The EHI Payment Kongress 2022: Industry gathering and trend barometer

After the EHI Payment Kongress could only be a digital event for the last two years because of the Covid pandemic, the industry was finally able to meet face to face again this year. Really exciting? The latest payment trends. We have summarised the most important trends for you here.

The EHI Payment Kongress 2022

Finally face to face again: After the EHI Payment Kongress could only be a digital event for the last two years because of the pandemic, it was especially wonderful this year to see so many familiar faces among the 600 participants and to meet live with other EFT experts at the venue in Bonn. Not to be forgotten: our lovely memories of the evening boat trip on the Rhine hosted by PAYONE.

In addition to our own treibauf stand, we were also able to present the joint international business case this year with our customer Richemont, which met with strong interest from the attendees.

An international business case with Richemont

As part of the EHI Payment Kongress 2022, our CEO Dr Dominique Bächler presented a report with Sebastian Lüttke-Kappenberg, Integration Manager Finance at Richemont, on the successful international partnership in the areas of POS integration and reconciliation. This presentation was followed by an exciting Q&A session – and a whole series of enquiries as the convention progressed.

Which industry trends are particularly noteworthy?

The EHI Payment Kongress is always an exciting trend barometer too: where is the industry going? Which technologies are on the rise? And above all: what are consumers’ payment preferences?

At treibauf we were particularly struck by five trends at this year’s EHI Payment Kongress, which we would like to share with you.

Cash is on the retreat again

The cashless payment trend is unbroken – and was further boosted by the Covid pandemic. On the one hand, this is certainly due to the strong growth in e-commerce over the last couple of years.

Consumers also prefer cashless payments at the POS, however – either classic card payment or increasingly often using mobile payment in its various forms.

QR-based payment is the number 1 worldwide

If you only look at the DACH region, you might think that NFC technology with contactless payment is the most important payment method at the POS. The global picture is rather different, however.

Worldwide, far more people pay by scanning a QR code at the till. In contrast, NFC technology is only a niche option in the global context. This is primarily because payment using QR codes is very popular in the Asian market – and is widespread as a result.

Future of EPI? Uncertain!

The aim of the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is to develop a Europe-wide system to standardise cashless payments across national borders – and to offer a European alternative to providers like Mastercard and Visa.

What began as a promising project, is unfortunately now facing a very uncertain future: important banks that had been part of the initiative have now pulled out, which is jeopardising the financing.

Roaming for mobile-based payment methods is coming.

Mobile-based payment methods like Twint, Bluecode or Swish have only worked within specific national borders up to now. Leading mobile payment systems from 14 countries have now banded together as the European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) , to advance the interoperability of mobile payments.

The declared goal is to enable consumers to use mobile payment systems beyond national borders by means of a roaming system, so that they can pay anywhere in a common network of merchants.

The increasing significance of the user experience

The term ‘user experience’ describes consumers’ impressions and experience of interacting with a product or a service. The more positive and pleasant the user experience, the more likely it is that consumers will repeat the interaction in question.

Consequently, the user experience is also a key factor for the future of payments. If the process is designed to be easier and more pleasant for customers, then this process will be requested more often. Tech giants like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook recognised this some time ago, optimising their payment solutions accordingly – and are now on the rise worldwide because of it.