Voice, tokens, security and SRC: trends shaping the future of payments
What’s next in payments technology?
A number of trends that will shape payments in 2019 and beyond emerged from the recent Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas, where leaders in fintech shared insights about where the industry is headed.
Let’s talk about voice
People are doing more shopping by voice and on more devices than ever before, according to the second annual “How We Will Pay” study from Visa and PYMNTS.com. Ownership of voice-activated speakers nearly doubled among the consumers in the study, up from 14 percent in 2017 to 27 percent in 2018.
The research also found that 36 percent of consumers in the study now own six or more connected devices, and that the hassle of standing in line in the real world is the key motivator for buying online.
The study was conducted with approximately 2,800 adults 18 and older within the United States this past July. Download the report.
Making it easier for businesses to move money
How we will pay is also changing for businesses. Visa announced new product details leading up to the planned commercial launch of B2B Connect, a unique ledger-based platform designed to give financial institutions a simple, fast and secure way to process payments between businesses across country borders.
Visa is expanding partnerships to add additional functionality to the B2B Connect platform in preparation for next year’s launch. This includes integrating technologies from partners IBM and Bottomline Technologies, a software company that simplifies B2B payments. Read more about the announcement.
Securing the future of payments
Cybercrime is now estimated to be a $600 billion business—one that Visa Vice Chairman and Chief Risk Officer Ellen Richey and Aite Group’s Julie Conroy discussed during a fireside chat. Ellen highlighted key developments in Visa’s efforts to disrupt cybercrime that have kept the global fraud rate flat for card-not-present transactions on VisaNet, Visa’s global payments network. The conversation also touched on the opportunities and risks that come with the Internet of Things and the need for biometrics to replace traditional passwords.
Richey believes biometrics and risk-based behavioral authentication could mean the elimination of passwords in as little as five years.
Keeping payments and data secure across the financial ecosystem remains a critical focus for companies in the payments industry. Last week marked the expansion of the Visa Token Service, which replaces card details with a digital identifier that is useless to would-be fraudsters. Visa has added more than 60 global partners using tokens since 2014, including mobile and wearable manufacturers, issuer wallets, online merchants, payment service providers and acquirers.
A recent expansion of Netflix’s use of the service should help the entertainment company limit service disruptions in the event account info is compromised. Visa tokens enable issuers to automatically update lost, stolen or expired credentials without Netflix customers having to go through the steps of updating their account information.
The journey to Secure Remote Commerce
The increase in digital devices has allowed consumers and merchants to connect in more ways than ever, but the experience of payments in the digital realm is inconsistent and fraught with friction. Who enjoys filling out card details and addresses on a mobile phone? It also can be risky, given the amount of information out there without consistent standards of security.
The proliferation of payments “buttons” displayed at website checkouts is also confusing. Merchants have to assume the time and expense of integrating them into their store experiences. Customers are frustrated by the process, prompting them to abandon the items in their virtual shopping carts.
This challenge was addressed at a session titled “The Future of Digital Checkout: SRC, 3DS & Other Technologies,” attended by leaders from Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. The collective support of a solution—the draft EMV® Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Specification—will help move the industry towards a single, consistent digital point-of-sale starting in mid-2019.
There is much work to be done on SRC, but current efforts should ultimately make it safer, faster and easier for shoppers to make digital payments.