Oct
13
2014
October 13th, 2014 by Elma Jane

Non-cash payments volumes are expected to increase by nearly 10% percent to reach 366 billion transactions in 2013, fueled by strong growth in developing markets and mobile payments.

Overall, more than half of global non-cash payment growth comes from developing countries despite them only making up one quarter of the market size at 93 billion transactions. China remains a relatively underdeveloped market for non-cash transactions but its population and growth rate suggest in certain conditions that it could soon outstrip the US and Euro-zone within the next five years.

China is one to watch over the coming years, with the report showing that if growth rates remain at the current high level, it could become the largest market for non-cash transactions within just five years. These soaring growth rates in key markets put pressure on the global payments arena to innovate to meet rapidly increasing consumer demand.

Increased use of tablets and smartphones is creating a convergence of e- and m- payments, posing new challenges for Payments Services Providers (PSPs). In 2015, m-payments are projected to grow at 60.8% while e-payments growth is forecast to decelerate to 15.9% annually over the next year, as more people use mobile devices to make payments.

This trend is adding to the pressure on PSPs to modernize their payments processing infrastructures, ideally based around a single integrated payments platform for corporate and retail payments and a central hub.

The growth of the industry coupled with the fast pace of new regulation requires flexibility from PSPs to adapt, initiatives such as real-time payments, pressure on card interchange fees and improved payments governance as examples of cascading regulation.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan
09
2014
January 9th, 2014 by Elma Jane

Notably after the Japanese tsunami…the Hungarian Red Cross has used mobile technology to raise funds for disaster relief, but for the first time has enlisted social media in the process. The organization is running a Facebook campaign that lets smartphone users make instant donations to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

The donations will pass through the MasterCard Mobile app that was developed by the Hungarian m-payments firm Cellum. The solution relies on QR codes. The method is available only in Hungary.

Process works like this:

Download the MasterCard Mobile app to your smartphone and register your bank card, then follow the steps to secure your personal data.

To donate, scan the QR code shared on Facebook with the built-in scanner of MasterCard Mobile. Transaction data are displayed on the screen to ensure the donation goes to the chosen cause.

The QR code contains a minimum sum, which can be increased.

Then press the send button to review and confirm transaction data.

The app then initiates the transaction, which you need to authorize by entering your mPIN.

You will receive feedback on the successful transaction, which can later be viewed in the transactions menu.

The donations will pass through Cellum’s system and quickly go to the Hungarian Red Cross’ account, which is dedicated to typhoon relief efforts.

Donations are a matter of impulse and that people who decide to give want to act quickly, chances are they don’t carry around a pen to put down a 24-digit bank account number on a piece of paper. By the time they get home and visit their online bank where they could transfer the money, they have already been distracted by a hundred other stimuli, so they end up sending nothing. Cellum’s solution is simple; whenever the impulse hits people, they probably have their phone at hand said Cellum spokesman Balazs Inotay.

Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Internet Payment Gateway, Medical Healthcare, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,