COVID-19 and the Payments Industry

In just a couple of months the COVID-19 virus has change the world. How we work and how we live has changed and probably will never be the same again.

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In this presentation, we examine the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the Payments Industry and explore some possible future outcomes in the areas of banking, fintechs, the cashless society, mobile wallets, online shopping, customer behavior, and more.

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Payments Industry, We Have a Problem

The Financial Brand –

“Despite an increasing level of awareness of mobile payment options, usage of mobile payments at the point of sale remains low. While it is still uncertain what the catalyst will be to increase consumer adoption of digital payments, the payments landscape will remain dynamic, and increasingly digital.”

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Mobile Technology May Not Always Be the Answer

From Innovation Excellence –

“As the world plods onto bigger, greener and higher tech pastures, one would assume that every industry would go right along with it. The public release of the Internet heralded the downfall of some, such as video rental stores and travel agencies. Those that survived have generally embraced mobile technology, with iPads replacing mechanical cash registers in some establishments. However, for others, this process has been slower to catch on or is entirely non-existent.”

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Tackling fraud in the ATM world

From Finextra

Dave O'Reilly, chief technologist at FTR solutions, explains the holistic approach to tackling fraud and the impact of POS malware.

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Credit card fraud comes of age with advances in point-of-sale botnets

From arstechnica

“Underscoring the growing sophistication of Internet crime, researchers have documented one of the first known botnets to target point-of-sale (PoS) terminals used by stores and restaurants to process customers' credit and debit card payments.

The botnet remained active at the time of writing and had compromised more than 20,000 payment cards since August, researchers from IntelCrawler, a Los Angeles-based security intelligence provider, told Ars. The researchers arrived at the findings after infiltrating one of the control servers used to send commands to infected machines and receive pilfered data from them. A recently captured screenshot (above) showed that it was controlling 31 machines that the researchers said belonged to US-based restaurants and retailers. Some of the infected machines are servers, so the number of affected PoS devices could be much higher. The researchers have reported their findings to law enforcement agencies that they declined to identify by name.”

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PayPal at the Pump

Gas up with PayPal! The popular payments platform is now available at the gas station. Simply scan a QR code with your mobile device or enter a unique ID for the pump, and you’re ready to fill up and be on your way. PayPal is increasing its presence at point-of-sale, recently inking a deal with ATM maker NCR.

South Africa: Nedbank mobile payment device will help SMEs

“Nedbank has launched a cellphone-based point-of-sale device enabling small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to transact more safely with their clients, while cutting down on transaction costs.

Nedbank PocketPOS operates through a smartphone connected to a secure card reader, which allows smaller businesses to make debit and credit card transactions anywhere.”
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Ethiopian ATM & POS network on the cards

Fourteen separate firms are bidding to supply ATMs and POS systems to three separate Ethiopian banks, United, Nib and Awash. The project includes the supply of a turnkey solution for a shared card-based payment system and electronic fund transfer solution which consists of a switch, 60 ATMs, 300 POS units, a personalization system, a data center and disaster recovery site and the network infrastructure. In addition to the supply and installation of the ATMs and POSs, the winning company would be responsible for the supervision of the whole system for a period of two years.

Awash International Bank, Nib International Bank, and United Bank signed an agreement in February 2009 to launch the Fettan ATM Network. Originally, it was planned that Fettan ATM™ will install over 140 ATMs and over 340 POSs across Ethiopia with one ATM at every branch of the participating banks.