Tap to Mobile: SMEs need new electronic payments acceptance

The latest white paper from Tietoevry Banking reveals a new generation of merchants is signing up for electronic payments after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The addition of these merchants, typically smaller and medium-sized enterprises, could see the number of companies accepting electronic payments soar by 30% in less than a decade[1].

To meet their needs, acquiring banks and payment service providers (PSPs) need to find a low-cost, flexible and secure acceptance solution that’s easy to implement.

Tap into the power of mobile devices

The huge rise in merchants turning to electronic payments has been driven by a long-term decline in cash use, accelerated by the pandemic.

At the same time, more consumers have turned to electronic payments given hygiene concerns and the speed and convenience of paying with cards or digital wallets.

In their new white paper, Tap to Mobile: next-generation cashless payments for new merchants, Tietoevry Banking argue most first-time adopters of electronic payments will seek to turn their mobile devices into payment terminals via apps that are fast and simple to install.

Known as “Tap to Mobile”, this method of acceptance is predicted[2] to reach a total market value of $76.3 billion by the end of 2025, representing growth of over 23% each year.

Previously, many smaller merchants were put off accepting electronic payments by the cost and complexity of purchasing or renting a POS terminal, as well as long set-up and authentication processes.

As Tap to Mobile only requires a standard smartphone, such systems are cheaper and easier to set up compared to previous-generation POS devices.

The ease of onboarding merchants using Tap to Mobile means they do not experience loss of revenue while waiting days or weeks for authentication and set-up to complete.

Because Tap to Mobile systems can be set up “over the air” (that, is remotely via wireless internet communication) and without reference to a Terminal Service Provider, they can be updated and adapted to accept new payments methods such as Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), account-to-account (A2A) solutions and crypto payments, all of which are destined to play a much bigger role in Europe’s payments landscape in the years ahead.

For more than two years, Tietoevry has been developing and piloting a Tap to Mobile solution in partnership with leading technology companies.

This solution is white-label, meaning it can be branded with an acquirer or PSP’s logo and adapted to suit their requirements.

This solution will be of great interest to acquirers and PSPs looking to target both the existing and emerging new merchant populations, especially SME merchants, small chains and merchants looking to combine their online and physical acquiring into one solution.

As one of Europe’s leading transaction processors with fully-secure 24/7/365 availability, we are connected to a wide range of acquirers.

Our systems have processed 2 billion transactions each year over the last 15 years, with consistent 100% availability in our core.

This level of expertise enables us to offer banks and PSPs the ability to acquire transactions using our Tap to Mobile solution and process those transactions using our secure, always-on technologies.

Download the new white paper to find out more about why and how “Tap to Mobile” solutions will deliver a step change in payments acceptance.

[1] See The Digital and Card Payment Yearbooks 2021-2022 (European Overview)

[2] Payments Cards and Mobile, 26 January 2022, The digital revolution moves from payment to acceptance

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