As the global economy continues to recover from the pandemic, a new payments landscape is emerging which holds many opportunities for Payment Service Providers (PSPs).

This includes a greater number of merchants looking to accept electronic payments for the first time as they develop their online offering as a complement to or replacement for their physical presence, and more revenue flowing through digital channels.

At the same time, this landscape is throwing up both fresh and familiar challenges. Fraud – certainly one of the more familiar challenges for all actors in payments – continues to rise across the board, and especially in the digital channel. Since the start of the pandemic, online fraud is estimated to have grown by 39%, and false refunds by more than 50%.

Today’s merchants are looking for PSPs to handle a much wider range of payment types, including account-to-account (A2A) and Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) forms, as well as crypto payments and SEPA request-to-pay (SRTP). They also want customised solutions that fit their specific needs, including omnichannel payments services, better data analytics and the ability to combine payment with other functions such as inventory, risk services and ordering. To cap it all off, competition among PSPs is rising, with up to a quarter of merchants switching their PSP arrangements every year in the search for more tailored services and lower costs.

Plaid explains why Open Banking heralds a payments revolution in Europe – and what this means for companies providing payment services at the point of sale and online, as well as other e-commerce players in terms of faster and easier onboarding and payouts, reduced fraud and other benefits