In the World Payments Report 2015 released by Capgemini and the Royal Bank of Scotland, it was found that non-cash payments are expected to come in at 389.7 billion in 2014 – a growth rate of 8.9 per cent.
The 2015 report – which collates data from the latest Bank for International Settlements payment statistics Red Book (2013 data released in December 2014) and other global banks – indicated that mature markets dominated non-cash transaction volumes with almost three quarters of market share between 2003 and 2013.
“If current trends continue, developing markets’ share of global non-cash transaction volumes is expected to increase from 27 per cent in 2013 to 33 per cent by 2020,” the report stated.
According to the report, the increase in non-cash transactions can be attributed to the widespread adoption of mobile technology for payments and the continued economic recovery in mature markets.
The report found that in Australia the number of non-cash transactions totalled eight billion in 2013, up from seven billion in 2012.
Moreover, emerging Asia continues to push growth upwards, with non-cash transactions said to have grown by 27 per cent in 2014, up from 22 per cent in 2013.
The report argued that as a result of the increasing take-up of non-cash transactions, banks will need to continue to innovate.
Capgemini Financial Services global sales officer Andrew Lees said: "Each year banks face new and greater challenges in innovating to meet consumer demands for more convenient, faster, more secure and more mobile payment methods."
He added: "Facing this pressure and the need for new regulatory initiatives to support innovations like immediate payments, payment service providers must take a long-term approach for payments processing by building a holistic set of offerings that can deliver value on a global scale."
The report said that as the payments industry continues to rapidly evolve, banks will be able to differentiate themselves by their ability to provide holistic services to meet customer demands.
“By virtue of the payments infrastructure they provide, immediate payments initiatives are a catalyst for banks to move forward in developing new value-add propositions and, ultimately, holistic payments solutions," the report stated.
“Developing innovative solutions that span the payments value chain may be costly and complex, but nonetheless banks must find a way to deliver services that meet the payments needs of customers."
