Independent Banker - August 2021 - 62

PREFERRED
PERSPECTIVES
When it comes to digital, ease of use wins
Utilizing Digital
Payment Options
Melissa Jankowski,
Head of Card and Money
Movement for FIS
The pandemic made
the ability to buy and
sell in a way that was
easy, fast, secure and
without requiring physical
contact. While the
acceleration of digital,
mobile, and contactless
payments happened in
part as a response to this
need, it will be a permanent shift. The 2021 Global
Payments Report by Worldpay from FIS revealed that
digital wallets accounted for nearly 30 percent of
e-commerce spend in North America last year, and
spending is predicted to exceed 40 percent by 2024.
In North America, mobile wallet use at the point of
sale surged 60 percent last year compared to 2019
levels, and we anticipate that this growth will continue.
In fact, Gen Zers and Young Millennials use mobile
payment wallets more now than they did ten months
ago, while the percentage of Baby Boomers using
mobile payments rose by four times from April 2020
to February 2021.
While contactless payments were slower to catch on
in America compared to other parts of the world, the
pandemic has also made them part of mainstream
payments behavior. According to FIS research of
1,000 Americans conducted in February 2021, the
percentage of young millennials who used contactless
payments tripled in the last ten months, while the
percentage of boomers making contactless payments
doubled. When payment providers have access to
an interchangeable menu of hosted services and
support that span tokenization to back office support,
collections or processing, payments stop being so
demanding.
Futureproofing isn't a concern when constant
innovation is a key aspect of your bank's strategy.
Community banks that possess flexible technology
solutions that allow them to plug and play, add or
change services anytime, and pay only for what they
need sets them far above the competition. This is
because these solutions are adaptable, and as we all
learned in 2020, the ability to adapt has significant
impact on any business, regardless of industry.
For a community bank, outsourcing functions like
collections or customer support can minimize its
burdens. For a tech giant who wants to get into cards,
outsourced card processing and tokenization as a
service can be the difference between success or
failure.
Harnessing the Power of APIs
Payments innovation and APIs come hand in hand. But
having APIs is no longer enough. To ensure APIs result
in a usable and viable service or product, they must
be well-documented. In fact, the documentation must
be as good as the functionality of the API.
Today, an API platform needs to include an API
gateway and catalog, developer portal, partner
program, marketplace, and real-time events
notification. It also needs to provide a central access
point to integrate with other solutions via APIs, so
community banks and fintech partners can easily
integrate, leverage, and deliver solutions across any
digital channel, and differentiate their experiences.
Independent Banker - August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - August 2021
