With the acceleration of existing trends, such as the decline of cash, as well as new challenges like access to technology, banks and payment providers must be agile to respond to the evolving requirements of consumers heading into 2021 and beyond.

A new paper from Capco, ‘Shifting Payments Priorities’, reveals where the key focus for payments providers should be in both the new and ‘next normal’. As high margin areas like cross-border payments suffer and more opportunities open up for e-commerce-friendly payments technology, the paper includes four takeaways for payments providers heading into next year:

• Be where the customer pays – adopt a multi-channel approach, consider point of sale, online, app, contactless, QR code payments and more
• Re-evaluate your proposition roadmap – Consumer expectations have performed a U-turn during the pandemic and high-value propositions require hyper-specialisation
• Support customers in need – address issues of short term financial vulnerability, access to services and personal finance tools
• Invest in your product – providers now have the option to self-manage, partner or fully outsource their processing capability

Howard Rees, Principal Consultant at Capco and co-author of the paper, comments: “While some payments providers have their priorities in order and are enhancing their service comprehensively, many are not reacting quickly enough and it leaves them at high risk of disintermediation, inability to acquire new customers and ultimately, a loss of profitability.

“From conversations with various payments firms, most, if not all, have confirmed they are re-evaluating their strategies for the remainder of 2020 and beyond in light of recent events. Firms must ensure they are holistic in their approach; considering only one or two factors will leave them behind the pack in a competitive payments world.”