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6
Business
Industry andmarket overview
42
Worldline
2016 Registration Document
Key developments in technology
6.2.2.3
will sustain the growth of electronic
payments
Tomorrow, smart watches will be a one-stop-shop handy device
for identification, to open a hotel door, to receive contextual
messages/notifications or to easily pay services or goods.
Coupled with the right privacy protections, mobile devices will
offer retailers opportunities to collect, on an opt-in basis, a vast
amount of contextual data about consumers that can then be
analyzed and shared with other brands to offer consumers
(ideally in real-time) compelling targeted and personalized offers
or products and services. The data collected by mobile sensors
will also lead to the rise of “quantified self”, meaning services
relying on self-evaluation of behavior for providing advices or
services around health, insurance, nutrition, and many other
domains.
Report 2015, it has the potential to improve the efficiency of
financial transactions worldwide and to transform the global
financial network.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger, and it used in all Bitcoin
transactions. Blockchain has many applications beyond
cryptocurrencies. According to Capgemini World Payments
Each blockchain network is based on a unique cryptographic
algorithm and protocol that allows secure and direct digital
transfers of value and assets (such as money, contracts, and
stocks, etc.) via open or closed networks that are backed by
exchanges. While traditional ledgers are owned and maintained
by one institution and access is restricted, a blockchain is hosted
on a worldwide peer-to-peer network of computers.
A key feature of blockchain technology is the distributed ledger,
which enables the participatory model of the blockchain. Banks
could adopt this technology to replace some existing payments
infrastructures. Indeed payments have been identified by EBA as
one of the use case of crypotechnologies.
features, higher maintenance costs, longer waiting periods for
introducing new products to the market, etc.) and lost
opportunities to share and make use of data generated in one
part of the value chain with applications in other parts of the
value chain. According to a Capgemini/RBS study, the current
payment engines and infrastructure used by most banks do not
meet today’s requirements in terms of functionality, capacity
and flexibility, leaving banks at risk of customer erosion in the
face of innovative offerings by non-banking firms that rely on
new technology.
Existing platforms for payment services processing have
developed over time, generally as iterations of a series of
platforms, each designed to handle only specific parts of the
payment services value chain. This “silo” approach results in
inefficiencies (lack of standardization, redundant or conflicting
To respond to these issues, an increasing number of banks and
payment service providers are investing in fully-redesigned,
integrated end-to-end platforms that cover the full range of
payment processing and related functions, with the ability to
share payment information throughout the system. These
integrated new platforms are expected to enable new services,
speed time to market, and create new economies of scale that
allow payment service providers with the new platforms to offer
more and improved services at lower costs and across
geographies.
According to a Capgemini/RBS study, while both large and small
banks recognize the benefits of redesigning their systems, the
significant costs and complexity involved in a redesign are
difficult to justify for firms without smaller transaction volumes.
This may create additional outsourcing opportunities for
payment processing firms that can offer payment service hub
enabled services on an outsourced basis.
Regulatory changes in the payment
6.2.2.4
sector are expected to create new
opportunities
Banks in Europe are facing a range of regulatory changes that
have the potential to create new outsourcing opportunities for
payment service providers and to drive increased demand for
value added services to create new revenue opportunities.
Some of the more significant regulatory changes underway in
Europe include, in particular:
Regulatory changes are expected to significantly decrease
interchange fees.
enforced in Europe, by which interchange fees are capped at
0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and at
0.3% for consumer credit cards and by which transparency and
competition in the card market are improved, as further
described in Section 6.9.
Since December
9, 2015, Interchange Fee Regulation (or “IFR”) is
At constant volumes, the reduction in interchange fees reduces
mechanically the revenue of card issuing banks. This may create
new opportunities for outsourcing, as banks reexamine their
business models and look for ways to lower their costs. At the
same time, it may create opportunities for providers of value
added services (such as fraud detection services or card-linked
offers) that banks can provide to their customers as new
sources of revenue to replace the loss of the interchange fee.
At the same time, by reducing the cost of accepting non-cash
payments, the reduction in interchange fee is expected to
encourage more merchants to accept card-based payments
and to do so for lower transaction amounts. This is expected to
help drive additional non-cash transaction volume.