PAYMENTS INDUSTRY IMPACT OF COVID-19

This Glenbrook series examines how COVID-19
impacts U.S. payments today,
over the next 18 months,
and how stakeholders can respond.

Introduction to the Series

COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. payments industry and domestic economy is profound. Multiple reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce, merchant acquirers and PSPs indicate the extent of the pain even at this early stage of this pandemic-induced recession. For the over thirty million U.S. citizens suddenly without jobs and income, with many already living paycheck to paycheck, the word “pain” is inadequate to the current situation.  

The impact, implications, and responses by the stakeholders in the U.S. payments industry are many and the subject of this series. Glenbrook examines the pandemic’s effects on the payments industry through Glenbrook’s domains of payment and stakeholder frameworks. This framework categorizes payments flows by transaction context and the parties most affected. 

We will look at the short and longer-term impact of the pandemic on those stakeholders using or providing services within each domain. We assess the implications for major stakeholders and offer recommendations. 

This report focuses on the U.S. market with reference to international domestic markets for illustrative and comparison purposes.

Each chapter of the report will be published individually on Glenbrook’s Payments Views site with links here. Please return often to check on the latest or subscribe to our newsletter and Payments News. 

  1. The Payments Industry Impact of COVID-19 – Series Introduction
  2. Point of Sale Domain – The Pain at the POS
  3. The Remote Commerce Domain Takes Center Stage
Glenbrook Payment Domains Framework

Glenbrook’s Domains of Payment Framework

To consider the pandemic’s impact on the payments industry, we need to look at where payments take place, at the dominant transaction contexts. Glenbrook’s Domains of Payment framework divides payments by transaction context, asking, for example: 

  • Is the transaction face-to-face? If so, then the payment is assigned to the POS Commerce domain 
  • What are the dominant payment characteristics of that context?  

While there are numerous use cases with unique attributes – marketplaces such as Etsy and Airbnb are recent business models – they all connect to one or more of the primary domains. For example, consumer-facing marketplaces selling products like Etsy are funded through the Remote Commerce domain where the buyer and the seller are separate from each other.

For domain definitions, point at the domain name in this picture. The roll-over will show the details.

Stakeholder Impacts

Within each domain discussion, we will also examine the impact of COVID-19 on the primary stakeholders transacting within that domain. 

For our description of each stakeholder, point at the name and the roll-over will pop up the details.