As technology advances and payments are increasingly made online, fraud cases are unfortunately on the rise too. This can come in many guises, from traditional ‘phishing’ cases, to data breaches, and ever-increasing ‘friendly fraud’. Whatever the method, fraud can have devastating effects on businesses, their reputations, and finances. It was reported that in 2018 alone, criminals successfully stole £1.2 billion through fraud and scams, so it’s more important than ever to keep up to date with the latest information on how to prevent your business or customers falling victim.

On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. At the time of writing, hundreds of thousands of lives and businesses have been affected. With multiple countries issuing bans on travel across borders and ordering shutdowns of cities and towns, many businesses are seeing the virus take its toll.

It’s now a cliché to say that payment options have evolved enormously over the past decade. Industry commentators have tirelessly traced the rapid and widespread adoption of contactless and digital payments, as well as the growing popularity of hybrid online and in store retail experiences like buy online and pick-up in store.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) requirements are a minefield of acronyms and, for many merchants, it can be difficult to understand exactly what they need to do to ensure they are compliant. In brief, the PCI standards are a set of security compliance frameworks that merchants must maintain in order to take physical and/or digital card payments either in store, online or on their mobile. Without PCI compliance, merchants will not be able to work with an acquirer and may also be fined by the card schemes such as Visa or Mastercard.

In my previous blog, I looked at customer centricity and the way it’s impacting payments in the travel industry. We can all agree that for any travel company, the customer should always be at the center of their payments strategy in order to provide an exceptional customer experience. But what are the growing trends that are impacting the travel industry?

How can payment solutions be changed into a driver of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR)? While more and more companies in the retail sector are adopting solidarity rounding, allowing customers to make micro-donations when they pay, other solutions are also emerging to create social value from payment transactions, while reducing the carbon footprint linked to the purchasing act.