortunately, I am doing the same as well, literally running pillar to post. Anyways back on track. Today I will be writing about the digital payments world and its expected trends in 2019.

Digital payments have now become very prevalent in India due to the rapid growth of technology. Like every industry sees different kinds of trends in their field, payments also have been undergoing a significant revolution on the facets of technology, business and regulatory environment.

Even though digital payments involves the usage of many technologies, these concepts are the most important ones:

  1. Open Banking
  2. Context-Based Payments
  3. Omnichannel

The Open Banking trend comes under the regulatory framework of payments. Regulatory frameworks deal with the compliance or in simple language, a set of rules an institution must follow if it needs to stay in business. So, we have all heard the term Open Day( readers with kids would know the term very well) in our life so many times that you literally start dreading it. Open Day is where every facet of the school management is open to our criticism(Trust me, we don’t need a specific day for that).

Likewise, financial information withheld by the banks will now be available for third-party access. With customer approval, fintech companies or startups can access sensitive bank data through mobile or web applications.

This open banking system will create an even playing field for all kinds of entrepreneurs to introduce their inventions or innovations. However, this is a double-edged sword as well it requires a strong implementation of security and confidentiality.

Next, comes context-based payments is a profitable business model for retailers but not so much for customers. When shopping with a virtual or real shopping we often pause to think whether we need the item and then go about purchasing. But in Context-Based payments, you are billed as soon as you cross the terminal.

Meaning there will be apps that will self-authenticate as you enter the store and make payments as you exit the store without the need of opening up the wallet or swiping your card (husbands and boyfriends beware). Just like Open Banking, Context-based payments also require security and privacy measures.

Well on to the next one, the Omnichannel, a mix of technology and business. Most of you would have heard the term Omnipresent(meaning present everywhere), a term used mostly to describe gods.

It offers a seamless experience for customers to make most of their purchases in any platform like a phone(voice), mobile apps, web portal and then retail. This Omnichannel enables the customer to take advantage of the discounts and offers irrespective of the platform.

For example, if the customer gets a discount when shopping through their mobile but due to some reason unable to complete the checkout, they can avail the same discount when they visit the store or the web portal. Thereby the details of the customer are shared across many channels. Same as Open Banking and Context-Based payments, Omnichannel also requires the same level of security and privacy guidelines.

It is safe to say, as time goes we will be witnessing many changes in the payments interface. They would significantly impact economies worldwide and will also shrink the borders.

On that final note, Namaste, Au Revoir, Sayonara and a simple Vanakkam to my readers out there where ever you are and whoever you are.

Image Credits: Merchants choice cards and services, Corporate Spending Innovations.

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