- The world of payments did not just get bigger this year, it became more advanced
- There are still multiple avenues for further growth
As December draws to a close, most of our wallets will be left depleted after Christmas splurges. But with much of the country in some variety of lockdown – and now a large swathe of the south of England in tier 4 – not much shopping this year has been in person. Instead, consumers have flocked to online shops and digital payments.
Yet even before Covid-19 struck, we were already on track for huge volume growth in cashless payments. Through 2018-19, the number of global non-cash transactions grew by 14 per cent to 708.5bn, the biggest surge in the past decade. From that perspective, the rapid increase in digital payments this year is not especially surprising. But payment companies are pushing out the boat beyond their traditional role into newly added services, even venturing into cryptocurrencies. With a rush of innovation in the sector this year, investors should keep an eye on which players are changing the name of the game.