In payments, nothing lasts forever

“The credit card has been around for 60 years,” McDonald, Visa’s VP & Head of Client Relationship Management for Australia and New Zealand , told bluenotes on video. 

"We find ourselves working in a in a space that has never been more dynamic and interesting as it is right now.” - McDonald

“It was never anticipated to be a piece of plastic which was going to always be the vehicle [for payments].”

“It was all about digitising money. And it just so happens it was a beautifully elegant vehicle. It was the best mobile device that's out there. It’s weather proof. You don't have to plug it in.”

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McDonald said cash was well on the way out, particularly in Australia, largely due to the ubiquity of contactless – which he expects to grow phenomenally.

“Right now we have three billion credit cards out there. With the proliferation of mobile devices and the digital economy we see that going from three billion to 30 billion devices. And we see it going from 44 million locations of acceptance to 400 million locations.

“Every single merchant is going to be taking credit cards, be it on their phone or in multiple different ways.”

McDonald said payment services would continue to adapt to technology which best serves the customer, as is occurring around the world with open banking.

“What we're seeing in Europe is banks have started out by making [open banking] sort of a compliance exercise,” he said. “But they're seeing it as an opportunity moving forward to diversify their customer value proposition for their clients.”

“To make the [customer] relationship with the bank even more full by using data from other sources to provide additional services customers need. It's about putting the customer in the centre and saying, ‘what does this customer need?’”

Watch the video above to find out more.

Karl Hoffman is General Manager, Credit Cards & Personal Lending at ANZ