In 2024, payment providers will have a lot on their plate when they finish their offering. To maximize income and end-user happiness, businesses—whether they are SME merchants or major e-commerce providers—must satisfy the expectations of their clients.

Payment providers are responsible for providing businesses with the necessary payment solutions, including contactless, digital, embedded, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options.

It may be challenging for payment providers to identify the essential components of their technological stacks and product suites in order to satisfy the varied demands of their clients.

Simplifying the integration of transformational payments

According to Maciej Pitucha, vice president of product and data at Mangopay, "seamless integration" is the most crucial factor to take into account.

Naturally, this implies that a company's attempts to convert its payments process might eventually be, well, simple.

"Having complete control over the payments infrastructure and the ability to work with the current technology stack gives a modularity that has proven powerful and appealing to our clients," Pitucha continues.

Payments providers may encourage the growth of all-in-one operational ecosystems and increase their chances of expanding their client base by offering seamless integration.

Pitucha continues, "Businesses can access a range of financial services here, including instant payments, BNPL options, real-time invoicing, and quick credit access, in addition to making transactions." "This significantly streamlines the shopping experience for end users."

Giving end users the freedom to finish a payment as they like is, in fact, a huge benefit for businesses nowadays, especially in terms of increasing acquisition and retention rates.

According to Nicole Olbe, Managing Director of Adyen's UK division, "payments providers need a solution to adapt quickly because consumer trends move fast."

Therefore, companies must be prepared to adjust to new payment choices that enter the market in addition to providing the ones that consumers now seek out.

Olbe continues, "It's critical to stay ahead of the curve by enhancing the omnichannel approach with a unified commerce offering."

"Businesses must identify the client who is making each transaction. Merchants are linking transactions to individuals in order to gain a better knowledge of consumer behavior by using valuable cross-channel analytics.

The ability for retailers to "easily track their business performance across channels and regions, and therefore make more informed business decisions," according to Olbe, is made possible by the unification of payments into a single system.

By integrating their numerous sales channels, merchants can provide their customers with a more customized buying experience, says Olbe. "This facilitates meeting customer needs more easily."

Of course, "payments are personal for people" is something that companies shouldn't overlook. observes Gabriel de Montessus, Worldpay's Head of Global Enterprise.

He continues, saying that it is critical to provide a variety of choices to satisfy the wide range of preferences that are present in today's payments, whether they are digital, contactless, embedded, or BNPL.

The achievement of seamlessness across channels instills confidence in customers by ensuring that their preferred payment method does not compromise security or convenience.

"In the end, this helps retailers better understand their customers and how they are interacting with the brand across these channels, in addition to helping them deliver faster, smarter, and easier payments to their customers."

According to Olbe, this smooth method "allows merchants to become a truly unified commerce business by empowering them to open new channels, expand to new regions, and introduce new technologies."

Payment processors: Adapting to emerging technology
It appears that a crucial distinction between payment providers that succeed and those who fail will be the ability to swiftly implement new technology.

Of course, blockchain technology is one such innovation that has the power to completely change the payments industry.

De Montessus believes that blockchain has enormous potential.

According to him, "many potential benefits, including enhanced transparency, reduced transaction costs, faster transaction settlement, and programmability, are made possible by its decentralized, secure, and programmable nature."

"In particular, the open network-based methodology might lessen the need for middlemen, and smart contracts on blockchain platforms can automate intricate payment procedures.

"Moreover, blockchain opens new possibilities for fractional ownership and creative payment and value delivery models by tokenizing a variety of financial and non-financial assets."

Although blockchain has great promise, there are still obstacles preventing its broader implementation, including as scalability problems and a disjointed regulatory environment.

Nonetheless, blockchain "continues to hold the promise of ushering in a new era of further efficiency, trust, and innovation in payments," according to De Montessus.

The challenge for providers is to be ready for the eventual widespread use of blockchain technology in the payments industry.

Reducing the danger of fraud

Although many payment providers prioritize satisfying end-user expectations with adaptable payment systems and offering merchants smooth integration procedures, today's largest issue lies in reducing the growing risk of fraud.

The most recent technological advancements are being used by payment providers to improve their services, but they are also creating new opportunities for fraudsters to target.

It makes sense that scammers are "using technology in more innovative and sophisticated ways to trick consumers," according to Johan Gerber, EVP Security and Cyber Innovation at Mastercard.

The issue is becoming worse; damages from e-commerce fraud are predicted to reach US$48 billion by 2023.

Olbe is correct when he says that "the game has changed with the mainstream use of generative AI." Deepfakes are simply one more new tactic that con artists may employ against both people and companies.

According to a recent study by Adyen, 33% of UK firms reported an increase in payment fraud, while just 53% said their fraud controls were working well.

Olbe said that this is the reason it is "more important than ever to ensure the best defence" to invest in AI and fraud prevention technologies.

Payments providers may use Gen AI to provide defense measures, just as criminals can use it for their own malevolent purposes.

Olbe continues, "Risk management programs with a variety of methods to combat fraud, such as Adyen's RevenueProtect, are available. RevenueProtect employs a worldwide, cross-industry data network and a three-step process (detect, prevent, respond) to precisely identify risks and safeguard clients.

Many anti-fraud solutions are now available to assist guarantee that prospective security issues won't impede future advancements in payment technology.

In order to shield issuers and acquirers from widespread fraud, Mastercard has developed a Safety Net solution. This will help avoid a record US$21 billion in fraud losses on the network in 2023, according to Gerber.

In other places, our AI-solution Decision Intelligence analyzes more than 125 billion card transactions annually in real time, spotting possibly fraudulent activities and giving card issuers the knowledge they need to safeguard their clients.

According to De Montessus, there will be a safe future with a decrease in fraud since a multitude of anti-fraud solutions are making their way into the market.

He says, "AI and ML can build real-time models on a variety of data assets that can respond to new and emergent threats in a nearly autonomous fashion, compared with historically rules-based methods of fraud detection."

"I fully believe that the technology has the potential to go well beyond fraud and will play a crucial role in efforts to fully optimize payments, whether that is with enhanced authorisation rates or smart routing, as we've seen in the past 18 months alone with the rapid evolution of AI systems."

The payment of the future: prioritizing sustainability

One requirement that payment providers will need to address as payments technology advances—as seen by the rise of blockchain technology—is end users' increasing desire to make sustainable purchases.

In the upcoming years, over three-quarters of all customers (73%) stated they will likely be impacted by sustainability and the environment when choosing where to purchase, according to Worldpay's latest Future Shoppers research.

Therefore, monitoring the impact of spending on the environment may become crucial for payment providers in the future.

According to De Montessus, "eco-friendly payment protocols that are sustainable involve minimizing the environmental impact of payment processes."

This entails moving away from first-use PVC plastic payment cards and toward renewable energy sources for transaction validation, as well as cutting back on paper consumption and supporting carbon offset programs.

"Compared to cash and plastic cards, the growing use of biodegradable cards and digital and contactless payments will ultimately result in a lower resource consumption."

Furthermore, in order to reduce the amount of paper that businesses use, payments software suppliers should consider implementing digital receipt choices.

"Merchants can benefit from acquirers like Worldpay offering solutions for electronic invoicing," continues De Montessus.

"Forcing a sustainable payments ecosystem requires industry collaboration to establish standardised eco-friendly practises and educating consumers about the environmental impact of their payment choices," he says.

Payments providers may thus contribute to a consumer-friendly, sustainable future for payments by implementing the newest technology in payments and providing industry-leading fraud protection services.