Cross-border payments consultancy FYST has revealed the biggest trends in acquiring, including how the sector is tapping into artificial intelligence to boost fraud detection and optimise payment authorisation.
According to the company, while consumer and merchant attention are often focused on acceptance, acquiring is the vital link in the payment chain. It urgers acquirers to assess their business models to ensure they can cope with both today’s high volume of transactions and future changes too.
FYST”s report covers the impact of the Covid crisis, how merchant acquirer consolidation is impacting the playing field, and examines how acquirers should be harnessing technology to add value through local services, fraud detection and AI.
It also looks at the emerging retail and payment technology and the trends everyone across the payments chain needs to prepare for.
“Without the merchant acquirer, there is nothing to connect merchants with the broader payment ecosystem, or ensure secure and efficient payment processing, or even effectively protect against fraud,” comments Evgeniy Ivantsov, chief marketing officer at FYST. “Acquirers also play a crucial role in compliance with regulatory standards and are the secret ingredient to a positive customer experience.”
Insight
Between 2017 and 2021, the electronic payments industry grew at 30 per cent and 13 per cent CAGRs in volume and value of transactions respectively. For card acquiring specifically, the volume of transactions grew at 23 per cent over the same period. Evolution of the merchant acquiring competitive landscape. Global merchant acquiring volume is set to hit $41trillion by 2026.
Merchant acquirers face significant challenges, primarily stemming from the evolving nature of fraud, with card-not-present (CNP) strategies replacing card-present (CP) fraud. This shift places more risk on merchants, especially in the era of omni-channel e-commerce. Furthermore, profit margins for merchant acquirers have been shrinking due to intense competition, where even slight differences in fees can prompt merchants to switch providers.
Navigating a complex regulatory environment is another substantial hurdle for merchant acquirers, reveals FYST. Regulations, which vary by region, encompass standards like Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), anti-money laundering (AML) laws, know your customer (KYC) requirements, and consumer protection laws. Payment industry regulations, data protection laws, network rules, licensing and cross-border transaction regulations add further layers of complexity.
“The past few years have been a rollercoaster for merchant acquirers: from the boom in ecommerce that saw many companies experience unexpected growth, to the shock of consumer belt-tightening in response to rising inflation and energy prices,” Evgeniy also said.
“This report give insight into what a successful acquiring platform looks like, and it’s our hope that it will help arm merchants with the tools they need to survive the ongoing economic storm.”
