Trends in payments worldwide speak volumes on how the future will be. According to Boston Consulting Group’s report on Global Payments Model 2019, global payments revenue is expected to grow across emerging economies and matured markets with a market potential of USD2.5 trillion by 2028. This is especially apparent in the projection that usage of cash payments will be overtaken by non-cash payments as soon as 2025, or even earlier.
The evolution of payments over the past decades have been largely underpinned by innovative developments in technology. In the nascent days of Internet-enabled transactions, the industry focus was on reducing fraud and enabling commerce. The decade of 2010s marks the advent of mobile payments, which gave rise to usage of mobile apps and digital wallets. Presently, the payments industry is all about simplifying user experience and providing more ways to buy through unified commerce; and in the conceivable future, frictionless payments experience through IoT is underway.
With this, increasingly more partners and alternatives are coming into the picture, making the payment industry more complex. The 4 players in the digital payments ecosystem – namely Acquiring banks, Issuing banks, Merchants and Buyers – are having to adapt to the quick-changing pace of the industry. In adapting to the times, banks are no longer operating in traditional offerings but expanding into specialising in mini ecosystems. Infinitium ensures to partner the banking industry in enabling them to be beyond jacks-of-all-trades, where they are equipped to meet their clients’ specific needs.
In helming the payment industry’s forefront, Infinitium’s product roadmap and product strategy is firstly expanding into Digital Payments Acceptance for Unified Commerce. With evolving merchant needs, there is an increasing demand for value-added services such as analytics and increased regulation or litigation. Through our highly integrated solutions, the new paradigm with Payments As A Service (PaaS) allows for traditional competitors, local schemes and digital players to expand internationally or scale regionally.
Next, it is to build on our strength in Authentication Services and expand our solutions to complete the EMV 3-D Secure (3DS 2.0) Authentication Eco-System. Lines within the value chain are blurring – for instance, consolidation of acquiring landscape and channel partners becoming key distribution channels. One of Infinitium’s core expertise is our Authentication solutions, with 80% market share in some of the markets we operate in. By expanding our offerings into Directory Server (DS) and 3DS Server, our traction in the 3DS space will be further enhanced.
Lastly, we are investing into the blue ocean space of B2B Payments. Currently, B2B Payments are largely untapped – where there are plenty of opportunities for innovation with good margin and market share. We have a long learning curve ahead, as time and resources are required to further explore various use cases, and then to build volume and the ecosystem. This also calls for active collaboration with other parties in the payments industry. We are excited to delve into key industries and areas in the value chain where we see great potential.