December 20, 2022
2022 is coming to an end, and now is the perfect time to take a look back at what has happened within the payments industry this year.
The interchange ++ pricing model is designed to be more transparent than a blended model, with the Merchant paying the interchange fee separately to the Merchant Services Charge (MSC).
Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, UK payments are no longer covered by the EU’s Interchange Fee laws. This means that Card Schemes were able to increase their interchange fees within the UK.
Visa and Mastercard announced that it increased its fees to 1.15% for consumer debit cards and 1.50% for consumer credit cards.
3-D Secure version 1 was decommissioned on the 18th of October 2022. It was replaced by EMV® 3-D Secure.
EMV 3-D Secure was first released in 2019, and with it saw a vast improvement in user experience.
With the cost of living crisis, the Payments Industry saw people move away from purchasing leisure and non-essential products. As well as this, there was an increase in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) transactions.
More Merchants than ever are beginning to offer Buy Now Pay Later as a payment method. Schemes such as PayPal Credit provide security for the business, whilst also offering flexibility to the consumer. The scheme allows consumers to spread out their payments over a number of months, meaning they don’t have to pay back all their debts at once.
However, these types of schemes aren’t always suitable for everyone. If you’re struggling financially, then a Buy Now Pay Later scheme isn’t going to help you. You’ll still end up owing the full amount of the item, with potential interest on top.
Crypto is an industry that is vast and ever-changing, so to get a first-hand account, Cardstream spoke to Mann Matharu, Founder-CEO of Qi, a company helping businesses to take digital currency payments.
“There are far more crypto holders than ever before. An estimated 300 million people now hold crypto in blockchain-based digital wallets” Mann states. Although crypto’s overall value has dropped, from a market capitalisation of $3.2 trillion to $890 billion, more businesses than ever are looking to implement crypto transactions.
Mann explained how “85% of US businesses are looking to go live with crypto acceptance functionality.” This opens a new stream of income to which Merchants may not have had access previously.
Open Banking payments have the highest level of security, using Secure Customer Authentication (SCA), reducing fraud risk and saving Merchants time and money. Merchants using Nuapay with Cardstream will benefit from faster access to funds; auto-reconciliation; and reduced costs. In turn, payers will benefit from a seamless user experience; instant access to refund credits; and the ability to leverage biometric authentication for a speedy payment process.
Nuapay is EML Payments’ market-leading Open Banking business. Direct Debit, Credit Transfers and Instant Payment products are also available through one single ‘bank-grade’ platform, easily accessible through industry-leading APIs. Businesses and their customers benefit from the immediacy of Open Banking and account-2-account payments and can save time, money and resources at every turn. This is payments as it should be.
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