What do SMEs expect from modern payments solutions in 2021?

VOX POP What do SMEs expect from modern payments solutions in 2021?

DIGITAL PAYMENTS

Sandeep Malhotra Executive Vice President, Products & Innovation, Asia Pacific, Mastercard:

As SMEs rushed to shore up their digital operations, they grappled with challenges: how to keep revenue coming in whilst minimising expenses and cutting complexity.

To keep revenue flowing, businesses should give consumers multiple payment options to ensure that their preferred payment method is, available—whether that’s a card, QR code or digital wallet. By maximising convenience and choice for consumers, businesses can more easily convert sales across omnichannels.

Finally, digital platforms need to do more than process payments—they must also plug into broader infrastructure that supports other aspects of a business’ operations.

Morgan Browne CEO, Enterpryze:

We will not see a return to pre-COVID days when it comes to payments. Instead, we’ll witness consumers being specific with what kind of digital payment they prefer using.

This will influence or inspire SMEs to include various payment solutions to cater to their demographics’ evolving needs. We’ll see SMEs demanding better user interfaces, smoother support, and generally a better digital experience. SMEs also understand that, now more than ever, any payment solution must continually be accessed rain or shine by their consumers. Transaction and middleman fees will also be scrutinised by SMEs with a finer comb. Some SMEs do not see the need for credit cards and their high processing fees as even their consumers are used to paying with QR codes.

Sharon Lourdes, Xfers:

“Payments is the act, by an end-customer, of paying for a good or service they have received from an SME. For us, in the industry, it is important to not lose sight of this primary role of payments. The impact of the global pandemic has driven consumer behaviour online, forcing many SMEs to confront the need to digitise or die. With fierce competition breaking out on the online turf, a seamless payment process is a deciding factor between a consumer reaching the check-out page, or leaving in frustration for a competitor. The survival of a business depends on their agility in integrating payment methods favoured by their consumers—from contactless QR-codes to in-all virtual card payments—and their ability to orchestrate and administer huge volumes of transactions seamlessly and safely.”

PRODUCT WATCH ZA Bank debuts interest-free early payday product

Hong Kong’s ZA Bank introduced an interest-free early payday product that allows customers to get their monthly payroll up to seven days in advance. With Salary FastPass, users can receive their salary up to a week earlier than the original payday on a day of their choosing. There are no interest fees charged within these seven days.

Some traditional payroll bank accounts still feature higher deposit rates or fee waivers, CEO of ZA Bank CEO Rockson Hsu noted. This observation pushed ZA Bank to create and launch Salary FastPass, which according to Hsu, is the first interestfree early payday product in Asia.

“With Salary FastPass, we seek to revitalise the traditional mindset of Hong Kong’s financial services sector and set the next trend,” Hsu said.

The repayment method will be via autodebit from the ZA Bank account.

After the initial seven day period, if users maintain a sufficient balance in their ZA Bank savings account for auto-debit, they would be able to enjoy early payday with no interest that month. But if a user does not have enough balance for auto-repayment on the seventh day after every ZA Payday, interest will be incurred. As of 2021, the annualised percentage rate is 34.49% for a loan amount of HK$200,000.

To apply, users can simply complete the application for Salary FastPass in the ZA Bank app. They do not need to change their payroll bank account.