How digital platforms and collaboration can secure the payment industry’s future

Could the payments industry provide the blueprint for digital transformation in the corporate world?  

After all, payments are mission-critical to economic prosperity, and, perhaps more than in other sectors, our industry felt the seismic impact of the pandemic on buying habits. With European cashless payment volumes expected to increase by 64% between 2020-2025* we dare not pause for breath. Thankfully, we have one powerful enabler to meet this challenge head on – the digital payments platform. 

The Task at Hand

Both established and new operators now co-exist in a diverse ecosystem, grappling with changing standards, systems, file formats and processes. The task of digitization grows in complexity, while end-users demand a payment experience that delights. This is one challenging set of circumstances, but success awaits the digital leaders that invest in the right platforms. Sustainable success will be the reward if our industry embraces collaboration.

Find the right platform partner

Two of valantic FSA’s digital payment platform architects, Head of Product Management, Silvia Mazánová and Head of Transaction Automation, Sertac Cetiner identified the key watchwords when looking for a platform to deliver sustained growth:

1. Interoperability. Travellers the world over understand that speaking the right language will open doors. This principle applies to the payments ecosystem as well. Client channels providing a seamless customer experience must interact with multiple workflow systems, validation and routing systems, gateways and clearing channels. Optimal platforms will require low code /no code deployment and will connect seamlessly to a multitude of systems and clearing-houses while supporting old and new formats like FIN and XML, including standard ISO-20022. Such platforms will empower financial institutions both large and small to achieve end-to-end digital transformation easily.
2. Agile. The evolving ecosystem will demand that digital payment platforms can accommodate change without adding cost. Financial institutions will seek out configurable workflow automation tools that can be deployed quickly with minimal coding effort and are ideally cloud-native.    
3. Client-centric. “Since the technology stack across the payments industry is largely uniform, platform providers will seek to differentiate their product on other levels, just as we did at valantic FSA.” said Mazánová. “We will see providers creating exceptional user experiences for front- and back-office teams through personalized workflows. There will be more smart technology on offer, and new services deployed as modular building blocks. This will enable financial institutions and fintechs to react rapidly to client demand for instant payments or request to pay, for example.  Providers that embrace these models will become the digital leaders of our industry” she continued.
4. Future–proof. Successful financial institutions will be challenged to adapt their architecture to new operational paradigms as they emerge. Open architecture will facilitate greater innovation.

Collaborating to Nurture Innovation

Consolidation between financial institutions is likely, with fintechs strengthening their place in the market, but the industry should strive to ensure that innovation does not suffer as a result. “Collaborative effort between financial institutions and providers can resolve technical roadblocks all along the payment value chain” said Cetiner. “We must embrace partnerships and support aspirational thinking in our industry”.

*Sourced from PwC, Payments 2025 and Beyond