As the rise of digital payments carried well into the year, the fast pace of technology opened up new opportunities and businesses looked for new avenues to stay on pace.
Alternative payment solutions, instant payments, and faster payment methods became top of mind for many VoPay readers.
As we put the final touches on 2022 we look back at some of this year's most read blogs. It’s clear to see from the compiled list below, VoPay blog readers are looking for answers on how to maximize the newer in-demand payment types and how to make them work for them.
EFTs are the backbone of the Canadian payment industry with EFT usage up 21% from 2020 to 2021. Once the final numbers are in for 2022, we expect that number to be even higher. EFT payments move money securely from account to account and are a safe and cost-effective way to electronically credit or debit bank accounts at any Canadian financial institution in Canadian or U.S. dollars.
• There were a total of 3.1 billion EFT transactions worth $6.2 trillion in 2021
• EFT accounted for the largest share of transaction volume at 57% vs. all other payment types
• EFT is the preferred payment method by SMEs and commercial businesses for paying business expenses
• Businesses prefer EFT because of speed, convenience and easy tracking and reconciliation
Looking to switch from cheques or wire transfer to EFT payments ?
Ask these four questions to see if EFTs are a fit for your business:
1. Does your business require recurring payments?
2. Do your customers pay by paper cheques?
3. Is there a significant proportion of your customers currently paying by credit card? And if so, could you convert your credit card-using customers to pay by EFT instead?
4. Would the processing fees for EFT save you money compared to credit card fees?
Visa Direct provides multi-rail access to 5 billion cards and accounts across more than 200 geographies, supporting 160 currencies. Well-known and respected in the industry. They’re a global leader in digital payments and behind many real-time payment services such as Venmo and Zelle.
Transactions are done instantly. Simply send money instantly to a Visa debit cardholder, and the recipient receives the funds in near real-time. No bank account numbers or financial information is required, and no action needs to be taken by the recipient.
No time is wasted for cheques to clear or for financial institutions to process payments.
A2A payments are simply - when funds are moved from one account to another with no go-between. And it can happen at the same financial institution or another one - it doesn’t matter.
Account-to-Account Payment Types
When a business initiates a direct bank payment and sends money to a recipient, we call it a push payment.
Example: A ride-sharing platform pays drivers per trip, or an e-commerce platform needs to pay multiple vendors.
Whereas pull payments allow a business to accept money by instantly debiting any North American bank account.
Example: A lending platform collecting payments from borrowers or an e-commerce site collecting payment during checkout.
Three advantages of A2A payments
1. They eliminate credit card fees. Less transaction costs and more savings for merchants.
2. An adaptable payment solution that integrates with back-office systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and AP applications.
3. No more failed payments from credit card expiry, insufficient funds or incorrect card details.
No matter the industry, readers flocked to download our real-time payments guide. As SaaS companies looked for ways to enhance their competitive advantage and stay ahead of the curve, real-time payment solutions have fast become the answer.
RTPs are essential in today’s market because transactions are settled instantaneously. For businesses, that means:
Full control over cash flow, full transaction visibility and no more guessing if payments will be settled.
A true game-changer and competitive advantage. When businesses are using RTPs, and no longer have to worry about payments, they are better able to strategize, plan and create better products. As well, they can more easily scale up in the market and increase their bottom line.
Variable Recurring Payments are Open Banking’s answer for recurring payments. Using APIs, it lets customers set up recurring payments of varying amounts directly from their bank accounts, with strong customer authentication baked into the process in order to prevent errors.
It’s like a direct debit and card on file, but with greater security and ease of use—and there’s no manual data entry, removing the risk of payment failure due to user error. Customers can safely and securely connect their bank accounts to authorized payment service providers. In turn, payment providers can then make a series of payments on behalf of a customer within agreed-upon parameters ( the critical takeaway here – is agreed-upon parameters).
The agreed-upon parameters are what really make VRPs shine. VRPs will deliver better transparency, enhanced security and greater flexibility for the customer and the SME (small to medium-sized enterprises), heck, even most larger companies will benefit.
For the consumer, VRPs give them complete control over monthly recurring payments - even taxi rides because, yes, the business can automatically charge, but only up to a certain amount. And those parameters are set by the consumer.
As we head into 2023, VRPs remain limited in scope, but once Open Banking is fully open, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly they fully roll out and how easily businesses and consumers adapt.
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