“P20, the voice of the global payments industry, today announces publication of its latest report, Payments in a Post-Covid-19 World. P20 Board Members featured in the report include Steve Ledford, SVP Product and Strategy at The Clearing House; Sara Castelhano, Managing Director and EMEA Head of Payments and Digital Product at J.P. Morgan; Jim Johnson, EVP and Head of Merchant Solutions for FIS; and Philip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe.”

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently issued their Guidance on Digital ID that focuses on account opening, with particular focus on doing so remotely. These recommendations have increased salience given global physical distancing guidelines now in force in many jurisdictions to avoid the spread of COVID-19. In this PaymentsViews, Zak Kazzaz conducts a regulatory analysis of Know Your Customer requirements for COVID-19 in emerging markets.

“To discover how COVID-19 has directly impacted how consumers view payments today, and what this might mean for eCommerce in the future, we surveyed 8,000 consumers from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria, Italy and Bulgaria on their current and predicted future attitudes to payment methods.”

“Key takeaways:

• The Covid-19 pandemic has fanned public concerns that the coronavirus could be transmitted by cash.
• Scientific evidence suggests that the probability of transmission via banknotes is low when compared with other frequently-touched objects, such as credit card terminals or PIN pads.
• To bolster trust in cash, central banks are actively communicating, urging continued acceptance of cash and, in some instances, sterilising or quarantining banknotes. Some encourage contactless payments.
• Looking ahead, developments could speed up the shift toward digital payments. This could open a divide in access to payments instruments, which could negatively impact unbanked and older consumers. The pandemic may amplify calls to defend the role of cash – but also calls for central bank digital currencies.”

“There is broad consensus that demand for digital will increase post-crisis.”

“Thirty-two banks with median assets of more than $4 billion participated in the study, which collected nearly 300 spending, operations and staffing benchmarks across dozens of bank areas. The study’s findings when compared to the firm’s 2017 report showed that bank assets grew 30%, staff grew by 5%, assets per employee increased 18%, assets grew 23%, return on assets improved 19%, but online deposits only grew 2.17%.The report indicated that mid-size banks are slow to embrace digital delivery and higher productivity through automation. “Even with a commercial focus, mid-size banks have hundreds of thousands of ‘eyeballs’ logging into mobile and online banking each month, but these same institutions are doing very little to leverage or monetize this activity from a sales or customer engagement standpoint,” the report stated in a recent press release”

“Although a majority of U.S. adults (74%) opt for direct deposit when receiving tax refunds, more Millennials (17%) and Gen Xers (17%) prefer to receive a check in the mail compared with Baby Boomers (14%), per new research from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions. When it comes to paying potential taxes owed, digital methods such as debit, credit and electronic funds withdrawal are most popular (50%), while only 32 percent prefer non-digital methods (cash or check), based on the survey data from 1,215 taxpayers.”

“Although a majority of U.S. adults (74%) opt for direct deposit when receiving tax refunds, more Millennials (17%) and Gen Xers (17%) prefer to receive a check in the mail compared with Baby Boomers (14%), per new research from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions. When it comes to paying potential taxes owed, digital methods such as debit, credit and electronic funds withdrawal are most popular (50%), while only 32 percent prefer non-digital methods (cash or check), based on the survey data from 1,215 taxpayers.”