Top 8 digital payment trends for 2020
                     Top 8 digital payment 
trends for 2020

1. Biometric authentication
Biometric authentication is a trend that you’ll see quickly emerging in the year 2020. Biometric 
authentication is a verification method which involves biological and structural characteristics 
of a person. These verification methods include fingerprinting scanners, facial recognition, iris 
recognition, heartbeat analysis, and vein mapping.
With the rise in the problems of identity theft and fraud, biometric authentication can become a 
reliable and secure option for all the digital payments that takes place in the year 2020. Even 
the stats suggest the same thing. According to the industry data, by the year 2021 there will be 
more than 18 billion biometric transactions taking place every year.
Biometric authentication is a unique and important payment method as it incorporates and 
provides accuracy, efficiency, and security under a single package. Biometric authentication is 
a highly-secured method since it involves an individual’s unique characteristics. This factor 
also helps in building the customer loyalty and trust.
2. Gen Z: the tech-savvy generation
Before we proceed, let’s understand what generation Z is. The term ‘Generation Z’ or the ‘Gen Z’ is 
used for individuals that are born between the years 1999-2012. In simple words, all those who are 
aged 7-20 are the Gen Z which also happens to be the generation of the digital world.
Gen Z is about to surpass the total population of millennial by the year 2020. This shift in the 
population will have huge significance. It’s because, this shift indicates that the majority of the 
world’s population by 2020 will be a tech-savvy or tech-exposed generation.
This is the generation that will have a higher dependency on the cutting-edge, automated, quicker, 
and efficient technologies and services. As a result the demand for digital payments systems will see 
a rapid growth in the coming year.
3. FROM CARDS TO CODES
Early on, the bank accounts were simply recognized by random combinations of 
unique digits present on card. However, the EMV technology (europay, 
mastercard, visa) has gradually picked up and introduced customers with more 
computerized and secured mechanism for payment.
The emv technology is known for using codes that varies every time a transaction 
takes place. This use of temporary codes enhances the security in the bank 
accounts by leaps and bounds. This example shows us how codes can shape the 
way we manage bank account systems.
Moreover, the future of plastic cards is bound to be overshadowed by cutting-edge 
payment services that offer more convenient and seamless methods of money 
transfer and store.
4. Increasing demand for mobile 
point of sale
Mobile-point-of-sale (mpos) is a revolutionary technology as it frees all the merchants 
from their bricks-and-mortar locations and in-store payments. It liberates them to go to 
various places like concerts, trade shows, food trucks, and many other where they can 
seamlessly accept payments from their customers.
Not only that, the mpos technology also makes a huge difference in the payment 
process of a store by making it more streamlined and flexible by replacing the central 
checkout areas with sales staff equipped with mpos devices.
Mpos is surely going to be trending digital payment technology and stats suggests the 
same. According to business insider, there will be around 27.7 million mpos devices 
operational by the year 2021. This number is huge as compared to 3.2 million in the 
year 2014.
5. Smart speaker payments
Home assistants or smart speakers allows its users to give voice commands to a speaker and receive a 
voice response in return. The user can give voice commands for various things such as getting weather 
updates, traffic update, ordering from Zomato or booking a cab from Uber.
Many giants have invested in the manufacturing of smart speakers. Amazon was the first one to come up 
with its first smart speaker in the year 2014. Google Home and Apple joined Amazon in the year 2016 and 
2017 respectively.
The speakers which evolved from the smart assistants were primitive in nature as they were restricted to 
just phone devices. However, with the growth of home automation, the smart speakers also started to go 
mainstream.
Let’s have a look at some stats to understand the smart speaker situation better. According to Statista, 
35% of users use smart speakers for buying products like home care, groceries, and clothing.

6. TOP-RATED SECURITY POWERED BY 
AI AND MACHINE LEARNING
Security is the most crucial element whenever it comes to payment. People will always prefer using a 
payment method that has a high security. That’s the reason why payment technologies won’t be able to go 
forward without developing a top-grade security.
Banks receive a lot of customer details and payment data each day. And to detect all the possible threats 
within seconds, banks are now taking the help of machine learning.
Machine learning is the first step you need to complete to achieve artificial intelligence. Banks continuously 
feed their software with different and new transactions. The software takes a set of limited transactions 
and learns to detect fraud transactions in real-time. As the software receives more and more transactions, 
it keeps getting better at identifying the fraud transactions.
The best example of this is when you receive a text from your bank asking if the transaction was done by 
you or fraudulent. This cautionary message helps the user and bank to prevent a major mishap. No human 
sends you these texts. A machine learning software is the one which sends all these texts to you

7. CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS
Contactless payments are another payment method which you’ll see growing rapidly in the year 2020. As 
the name suggests, the contactless payment allows the customers to simply wave their smartphone 
across the reader. This method of waving is way faster and more convenient than inserting a card.
Contactless payments are also faster and more secure than the pin technology as it transfers the 
encrypted data to the point-of-sale device instantaneously.
Many companies like samsung, apple, and google are already have their contactless payment system 
samsung pay, apple pay, and google pay respectively. To make payments, all a customer has to do is 
simply download the app, add card by entering card details, and then wave their phone across any reader.
Contactless payments are possible with the nfc (near-field communication) technology. That’s the reason 
why they are also termed as NFC payments.
8. DOMINANCE OF MOBILE 
WALLETS
According to a report by RetailDive, around 2.1 billion customers are using mobile wallets in 2019. And this number is 
bound to increase in 2020. A mobile wallet solution is nothing but a mobile application that tries to mimic an actual 
physical wallet. With the help of a mobile wallet, you can send money to other users, receive money from other users, 
and store money inside the wallet. Not only that, with the help of a mobile wallet, a user can also pay utility bills, buy 
tickets, get rewards, and many more.
Big companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung have their mobile wallets. However, all those wallets are brand and 
company specific. In coming years, more companies will try to create their own brand-specific wallet.
Companies can easily assess the customer’s usage with the help of a mobile wallet. There are several players that are 
involved in a mobile wallet. For example, a mobile wallet is developed by one company let’s say Google. Then the 
loyalty cards and credit cards are created by some other company. There are also many merchants which uses the 
same Google wallet.
In simple words, a mobile wallet consists of various components that work together to render easy, quick, and cashless 
payment services.
Conclusion
Digital payments are future. In coming years we will see payment 
methods transitioning from physical cash to the digital payment 
methods. Before the transition concludes, many new trends will 
appear and disappear. 
These trends will play a vital role in shaping our future payment 
methods. Many of the mentioned trends will also play a major role in 
that process. But only time will tell how it will all undergo.
Thank you
[email protected] www.digipay.guru
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