Payment market trends and risks of the new law: what the participants of TechFin Expert Summit-2021 talked about

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The experts identified the trends that will shape the architecture of the industry and tried to model how the new law on payment services will affect it.

PMHub hosted the first in Ukraine expert conference for techfin players and experts, organized by PaySpace Magazine and Mastercard. The event was also joined by representatives of the National Bank and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. During the summit, participants discussed important issues of technical innovations in the Ukrainian market, remote onboarding, unit economics, transactional business, as well as general problems of digitalization. PaySpace Magazine remembers how it was.

The law on payment services opens up many opportunities for entering the market, but there are risks that require the attention of the regulator​

The representatives of the authorities were the first to speak. Andrey Podderegin, Director of the Department of Payment Systems and Innovative Development of the NBU, outlined the main innovations that will become reality after the law on payment services comes into force. He also talked about what kind of participants the market will enrich, about the benefits that players will receive, as well as about the possible risks, in particular, when creating open APIs. To avoid competition in formats, costs of resources, the NBU initiated the development, together with the business, of a single set of APIs.

It is technically impossible to steal data from Diya.​

Mstislav Banik, head for the development of electronic services at the Ministry of Digital Industry, spoke about the features of the implementation and useful possibilities of the electronic service of public services "Diya". According to him, nothing threatens the security of personal data in Diya, since nothing is saved in its backend (software and hardware part of the service - ed.).

Detailed information about the transaction will help in resolving disputes between buyers and merchants (merchants)​

Yuri Batkhin , Vice President for Business Development of Mastercard in Ukraine and Moldova, spoke about the expectations of users of the new payment ecosystem. In particular, according to him, the consumer requires complete information about transactions, because this will help in resolving potential disputes with merchants. The new technology is aimed at meeting this need, which will be introduced by Mastercard until October next year.

New payment services law: chessboard placement may change​

The experts discussed in more detail the possibilities and difficulties associated with the implementation of the law on payment services at a thematic panel discussion. In particular, according to their forecasts, about 200 participants will appear on the Ukrainian payment market. At the same time, competition will increase not only between banks and non-banks, but also between local and foreign players.

“For those who want to provide such services, the legislation creates equal rights. But if we compare these opportunities with the opportunities that banks have, they will be rather curtailed, ”Yuri Bakhtin noted.

In the opinion of the speakers, the role and format of access of non-banks to BOT will play a role.

“The European experience shows that non-bank financial service providers do not have direct access,” Podderegin said. “So far, in those concepts of implementation that were discussed at the stage of creating the law, they adopted a European approach to access to the BOT - through banks, through a payment account.”

He also noted that among the new challenges associated with the law is the need to ensure the minimum costs of banks when servicing financial companies in order to facilitate the entry into the payment market for the latter.

Alla Savyuk, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Financial Companies (VAFC), expressed concerns that financial companies may not fully realize new opportunities due to the need to conduct payment transactions through the SEP members (banks).

“For the full implementation of the innovations of the law, it is important that banks perceive Fintech companies as partners for the development of financial products, and not competitors in consumer lending. The potential for collaboration between banks and non-banks is enormous, "Savyuk emphasized.

Head of PrivatBank's merchant acquiring direction Sergey Makarenko predicts an increase in competition between national and foreign players.

“On the one hand, the law opens up opportunities for both local and global national companies. I don't know if this is good or not. Most likely, it is good, since there will be competition not only from local, but also from local and international companies. Who will be able to get access to all clients at one time? " - he asked a rhetorical question.

Among the concerns about the new law, the risk was voiced that the bank, referring to the requirements of financial monitoring, may refuse a financial company that will apply to open an account for its clients. However, according to Elena Soussedka, founder of the fintech ecosystem Concord Fintech Solutions , the fears are unfounded.

“I believe that the financial monetary of any bank can not only prohibit, but can also be business-oriented ... But this law allows Finns to directly connect to the processing and receive principals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (international payment systems) and not depend on the financial monetary of banks,” she said.

Crypto wallets, one-click payment and AI-based scoring are trending​

At the second panel discussion, participants discussed the factors determining the development of the industry.

“The financial literacy of the population is increasing, payments as such are pure commodity. Now the trend is not WHAT, but HOW to pay - that is, convenience, the presence of an ecosystem, all payments in one place, one-click payment. Everything is moving towards simplicity, convenience, high conversion. This trend will continue, ”said Dmitry Basov , CEO of Portmone.

“According to our data, the balances on the crypto wallets of one of the largest crypto exchanges are greater than the balance on the cards in Privat. This is the most solvent part of the population, and these wallets will go to retail, online, this is also a one-click payment, since you pay with one button, and money that goes to merchants, ”added Igor Bokiy, CEO of 4Bill .

Also, the participants in the discussion shared their views on what merchants choose - price or quality.

“There are clients for whom only the tariff is important, and you will not do anything - no matter what technologies you offer ... You should be calm about this and look for your clients. You need to define your business model: you are expensive, you work well and find customers who are interested in the service and who are willing to pay for it, or you save as much as possible and find yourself the same customers who are not ready to pay, but you don’t owe them anything ” , - noted Gela Slyusarchuk , SBDO / CMO PSP Platon.

“We give our clients an understanding of what is behind the figure,” says Dmitry Basov. - When a merchant says: is it possible to be cheaper? Of course. But we turn off this, this and this - and it will be cheaper. Most often, the answer is: wait, not so cheaper ... When the understanding comes: in order to reduce the price, you have to sacrifice something, the dialogue turns into a productive plane. "

“If you have large top players whose device prices are the same,” says Ivan Rengach , CTO LeoGaming , “then the person will pay on the site where the payment system will be available, which will work efficiently. If your merchant competes in the market with a pricing policy, of course, he concentrates on the price. He understands: if the client does not pay now, because the service is not available, he will come in 10 minutes, an hour, in the evening, tomorrow, because he will not buy anywhere cheaper ... Therefore, it is important to look at the merchant himself: he is interested in high-quality service or the lowest price, which he can get in the market. "

The trend that, according to experts, will definitely determine the future of fintech is constant technological improvement.

“We use machine learning to do completely different scoring ... We work out a scoring model in a split second. The system issues a loan every 18 seconds. It takes a maximum of 30 seconds to score one new client, ”said Alena Andronikova, CEO of Moneyveo .

“Every two years you offer something new to keep your margin. If you don't offer it, you will be swept away, ”sums up Anton Kostornichenko , commercial director of iPay.ua.

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TechFin Expert Summit is a good reason to get to know each other better​

Also during the event, market participants could tell their colleagues about their services. Thus, Oksana Babenko, Deputy Chairman of the Board of ConcordBank, shared the possibilities of invoicing to merchants in the MassPay billing platform. Ivan Renhach told how to combine such parameters as stability, speed, consistency in crediting funds. Denis Salun, co-founder of Cartsys, presented a solution that allows businesses to easily accept payments to POS terminals in a mobile phone. Elena Mironenko, Head of business development NeoFin, talked about how to create a product that covers the entire business process - from leads and registration of applications for a financial product to its redemption, collection.
Vladimir Kuyantsev, CEO of Akurateco, devoted his speech to the benefits that white label creates in IT (when a product is developed by one company and branded by another).

Dmitry Basov shared his thoughts on how innovative solutions, such as new online onboarding, which involves a full download of all documents in 4 minutes and 50 seconds instead of 3 days, can increase traditional indicators. And Olga Golikova, Head of Payments at Parimatch Tech, spoke about the metrics that merchants monitor, and also why it is important to develop the market, “invent new things, collaborate and move forward in terms of technology and financial services”.