Top Trends in Payments: A Year in Review

This report reflects on the key payments-related issues which kept Celent analysts busy in 2011 and that Celent believes are set to shape the industry in 2012.

At the end of every year, Celent gathers its analysts from across the globe to review the top trends in retail and corporate payments. Over the course of 2011, Celent analysts covered a broad range of topics and trends in a variety of ways, including formal reports, consulting projects, the Celent Banking blog, and in private conversations as part of the analyst access available to Celent’s clients. From that, Celent analysts distil the 10 topics that most influenced the industry and that are likely to have the biggest impact in 2012.

“The payments industry had a busy 2010, but 2011 proved to be even busier,” says Zilvinas Bareisis, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Banking Group and coauthor of the report. “At least at the retail end of the spectrum, payments industry is anything but slow-moving and boring. Entrants such as Google and Isis, innovators such as PayPal, and established giants, such as Visa, MasterCard, and Amex have all made important steps towards their respective visions for payments in a connected economy. In the mean time, China UnionPay, a company less than 10 years old, has become the largest card scheme in the world. We expect that 2012 will be a pivotal year for bedding down many of these changes and innovations.”

Gareth Lodge, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Banking Group and coauthor of the report, says “What is interesting is that the issues discussed in the report are global in nature and change, or have the potential to change, the very nature of the business. With pressures on business models due to entrants and technologies, doing nothing is surely not an option; yet the worsening economic conditions suggest tighter than ever budgets. Banks will need to take some tough decisions, and make sure more than ever that they are focussing on the right areas.”