The financial exclusion conundrum
The reasons behind financial exclusion can vary from living in poverty and/or in places with close to no access to the internet and digital services to being socially excluded by living in less favourable regions. Banks – and recently, fintechs – tried to fight against financial exclusion for quite some time and what we’ve noticed lately in terms of financial technology and innovation can help the payments industry to power up in enabling financial inclusion.
Tap to Phone to the rescue
Among the many initiatives that are trying to fight financial exclusion (among other hurdles), we must mention Visa’s Tap to Phone technology. Through this mobile payment solution, merchants can accept payments via their smart devices (phones or tablets). It allows us to gaze at a future of simplified payments by allowing retailers to get rid of costly and sometimes hard to maintain. traditional hardware for POS terminals.
Best of all, merchants are willing to upgrade as customers demand more. In a survey conducted by Visa, 63% of MSMs declared to be open to implementing Tap to Phone for their business while more than half of consumers who were surveyed would use Tap to Phone if they had the chance.
Although there are plenty of people that are lacking access to savings and credit, chances are that they possess a smartphone. According to McKinsey, digital finance could be the key to turning their lives around and allowing them to have brighter economic prospects – be them individuals, businesses, or even governments.
Financial inclusion addresses the developing world, and the mobile phone is the way to reach everyone.
The benefits of SoftPOS
Tap to Phone can be used to upgrade a merchant’s traditional POS system into one worthy of a future that enables financial inclusion for all. Through Paymob’s SoftPOS solution, for example, businesses of any size can start to benefit from enabling their customers to enjoy a quick and seamless checkout experience.
Through the SoftPOS system that features Visa’s Tap to Phone technology, merchants ride the contactless payments wave that took the industry by storm. They can accept payments via cards or QR codes at minimal costs and in a swift manner. The shopping experience of their customers can also be improved, as traditional POS solutions are often too immobile for on-the-go consumers.
Reduced costs would be another benefit of implementing a SoftPOS system. Merchants won’t have to invest in additional equipment or pay to maintain POS hardware. Usually, SoftPOS would target the small businessman or someone who does their trade on the go as they encounter a highly variable volume of transactions (delivery, food trucks, grocery stores and so on). Through SoftPOS a business isn’t limited to in-shop purchases, thus increasing the number of use cases.
Financial inclusion starts with the smallest business, it only requires a phone and an internet connection.