Digital Assets

Asia-Pacific payments industry continues to outpace all the other regions, new HPS report finds

The latest whitepaper commissioned by HPS highlights the considerable rise in the number of contactless payments and the use of Cacross key markets in Asia-Pacific (APAC) – and growth is forecasted to accelerate even further by 2023.

Historically, APAC's payments industry has outpaced all other regions over the past ten years. The region is currently one of the largest contributors to global payments revenue, generating $630 billion in 2020, HPS said in a press release.

Key findings include:

  • Consumer expectations towards frictionless payments are inspiring new payments solutions, creating opportunities to boost efficiency and enhance customer experience. Further, digitization of payments and contactless options are becoming increasingly important to support business continuity.
  • Card payment technology at the backend is undergoing transformation. Banks must ensure that systems at the backend are flexible and ready to support this transformation to ensure seamless customer experience encompassing instant issuance of cards, conversion of card request to card number, and API activation, among others.
  • Flexibility is the key in card issuing that enables customers to cover any card product from credit, debit, prepaid, or loyalty and service both physical cards and virtual cards issued for phones or other devices. Banks need to focus on developing a single modular technology solution that supports the entire payments value chain.