According to a survey made by a global payment technology solutions company, almost nine out of ten (85%) consumers worldwide have been making digital payments using mobile wallets, QR codes, buy now pay later, money transfer apps, cryptocurrencies, biometrics, and other digital payment technologies.
More than six out of ten (61%) respondents also admitted that they have increased their usage of at least one digital payment method in the last 12 months. The research added that BNPL or “buy now, pay later” schemes have also become one of the hottest trends in payments in recent years.
These are just some of the findings of a study entitled “Mastercard New Payments Index 2022.”
The card network’s 2022 survey also shows that a large proportion of consumers who have increased their usage of digital payments are in the Asia Pacific (69%) as well as the Middle East and North Africa regions (64%). North America follows closely at 52% while Europe comes next at 48%.
BNPL solutions backed by a major payment network
In the study, the majority of the respondents (83 percent) said they have knowledge about BNPL plans.
But in spite of the increasing awareness of BNPL schemes, only half of the respondents in the Asia-Pacific region confirmed that they are comfortable with such online installment payment schemes that offer low-interest rates.
Sixty-seven percent of the consumers said they would “feel safer using a BNPL solution backed by a major payment network than from other providers,” while another 65% said they will be “more interested” if the BNPL solutions were already available in their current bank.
Likewise, about 63 percent of the respondents expressed openness to the idea of connecting their bank account to other financial services to enable automatic repayments under such BNPL schemes.
“Consumers tend to look at installment plans because of low interest and the ability to store up savings,” the report pointed out.
Digital tools to help address security risks, allow faster transactions
Meanwhile, the study noted that “consumers are embracing digital finance, though opportunity still exists to strengthen perceptions around security, clarify use cases, and demonstrate trustworthiness.” Most of the biometric data used by respondents are fingerprint-based (72 percent), followed by facial recognition (68 percent) and voice recognition (69 percent).
Seven out of ten respondents also said that biometric identification was much easier than remembering passwords while 69 percent believe that biometric identification is also more secure.
Finally, the study noted that 81 percent of the consumers were using digital tools for at least one financial task. Such tasks include paying bills, banking, doing money transfers, automated savings, bank account opening, and filing taxes.
The respondents said they turn to financial technology tools to enable faster transactions, make tracking and managing bill payments more convenient, as well as organize finances in one portal, among others.
According to the report, the most popular forms of digital payments are account-to-account transfers, mobile wallets, and QR codes.
“As anticipated use trends with comfort, trusted sources such as global payment networks and issuers can play an important role in technology adoption through education and the provision of validated solutions that address key consumer needs,” the report added.