Electronic payments: the future

Industry experts and innovators in the payment sector gathered at the 2015 Visa Middle East and North Africa Innovation Forum held in Istanbul to share their perspectives on technological evolutions in the world of electronic payments.

The forum particularly focused on the future of the payments landscape, changing financial service models, and how Visa’s operations help bolster the businesses of its regional clients.

Attendees examined and discussed topics such as data analytics, customer engagement, Omni channel retail and trends that are driving payments innovation.

Ihab Ayoub, Visa group country manager for MENA, shared his positive outlook for Visa’s regional operations, stating that the payments industry was on “an amazing trajectory”, with technologies in electronic payments being adopted more readily than before, card acceptance on the rise and fraud at an all-time low.

“Visa is proud to be at the forefront of these developments in the region. This has been achieved through launching new technologies such as Visa payWave in some of the Middle East markets, and commencing the regional roll-out of Visa Checkout and mVisa, among other initiatives,” he said.

He added, “We are working with several governments in the region to accelerate the creation of efficient cashless economies, and are fully committed to national initiatives that will speed up the ongoing electronification of payments.”

At the event, financial clients and partners engaged in a comprehensive discussion on various innovations that will shape the payments infrastructure of the future and on the new technologies that are increasing the interplay among payments-linked industries and empowering consumers and merchants.

The event also saw the introduction of the Visa Innovation Centre, “the launch of which reinforces Visa’s focus on partnering with clients and ecosystem partners to drive transformational and responsible digital innovation in the region’s payments industry”.