The need of the hour: Payments need to be Instant, Accessible & Universal
On the 10th December 2021, Sapphire Connect concluded the 2nd Annual PayGround – New Age Payments E-Summit 2021 | Asia Edition centered on the theme “Instant. Accessible. Universal.”
Credit cards bought with the idea of paying with plastic and cashless transactions means that there will be no need for any physical representation of money in the future at all. While these new payment methods have opened up a world of opportunities for merchants and consumers alike, they also come with challenges. On the 10th December 2021, Sapphire Connect concluded the 2nd Annual PayGround – New Age Payments E-Summit 2021 | Asia Edition centered on the theme “Instant. Accessible. Universal.” The summit witnessed the leaders from the digital payments industry across Asia share their views as they chart the future roadmap that will enable easy adoption at large. Parallelly, it hosted a dedicated Parallel Track on Cyber Security centered on the theme “Trends | Threat | Result”. The summit witnessed more than 30+ speakers and over 800+ attendees across the Asia Region.
Streamlining what digital economy is all about, UIDAI, Assistant Director-General, Ms. Deepali Sharma, said that, “The recipe for a great digital economy is primarily to have a very enabling policy and secondly a supportive regulatory environment. However, a major support is needed from identification, inclusion in financial sector through bank accounts, a host of payments methods which are available for individuals to adopt and finally digital adoption by the end users.”
With governments and regulators playing a significant role in encouraging digital payments and directing innovation pathways in the way business is conducted. An Exclusive panel for Governor’s on the topic “Building cashless societies of the future by boosting financial inclusion: The Role of Regulators” was held. We had Mr. Mamerto Tangonan, Deputy Governor, Payments and Currency Management Sector (PCMS), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, express Philippines vision, he said, “We have a digital payments roadmap from 2020 to 2023 with an objective to achieve digital payments share of total retail payments transaction volume of 50% by 2023 and around 70% of adult public will hold at least one transaction account.” As the concept of central bank digital currency (CBDC) gains global traction with the attention of central banks and financial institutions around the world, we had Mr. R A A Jayalath, Assistant Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, say, “CBDC would be a great opportunity for the countries to ensure a great collaboration. From the Central Bank of Sri Lanka perspective we want to replace the intermediation that is happening now with CBDC as CBDC will complement the existing structure and make it easy for both policy makers and consumers.”
Speaking on the topic “The evolution of Digital Payments: Shaping the Future” we had Mr. Bhavesh Gupta, CEO - Lending Business, Paytm highlight the 3 drivers of innovation, he said, “India is arguably the most innovative market of payments in the world. To drive innovation, you need 3 things – regulatory framework, railroads on which stats can be built like UPI, digital wallets and the third is the need of startup ecosystem which can work on both”. Adding to the topic from a traditional bank perspective we had Mr. Murali Ramakrishnan, MD & CEO, South Indian Bank who said, “There is an opportunity for banks to work together with the payments institutions because at the end of the day the customers are the ones who are the most benefitted one as they are looking for more conveniences, trustworthy partners, stability and consistency.” R M Vishakha, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance and member – Thought Leaders of India sharing her perspective from the insurance industry said “Payments in Insurance is different from that of the other segments. In life insurance, the payouts are more of death claim or a maturity claim and these payouts are a large sum of money and invariably the payouts will go out the original bank account or beneficiary account.”
Adding to this Rishi Kapoor, Associate Partner & Business Head, Sapphire Connect, says, “With the surging demand of digital both online and offline payments has transformed the way we transact. Businesses have started to digitize their operations to capture additional revenue through digital payments, as consumers rely on it due to the ease and convenience it offers. The demand for quick, efficient and low-cost payment experiences will further encourage innovation as we see that with the emergence of real-time payment rails. At the 2nd Annual PayGround – New Age Payments E-Summit 2021 we shed some light on customer expectations when it comes to digital payments, and plugged any knowledge gaps so we can further encourage the growth of a robust and secure payments ecosystem in ASIA.”
To know more visit: Sapphire Connect
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by SRV Media. No HT journalist is involved in creation of this content.