050 051 VIEWPOINTS ElectronicPayments Are information from the transaction, Consumers Are Ready What We Need to Do Approaching “Peak Plastic” including that 16-digit number. to Be Convinced, if to Move Beyond Plastic There’s a parallel here to mobile phone We Can Prove the numbers: How often do you look at the in Asia Pacific digits in someone’s mobile number? Value Is There All the right conditions are in place for It’s not visible anymore—you just card-free electronic payments to grow. By Christopher Boncimino tap on a name in your contact list. SVP, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Visa Taking into account the many ways in This will take time, but there are things And now with a few more taps you which payments are changing, what we can do as an industry to Next Year, the Credit Card can send that contact money, matters most is a seamless, intuitive and drive change: without needing to know anything ubiquitous customer experience. Our will Turn 60 Years Old. more than who they are. consumer research shows that the vast Continue to invest in future-proofing majority (over 80%) of consumers across our infrastructure and technology. But a card is just one physical form that card is dipped or tapped on a shop The Technology Asia Pacific are open to trying out new We can’t possibly anticipate what new payments can take in an increasingly terminal is the same one that can ways to pay, such as mobile phones, devices people might want to pay digital world. process an automated payment from Is Available Today wearables or other connected devices with in five or ten years’ time, but we Back in 1958, Visa Today, the industry is approaching peak an internet-connected refrigerator that (Visa/YouGov research). can keep developing standards and plastic. The technology, infrastructure, is programmed to order milk when it A greater number of seamless payment capabilities that can adapt to make became the original runs out. The only difference is that the But there are barriers holding them payments possible in any context. and consumer appetite are all at a point experiences in-store, online, and back from changing their behavior fintech company where payments can evolve beyond plastic card doesn’t necessarily need to in-app are being made available to be part of the transaction anymore. and embracing new forms of payment Maintain a relentless focus when we piloted the the physical card. consumers and businesses. Payments beyond cards. They’re often nervous on the customer experience. The important part that remains is are happening—today—via mobile about whether new technology is BankAmericard with What do we mean by peak plastic? the 16-digit card number. It’s this wallets, QR codes, chatbots, virtual secure, or they feel that the methods Ultimately, customers decide what 60,000 people in We’re not saying that cards are going 16-digit number that makes electronic assistants and IoT-connected devices. they use to pay today are already payment methods succeed by voting away overnight. Anything that’s been transactions possible, not the plastic These new experiences aren’t everyday good enough. There’s a sense among with their feet (or thumbs or facial California. part of commerce for over half a century it’s printed on. But the card number life for everyone yet, but they are consumers that new payment recognition) for the best experience. is so embedded that there will be a long is evolving too; they are slipping into beginning to scale. The Visa Ready technology needs to be proven useful Over the past six decades, the plastic tail of cards still in use for quite some time. Program brings payments to this before they start using it. Don’t innovate just for innovation’s sake. card has become inextricably linked But we are saying that the conditions exist the background, as payments become automatic and invisible. Instead of broader range of devices and services Technology can do anything. But— with the very idea of electronic to support a mass adoption of electronic having to enter a 16-digit card number in a secure, convenient manner, so that It’s the responsibility of all of us in the crucially—that doesn’t mean it has to payments. Visa—and others in our payments that are no longer solely in an app or on a website, people payments can happen on just about payments industry to establish that do everything. It’s about identifying business—became known as “credit dependent on plastic. can use their thumb to authenticate any form factor. utility by ensuring that the payment where technology adds value and card companies.” However, Visa has payments from their mobile phone. experiences beyond plastic are adding moves an experience forward. never defined itself that way. To us, Over time, the proportion of payments value and solving pain points in it’s never been the physical card that Consumers can store their card details that don’t involve a plastic card on file with the merchants they ways the physical card cannot, such At Visa, our role is to create the right actually matters. The Infrastructure compared to those that do will as integrating loyalty programs into conditions for our bank and merchant repeatedly shop with or subscribe to, continue to increase. We’re seeing Fundamentally, Visa is a payments Is Already in Place eliminating the need to enter their mobile shopping experiences or using partners to deliver innovation to their examples of digital issuance: Where a contextual information like location or customers, for any payment form factor. network that connects people or information each time they transact. consumer can apply for a card and be businesses who want to pay and those spending habits to provide targeted We’re excited to enable the future of The electronic payments ecosystem Tokenization makes these invisible issued digital credentials, including their offers, for instance. commerce and payments beyond cards. who want to be paid. For the past 60 doesn’t change even as the form payments possible by creating a layer of 16-digit card number, immediately, years, a plastic card has been a secure, factors keep evolving. The Visa network security that removes sensitive account without having to wait for the physical convenient mechanism to do just that. that processes the payment when a card to arrive to begin transacting.