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acquirers a merchant may have, he added, giving everyone their existing infrastructure easily and quickly. So much
in the payment chain the ability to accept and process all of a developer's time, whether as an ISV or a gateway, can
types of payments to facilitate the most ideal customer be spent on integrating existing infrastructure to new
experience and to remain competitive. infrastructure."
Partners, platforms Top 10 trends

Peter Karpas, CEO of Bold Commerce, pointed out that Bart Kohler, ETA CPP, chief sales officer and senior vice
digital wallets and payment platforms have changed president of merchant products and services at Paynuity,
merchant/acquirer relationships and subsequently, the noted that electronic transactions have branched into myr-
payment transaction journey. iad forms. "We have witnessed these technological devel-
"The rise of wallet pays and platforms has had significant opments become commonly practiced and implemented,"
impacts on payments over several decades," he said. he said, citing the following top ten developments:
"PayPal was a wallet 20 or 30 years ago, but consider
today's button war, and the huge transaction volumes 1. Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay
flowing through these wallets, that disintermediate who and other apps facilitate convenient, secure, contactless
owns the customer as third party service providers get smartphone payments, with biometrics like facial rec-
between processors and merchants." ognition and fingerprints enhancing security.

Karpas noted that consumers pre-fill digital wallets with 2. Near Field Communication (NFC): NFC enables us-
account information and payment preferences; and the ers to make payments by simply tapping NFC-enabled
first checkout button they see could be PayPal, Apple Pay, cards or devices on payment terminals, creating agile,
Google Pay, or Amazon Pay, followed by a second button, seamless EMV transactions.
which could be buy, now pay later; and through it all, the 3: Touchless commerce: Contactless payments are
card brands strive to remain top of wallet across all these gaining widespread acceptance as numerous countries
different sites. raise transaction limits, further promoting this conve-
nient, hygienic payment method.
Disintermediation changes the face of commerce, Karpas
stated. He noted, for example, that merchants may say, "I 4. Peer-to-peer payments (P2P): Popular P2P platforms
use Clover for payments," unaware that Fiserv is on their like Venmo, PayPal and Zelle allow users to send mon-
back end, and ecommerce merchants using Big Commerce, ey to friends or family, split bills, and repay loans with
Oracle Commerce Cloud, Salesforce or Adobe may know a just a few taps.
third-party service between their platforms and customers
but not their payment company. 5. Distributed ledger technology: Unlike traditional
centralized databases in a fixed location, distributed
Modularity ledgers, such as blockchain and cryptocurrency, exist
Miles agreed modern payments must flow through several in multiple locations, eliminating third-party interme-
parties to be accepted, processed, settled and funded diaries and establishing secure, transparent, immuta-
ble records. financial intermediaries and aids in devel-
back to the merchant, citing key players as the merchant,
payment gateway and third-party vendors that facilitate oping the digital economy
payments for the gateway, a back-end acquiring bank, 6. Fraud prevention: Biometrics and other secure au-
issuing bank and depository bank. thentication methods enhance payment security, pro-
tecting against card-not-present fraud and reducing
"The lack of interoperability among the parties creates reliance on passwords.
switching costs, road map impacts and execution risk,"
he said, emphasizing that open architecture is crucial to 7. QR code payments: Customers scan a QR code with
solving this and that modular payments—systems that a smartphone to initiate payment, enabling merchants
can seamlessly work with the platforms of gateways and to accept digital payments without using a traditional
acquirers without significant coding and development— POS terminal.
are key to the future of payments.
8. Internet of Things (IoT): Wearables and voice-assist-
Looking ahead, Miles sees the industry moving away ed microphones and other IoT-powered devices enable
from walled gardens to a more plug-and-play model, users to transact with simple gestures and voice com-
with merchants freely orchestrating compatible providers mands.
that work together to facilitate a frictionless payment
experience. 9. Ecommerce: Integrated payment gateways, secure
checkout procedures and virtual wallets are essential
"Interoperability and modularity are key to improving the components of the omnichannel, digital-first shopping
transaction journey," he said. "We need to make it easier, as experience.
a payments industry, for merchants to plug in solutions to

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