The Opportunities for Payments in 2024
- Alexander Berrai, Deputy CEO at emerchantpay
- 21.11.2023 03:00 pm #payments #innovation
The opportunities for fintech when it comes to payments
Security is a critical concern for merchants, consumers and everyone involved in the payment process. The two most impactful cybersecurity threats facing businesses today are card data breaches and phishing attacks, through which malicious actors steal sensitive information using sophisticated fraudulent schemes, mostly via email and website spoofing.
This provides fintechs and other cybersecurity companies the chance to play a pivotal role in enhancing payment security through innovations such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). MFA integrates biometrics and behavioural analysis and offers merchants a unique chance to increase payment security as it adds an extra layer of protection to the authentication process, reducing fraudulent activities.
A real-world example is for users to provide multiple forms of verification before being able to access their payment accounts or initiate a transaction. These include multiple layers of authentication, such as something they know (like a password or PIN), something they possess (their device) as well as something unique to their identity (like their fingerprint, an iris scan or other biometrical data).
The demand for multiple factors during the authentication significantly raises the bar for security, making it harder for cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to accounts. Even in the event of one factor being compromised, like a password, access to the other factor(s) is not possible.
Taking advantage of such security measures, can not only enhance payment security but also ensure a higher level of trust between merchants and consumers. This trust is invaluable in maintaining and even increasing the reputation of companies involved in the payment process.
Does the ‘perfect payment' exist? Will innovation ever come to an end?
Innovation in payments is ongoing and shows no signs of coming to an end. The perfect payment a century ago was very different to today's perfect payment and the requirements can be very different depending on the business model, targeted consumers, and type of merchant. It’s challenging to define the perfect payment and just as the needs of merchants and consumers change, we as service providers have to constantly adapt to these changes.
In essence: the perfect payment should be processed almost instantaneously; should be extremely easy to handle from a consumer perspective and there should be no chance of sensitive data being compromised.
The biggest payment trends of 2024
The main payment trends in 2024 will evolve around simplification. Consumers and merchants have moved from “just” websites to a mobile-friendly shopping experience in the past years. Simplifying the payment process to make it more mobile-friendly is an ongoing trend that will carry into 2025. While Google and Apple Pay are at the forefront of these developments, scheme tokenisation in combination with Mastercard's and Visa's Click 2 Pay will continue paving the way to simplifying the payment experience for consumers.
In addition, AI-driven risk management will continue improving data security and reduce the possibility of fraudulent attacks on merchants in the coming years.
