The Covid-19 pandemic is helping to accelerate cashless payments, which are set to double and even triple to 1.9 trillion transactions by 2030 from the current 1 trillion, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Jun 1, 2021
The financial-services industry is in the midst of a significant transformation, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the key role digitisation plays in the financial lives of more and more of the world’s population, electronic payments are at the epicentre of this transformation.
Payments are increasingly becoming cashless, and the industry’s role in fostering inclusion has become a significant priority. As digital money draws a stronger interest, the financial services industry must recognise the entire infrastructure of payments is being reshaped, with new business models emerging.
PwC’s survey reveals how even before the Covid-19 pandemic, cashless payments like sending a text to pay for a bus ticket in Turkey, or using a QR code to buy groceries in China are evidence of a steady shift to a digital economy – a shift that might ultimately lead to a global cashless society. Global cashless payment volumes are set to almost double from 2020 to 2025, fro
Digital payments in SA are taking off - Mastercard
By Philippa Larkin
Philippa Larkin
THE MASTERCARD New Payments Index, released yesterday, showed that 95 percent of South African consumers will consider using at least one emerging payment method, as Covid-19 altered their spending habits away from traditional avenues to embrace contactless tap-and-go payments and online shopping.
“Between the first quarter of 2020 and the same period in 2021, more than 100 markets saw contactless as a share of total in-person transactions grow by at least 50 percent. A year into Covid-19, contactless is showing its staying power and dynamism. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, Mastercard saw 1 billion more contactless transactions globally as compared to the same period of 2020.