Payments compliance is a trending topic for 2022. This is driven by several factors, including cybersecurity concerns as well as shifting consumer demand for specific payment services.
Because payment trends are constantly evolving, especially since the pandemic, when huge shifts were made towards more digital payments solutions. Let’s talk about some of the top payments compliance priorities for 2022.
Payment Priorities & Trends
According to PYMNTS, one of the top priorities for your business and its digital payment programs is the collection and analysis of consumer and bank data. Whether your payments compliance goals revolve around efficiency or cybersecurity, it’s important to know how and why your customers use specific payment methods. It’s also important to use this data and other industry findings to evaluate the effectiveness of your programs.
PYMNTS recently collaborated with LexisNexis on a digital payments corporate guide. They shared some of their key findings, which may include insights that could help your business handle its data and payments compliance goals more decisively.
The main takeaway that they reported had to do with key payments data: “Comprehensive, accurate and easy to access data is inseparable from risk management, and corporates should be able to use their most valuable payments data at any time.”. Payments data is fluid, and changes often.
That’s why real-time reporting and reconciliation tools are so important. Your data is no good if you don’t have a way to aggregate, access, and understand it. One of your business’s top payment priorities should include the comprehensive ability to leverage your collected data to better serve your customers.
Similarly, payments compliance protocols are complicated by the rise of advanced financial technologies. As this complexity grows, it’s important to know where you stand and what types of institutions you are trading funds with, so you don’t become uncompliant.
Online business transactions can take place across states, countries, and different financial technology, apps, and mediums.
Payments Compliance Outlook
The Fintech Times also recently shared some insights from a VIXIO outlook report. According to that report, closed-loop payment systems and account-to-account services are going to be strong trends as we move through the year.
Closed-loop payment systems allow customers to load money into an account linked to a payment device, much like a gift card or prepaid credit card. In contrast, an open-loop system works more like a credit card; customers can pay at many different places using a decentralized digital wallet. Closed-loop systems are great for consumer data collection, which increases the system’s value to your business with respect to data analysis and compliance.
Of the more than 100 big businesses studied, more than 40% of them are also planning to launch e-wallets and digital currencies in the next few years.
ESG, Cybersecurity, Cloud Solutions
In a more in-depth article from Protiviti, a consulting firm, the top three compliance priorities in the financial services industry in terms of broad topics included ESG (environmental, social, and governance), cybersecurity, and cloud solutions.
ESG is a term that includes things like strategy and reporting, sustainable lending and investing, diversity, equity, inclusion, and more. Regulatory expectations are pivoting to encompass more of these human-based concerns, which means your payments systems will have to account for those changes.
Cybersecurity and cloud solutions continue to be hot topics in compliance because the pandemic changed how the world moves its money. As more individuals and businesses invest in technologies that support diverse digital payments, cloud solutions are going to increase the convenience of these tools.
And cybersecurity is a top priority in perpetuity because hackers and fraudsters love to target digital payments and other money-heavy assets.
The Protiviti article identified ten more top priority areas in financial and payments compliance:
- Operational resilience
- Third-party risk management
- Cryptocurrency
- Culture and conduct
- Vulnerable customers
- Use of AI in decision-making
- Financial crime
- Data-led supervision
- Innovation and cost reduction
- The people agenda – compliance today is a different landscape than it was a few decades ago. The base knowledge that is needed for compliance officers to be successful encompasses all kinds of skills, from risk assessment and management to data analytics, problem-solving, and technology skills
Payments compliance has gotten more complex and multi-faceted, but so have the tools we use to complete these transactions. Tools like ReliaFund can help make your compliance struggles easier to navigate.
Next-Generation Payment Processing Is a Must for Your Business
ReliaFund is your premier payment processing platform, which makes it easy for your business to keep up with evolving payment compliance trends and regulations.
Our integrated platform allows you to connect to outside applications, send customers digital receipts, and so much more.
We offer:
- ACH Payment Processing
- Cloud-based Payment Processing, including checks, credit cards, and debit cards
- Online Payments
- Real-Time Reports and Reconciliation so you have the insights and data analytics available on-demand
Schedule a consultation today to learn more.