The Future of Payments - Part I. Cash: the Dinosaur Will Survive ... For Now

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When people discuss the future of payments they tend to predict the end of cash. Our view is different. Not only do we think cash will be around for a long time, we see the transition to digital payments as having the potential to do no less than rebalance global economic power. [more]

The Future of Payments: Series 4 - Part III. Bye-bye cash, hello digital payments

April 25, 2023

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Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace, Marion Laboure, Nejati Nooshin

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We dig into how the world of payments is moving away from cash towards digital payments. This structural shift from cash to digital payments is expected to continue in 2023 with further evolution of digital IDs and digital wallets. Amid a macro slowdown, we expect financial solutions offered by non-financial firms, such as embedded financing, to play a major role in the further adoption of digital payments. [more]

The Future of Payments: Series 4 - Part I. Digital assets: The end of magical thinking?

February 27, 2023

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Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace, Marion Laboure

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In the first part of series 4 of our Future of Payments series, Marion Laboure and Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace take a look at how the end of a rare macroeconomic environment, featuring near-zero interest rates, stimulus packages, and excess liquidity, could clean the market of bad actors, much like the dot-com bubble did two decades ago. [more]

The Future of Work – Learning from Sport Part II. Better together

November 17, 2022

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Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace, Marion Laboure

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The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is about to start, so it is a good time to reflect on the relationship between the sporting world’s Greatest of All Time and remote work. The increasing popularity of remote work has disrupted traditional models of business and employment. There are shifting views of what work will look like in the future, so it is a topic that cannot be ignored. But, to make the most out of flexible remote work now, workers can learn from top athletes. [more]

The Future of Work – Learning from Sport Part I. How to Be a GOAT While Working Remote

September 7, 2021

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Marion Laboure

Who would have guessed that Tom Brady would lead a team to Superbowl glory at the age of 43? Who would have thought that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would still compete for the Ballon d’Or award at the ages of 36 and 34, respectively? And who would have guessed that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic would continue to dominate tennis well into their thirties, despite a generation of new players? There are close parallels between great athletes like these and professional success. We have a lot to learn from remarkable women and men who achieve great heights in sports—especially as we move toward a post-pandemic work-from-home future. [more]

The Future of Payments: Series 2 - Part III. Bitcoins: Can the Tinkerbell Effect Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

March 17, 2021

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Marion Laboure

Bitcoin’s market cap of $1 trillion makes it too important to ignore. Big players who buy and sell bitcoins have considerable market-moving power. As long as asset managers and companies continue to enter the market, Bitcoin prices could continue to rise. But bitcoin transactions and tradability are still limited. And the real debate is whether rising valuations alone can be reason enough for bitcoin to evolve into an asset class, or whether its illiquidity is an obstacle. Bitcoin’s value will continue to rise and fall depending on what people believe it is worth. This is sometimes called the Tinkerbell Effect — a recognised economic term stating that the more people believe in something, the likelier it is to happen. [more]

The Future of Payments: Series 2 - Part II. When digital currencies become mainstream

February 3, 2021

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Marion Laboure

A year ago, we stated that:
− Cryptocurrencies would become more mainstream. Both Facebook and PayPal will be adding cryptocurrency capability to their wallets early 2021.
− Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be widely discussed. The Bahamas launched the first nationwide CBDC last October, and both Sweden and China launched pilots in early 2020.

What do we see this year? Click here and find out [more]

The Future of Payments Series 2 - Part I. Post Covid-19: What Executives Are Thinking and Doing

January 13, 2021

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Covid-19 disruption to business has reshuffled priorities for CFOs and treasurers. They must address how to: maintain access to liquidity /credit; implement back-up procedures; create visibility to total cash in global locations; determine cash requirements in the short and medium term; and assess current exposures. [more]

Blockchain and Corporates: Transparency is the New Marketing

October 12, 2020

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Like the Internet in the 1990s, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain are set to transform the economy. Yet, two-thirds of senior executives still don’t know what DLT is, and those who do tend to ignore its uses outside of some simple financial applications. [more]

The Future of Payments - Part III. Digital Currencies: the Ultimate Hard Power Tool

January 27, 2020

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This piece is the third in a series of three pieces that examines the past, present, and future of the payments industry. We analyse the unexpected results of our proprietary survey of 3,600 customers across the US, UK, China, Germany, France and Italy and forecast trends in cash, online, mobile, crypto, and blockchain. The implications for customers and business are important; the potential macro and geopolitical consequences are profound. [more]

The Future of Payments - Part II. Moving to Digital Wallets and the Extinction of Plastic Cards

January 23, 2020

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