A Time of Change for Digital Payments

The pandemic has changed the way we buy and pay. New formulas, such as stores without boxes or payments through the Internet of Things (IoT), are gaining ground. Acceleration and innovation in the way of paying is one of the great advances of the last year and has caused real changes.

FinTech executive Ferhan Ptael said one of the phrases that has been prescient regarding the digitization processes since the pandemic began: "We have seen two years of digital transformation in two months." This has been the case for many small and medium-sized businesses, who have seen how the digital transformation of their businesses was imperative. Above all, they have had to update their payment methods to this new era.

Innovation in payment methods is constantly changing. Users and merchants demand it: ‘online’ payments must be faster, simpler and safer. Businesses are looking for solutions to group all the possibilities in a single space and the role of banks is to provide those options. As Payment Solutions Specialist, Ferhan Patel has been innovating for years in different ways of receiving and delivering payments.

Mr. Patel says that accepting payments is a business in itself and that competition will continue to grow there. “What you sell is a platform. Moreover, there you can give a lot of added value: restaurant management systems, for example. The account of this commerce also generates many related businesses: advances of its cash flow, loans, insurance, and other products. That is why banks are interested in giving everything. The merchant accounts are less than the paying ones, and you have to give them a more premium solution, but they are the ones that move more money”.

Competition between banks and FinTech for this market is sometimes hostile. For Ferhan Patel, “the banks' initiatives for now are rather defensive. I think it's a reaction to the good progress that FinTech companies have made, which showed that more value could be offered at a lower cost than banks. I think FinTech companies will continue to grow at higher rates than banks. Obviously, some are going to cease to exist.