A cornerstone of the financial system, payment methods are in constant evolution. While credit and debit cards represented a major payment revolution in the final decades of the 20th century – and are still extremely popular payment methods today – the advent of mobile payments has been shaking the market for the past couple of years and the arrival of instant payments should bring yet another disruption.
As our lifestyle changes, so do our shopping habits. The frequency and location of purchases have evolved greatly in the past two decades and banks have had to accommodate these changes – all of which brought security and data management challenges.
This evolution doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, rather the opposite. In 2018, the EU’s introduction of the SCTinst scheme for instant payments and the PSD2 regulation will push the market forward once again, offering new challenges and opportunities to banks and fintech companies.