Payment Ponderings - A GPC Blog

Data analytics has become an indispensable tool for businesses worldwide, and the financial institutions in the Caribbean are no exception. The region's dynamic economic landscape, coupled with rapidly evolving customer expectations, necessitates innovative strategies to stay competitive. By harnessing the power of data analytics, financial institutions in the Caribbean can unlock valuable insights, enhance decision-making, and create personalized experiences that drive revenue growth. Let’s explore how data analytics can be a game-changer for revenue generation in Caribbean financial institutions.

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a process that allows cardholders to choose the currency they want to use for their international transactions. When a cardholder is traveling abroad and makes a transaction in a foreign currency, the transaction is automatically converted into their home currency at the point of sale or ATM. This is done using a currency conversion rate that is determined by the card issuer or the ATM operator. It is a feature that has been gaining traction in recent years and can be very beneficial to Canadian ISOs. Let’s take a closer look.

The now three-year-old pandemic accelerated chatter in the payments world that cash was quickly going to become irrelevant in today’s society. The use of card payments, online payments and contactless everything trended upwards at an accelerated rate. Indeed, businesses whose main stream of income was cash-related, suffered serious blows. Many were forced to pivot their business models, but the pandemic was devastating to those whose business was dependent on cash.

The not-so-distant pandemic had everyone thinking that cash was on its way out. The use of card payments, online payments and contactless everything trended upwards at an accelerated rate. Indeed, businesses whose main stream of income was cash-related, suffered serious blows. Many were forced to pivot their business models, but the pandemic was devastating to those for whom this was not an option.

As with many payment trends, the pandemic accelerated the remittance industry to go digital and allow for fintech innovation to put pressure on traditional means of remittances. A remittance can be described as one person sending money to another, often in another country. It is a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of millions of migrant workers sending money home to their families, in order to assist with education, healthcare and other every day finances. In many cases, these remittances fully support their families in their country of origin. Very often, bank accounts are not involved.

With all of the attention these days, and particularly following recent global events, on the rise of digital payments and businesses going cashless, you may be wondering what sort of role cash and ATMs will play in the future. Are ATMs still relevant? Will they be in 10 years’ time? As a company that pushes digital payments as the way of the future, we also recognise the very real present and future demands for ATMs and smart ATMs. Here, we consider some of the issues.