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On the one hand, the continued decline in cash payments accelerated by the recent pandemic creates opportunities, with sources estimating that the number of merchants looking to accept electronic payment will grow by a third in the next few years. Last year alone, Europe’s EPOS estate grew by 8%, according to proprietary research by PCM.
At the same time, merchant expectations are rising fast as new payment methods such as wallets and cryptocurrencies proliferate, and new devices – from contactless to wearables – grow in importance, to say nothing of new security methods such as biometric ID via card or mobile device. Meanwhile, acquirers have to cope with the growing demands of national and international regulators, such as Europe’s second payment services directive (PSD2) – all while facing a new, fast-growing generation of fintech competitors.
