Written by Claire Huddleston, Sales & Marketing Director at Clear Junction
Innovation is omnipresent in the payments landscape and the market is undergoing an immense transformation, fuelled by rapid technological advancements and growing demand. Organisations are looking for a faster, more efficient and resilient way to process their payments during periods of unpredictability—such as the current economic downturn.
This will continue to be the case over the next 12 months. In fact, innovation in payments will charge ahead in 2023, as players in the market look to keep up with the latest technology and trends. The digital payments market is predicted to be extremely lucrative over the next decade, despite the economic crash, hitting USD19.89 trillion by 2026 alone. Smartphones, QR codes, digital wallets, and a growing number of payment apps have enabled this growth over the last 3 years, making payments almost invisible and providing immersive, seamless, and frictionless payment experiences for businesses and their consumers across the globe.
This is a Contactless world
Without a doubt, the payments sector is one of the most prominent players in the fintech industry—and this is largely due to the advancement of contactless payments over the last decade.
Digital wallets and virtual cards are easily accessible for consumers on their phones, watches and now even rings. These digital payment methods provide consumers with a greatly valued convenience in our remote and fast-paced world. As we become an increasingly cashless society, it is no surprise that 48% of consumers won’t even shop at stores that don’t offer contactless payment options.
In 2023, contactless payments will continue to be a daily business function. Discover Global Network forecasts that the contactless payments market will grow to $76.3 billion by 2025. By the end of 2021, there were 142 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK, with a 2022 report by UK finance finding that contactless payments now account for more than a quarter of all UK payments. Therefore, I can say without a doubt that the payments sector will be one of the most prominent players in the fintech industry in 2023.
Next generation of real time payments
One of the most influential developments in payments has been real-time transaction processing. The ability to process instantaneous transactions is the real MVP payments tool for businesses of all sizes in 2023. In fact, real-time payments had a market size value of $17.56 billion at the end of last and market growth is expected to reach an impressive $86.89 billion by 2028. The reason for this growth in popularity, and therefore market worth, is because real-time payment systems offer instant, 24/7 secure funds transfers that can be initiated through smart phones, tablets, digital wallets etc. More specifically for businesses, real time payments help them to strengthen cash flows and subsequently improve operational efficiencies, budgeting, and overall cash management. It’s a no brainer really – especially in our increasing digital society.
On top of this, this growing preference for efficient real time payments among businesses is predicted to drive the market growth further. As more and more organisations embrace digital payment methods, businesses across the globe are utilising real-time payment capabilities to create faster and safer payment processing services for their end users.
Cross-border is booming
As B2B cross-border payments are set to exceed $40trn by the end of 2024, it’s not hard to see why many consider cross-border payments to be the lifeblood of the globalised economy.
2020 saw a rapid increase in the mobility of goods and services, especially online demand, which has naturally led to a surge in B2B payments. This has all contributed to the growing importance of the global cross-border payments sector and the companies that rely on it. This importance has only increased as we entered a new digital working era – meaning that how we do business is very much digital.
Thanks to this surge in popularity, cross-border payments has had to adapt and become faster, more secure, cost-efficient, and optimised. For merchants and payment providers, expanding into international markets can bring long-term business opportunities and growth. Therefore, cross-border payments specialists such as Clear Junction are uniquely positioned to fill the gap and help businesses get access to flexible injections of funds, as well as set up digital processes that allow them to successfully trade internationally. Partnering with us, whether for improving payment security or increasing the efficiency of operations, can make the journey to payment modernisation and innovation in this sector faster and easier.