Date: 16 May 2022 Author: Ocere Alternative forms have banking have been a prominent focus for much of tech investment and innovation for the last ten years. PayPal ushered in the new era, leading us to the current attention given to cryptocurrency we’re witnessing now. While much of the world is still governed by the central banking system, these alternatives are providing key perks and benefits that iron out some of the kinks within that system. The central system, though, is still the central system – a network of various institutions, legacies, historically trusted established sites and processes. However, fintech products are challenging the expectations. For Businesses For businesses, innovation is essential, be it doing it oneself or embracing others’. Part of the goal of innovation is to be efficient, to make things simpler, better, control the variables. Fintech products for businesses have some crossover with those for consumers, but their logic is more smoothly applicable to businesses. For instance, the best virtual credit card will present businesses with the chance to better manage expenses. Cards can be used multiple times or just once, frozen and deleted very quickly, and define expiry dates. Real-time updates allow the business’s authorities to monitor spending as it happens. Integration with other software also enables the other pieces of software to communicate cleanly with the data coming out of those virtual credit cards. Tighter management via customisable products, real-time updates, software integration, and the convenience of digital solutions via single app or platform are the general and key perks of fintech products. The whole process often feels more intuitive, especially with how digital solutions have taken on these shapes in other industries and markets. Data is the focus, of course. The transfer of it, the access to it, the management of it. Who businesses bank with don’t have such advanced platforms and systems to allow such levels of minute control and flexibility. The demand for a means of working that promotes an efficient, quick, and a generally smooth experience is high, consistent. Banks struggle to keep up with the innovation, in terms of providing the experience the business wants. Nonetheless, major banks are acquiring fintech companies to add and improve their own services. While, in theory, integration and an openness to work with the leading and secure software could be optimal, the future may be that banks try to offer whole packages of services to satisfy their customers. For Consumers For consumers, it’s a similar story. Efficiency, speed, and ease of use are high priorities for consumers, who lead ever-accelerating lives, and don’t want to spend much of it managing the minutiae of their finances. However, as with the example of virtual credit cards above, one of the key ways consumers interact with fintech products is how money is transferred (spent!) – of course, it’s money, so how else would we be using it? Digital wallets, pre-paid cards, and other alternative payment methods is arguably the one area of the fintech market which receives the most emphasis from consumers. There are a few things that they look for in a payment method that isn’t the traditional banking institutions.

• Security: the protection of one’s own data has become an epoch-defining discourse – with watershed scandals like Facebook-Cambridge Analytica firmly wedged in the minds of consumers. One ways alternative payment methods like PayPal help consumers stay in control of their privacy is that they needn’t register their bank details directly with vendors.  As such, the alternative payment method acts as a buffer between those sensitive details and whomever may be interested in acquiring them. They can rely on both the security practices of the vendor (if they’re not a scam) and the digital wallet or pre-paid card, etc. Indeed, if a vendor offers an alternative payment method, it shows the consumer that they can be trusted because they are offering you a safe means to begin and complete a transaction.

• Speed: in general, alternative payment methods are the quicker way to complete transactions too. With banking details, they are a number of fields to fill in before actually being able to pay. Digital wallets like PayPal, for instance, are much faster: you need only sign in. It simplifies and speeds up the important part of a purchase. Some methods also offer buy now, pay later options, adding another level of flexibility outside of the traditional banking solutions.

Cryptocurrency is the latest alternative payment method. It seeks to be more than just another payment method, but, currently, it is best understood and utilised as another payment method. The end-goal of crypto, though, is to essentially replace the central banking system. While it continues to be legitimised by select government authorities and companies across the world, it does betray the ‘decentralised’ nature of crypto and the blockchain technology that crypto is built from. As such, this development is a more extreme and direct confrontation with the traditional banking institutions that has emerged in recent years. Whether or not it takes hold remains to be seen. However, it is existing in a world in which, for many, fintech products are preferred to traditional banking methods and solutions. Both businesses and consumers benefit from these products immensely.  

---

About Ocere Ocere is a prominent player for international SEO and creative content services, offering bespoke outreach campaigns and technical services to businesses covering all major verticals. Our bespoke outreach campaigns are supported by an international publishing network of more than 50,000 news outlets, portals and authoritative sites, covering all key verticals, in addition to our considerable expertise in both the technical and creative requirements of strategic SEO. We have also garnered an extensive understanding of the iGaming sector, serving tier 1 and smaller operators for more than a decade, as well as strategic SEO experience with affiliates operating in a wide array of international markets. Each month, we deliver thousands of words in multilingual content to a client base that includes Airbnb, eToro, and notable iGaming brands such as William Hill, Kindred, and Betway, as well as paid media consulting, digital PR and Google ads implementation.