As the payments industry evolves with innovations in mobile wallets, blockchain, and increasing regulations like PSD2 and the upcoming PSD3, consumer expectations for fast, secure, and seamless payments continue to rise. Financial institutions and credit card issuers must keep pace or risk falling behind. The market is becoming increasingly competitive, driven by fintech disruptors, alternative lenders, and evolving consumer demands for personalized financial services.
The Challenges of Legacy Payment Processing
For many issuers, legacy systems constrain the ability to innovate. These outdated platforms often result in slow product rollouts and rigid processes that fail to meet modern consumer expectations. In fact, the fintech market is expected to grow from $248.21 billion in 2022 to $792.50 billion by 2032, driven by advancements in mobile wallets, AI, blockchain, and open banking. Read more. Yet, many card issuers are still stuck with old infrastructures that can’t support today’s digital demands. Read more.
Why Agile Processing Is the Key to Success
Agile processing offers a solution. By leveraging cloud-based, modern payment platforms, issuers can regain control over product development and delivery. Agile processing allows for faster innovation, enabling issuers to create tailored products that meet consumer expectations for digital-first, personalized services. Open banking, a major trend, is providing consumers with more control over their financial data and fueling demand for innovative, seamless payment solutions. Read more.
Additionally, AI-powered risk management is transforming the way financial institutions approach credit and fraud, using alternative data to price risk more accurately and inclusively. This technology not only speeds up decision-making but also supports more equitable lending practices. Read more.
Agile Processing: The Future of Credit Card Payments
Platforms like i2c’s agile processing provide issuers with the flexibility to quickly respond to market changes. This is crucial in an environment where consumer behavior is rapidly evolving and fintech innovations are emerging fast. Agile processing allows issuers to test, launch, and scale products efficiently, reducing time-to-market and enabling quick adaptations based on customer feedback.
Key advantages of agile processing include:
- Speed to Market: Issuers can configure products to meet specific needs, allowing them to innovate faster and reduce development time.
- Market Responsiveness: Agile platforms make it easier for issuers to adjust products and features based on customer demands or market trends.
- Enhanced Customer Engagement: Agile processing allows issuers to provide engaging features, such as advanced digital functionalities, personalized alerts, and integrated loyalty programs, which drive stronger customer relationships.
Emerging Trends: BNPL, Contactless Payments, and AI
The global contactless payment market is projected to grow to $196.18 billion by 2033, further highlighting the need for agile processing solutions to stay ahead in the rapidly expanding digital payments space. Read more. Furthermore, the integration of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) into digital wallets is becoming a key feature, offering consumers more flexible payment options. Read more.
Embracing the Digital Future with Agile Processing
As digital payment solutions continue to surge, traditional systems are no longer sufficient. Agile processing offers the infrastructure needed to drive innovation and deliver differentiated credit products. Issuers can quickly roll out new solutions, keeping pace with changing consumer behaviors and fintech trends.
With the fintech sector expected to see continued growth, driven by real-time payments, AI, blockchain, and embedded finance, agile processing will be essential for issuers to remain competitive. By leveraging agile platforms, issuers can meet customer demands, improve efficiency, and stay ahead of the market. Read more.
Agile processing is the key to future-proofing credit card payment systems. It enables issuers to innovate faster, respond to market shifts more efficiently, and deliver personalized payment experiences that meet today’s digital-first consumer expectations. For issuers looking to stay competitive, embracing agile processing is essential to long-term growth and success.
i2c is a global provider of highly configurable banking and payment solutions. Using proprietary building block technology, clients can easily, quickly and cost-effectively create, launch and manage a comprehensive set of solutions for banking, credit, debit, and prepaid programs. i2c delivers unparalleled flexibility, agility, security and reliability from a global, unified banking and payments platform. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, its next-generation technology supports millions of users in more than 200 countries/ territories and across all time zones.
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