Focus
AI has become indispensable in everyday banking. High-quality payment data is critical for personalized experiences and efficient AI applications. Payment enrichment improves data quality and optimizes key processes.
8 July 2026 5 minutes
Talk
Helge Kraas, PPI AG, talks about artificial intelligence in payments. The focus will be on fraud detection, instant payments, e-invoices, Request to Pay, personalized financial services, regulation, financial crime and judicious AI decisions.
8 July 2026 9 minutes
Urs Bieri from the gfs.bern opinion research institute explains what has led to the broad acceptance of eBill. But there are demographic hurdles, as older people still prefer paper invoices. he is skeptical about cryptocurrencies.
8 July 2026 4 minutes
Professor Thomas Ankenbrand of the Lucerne University emphasizes the importance of security in payment solutions. In a study, his team shows that eBill scores well in all eleven criteria examined. The closed system of eBill avoids media breaks and thus makes fraud more difficult.
5 December 2024 4 minutes
In Switzerland, the outdated direct debit procedures LSV+ and BDD will be discontinued in 2028. Starting in 2025, eBill Direct Debit will be introduced as a new collection procedure to meet the increased digital requirements.
5 December 2024 5 minutes
Stay on top of the latest news and trends – delivered straight to your inbox.
Dive into the latest data on payment trends and consumer behavior.
Get a quick overview of the latest news and global trends impacting the payment sector.
The BIS, the bank of central banks, has conducted a study using millions of transaction records from the Central Bank of Malaysia to investigate how machine learning can detect anomalies in money transfers. Like the proverbial needle in a haystack, AI can effectively help identify suspicious activity in a large data set.
More information
The integration of AI and deep learning will affect the future of payment systems, including for cross-border transactions. Research suggests that AI promises greater efficiency, security, and compliance for traditional payment systems.
8 July 2026 3 minutes
The Center for Financial Studies estimates that the digital euro could cost eurozone banks up to 4.2 billion euros a year in payment transaction fees and up to 20 billion euros in additional funding costs.
Mergers and new technologies have made banks’ payment infrastructures more complex. Changes require planning and testing. New drivers such as ISO 20022 and instant payments often overwhelm systems. Regulators demand greater capacity and security.
8 July 2026 2 minutes
Digital wallets are becoming a central component of the digital ecosystem, offering convenience and ease of use. A study by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts has developed a taxonomy to categorize wallets according to different attributes and to analyze their diverse use cases. Banks should think strategically about how to integrate them or develop their own solutions.
Only one country operates both a CBDC and an instant payment system to increase financial inclusion and efficiency. However, different standards and technologies make interoperability difficult. Some countries are considering wholesale CBDCs instead.
Although the majority of specialists and managers surveyed at German banks expect the digital euro to be introduced by the end of the 2020s, 44% do not currently see any clear added value. This is the result of a new study conducted by ibi research at the University of Regensburg. Some 70% see instant payments as one of the biggest drivers of change, and 86% expect the use of wallets to increase significantly in the next two to three years.
In German e-commerce, high processing costs are incurred for some payment methods. On average, it costs 10 euros if something goes wrong during a purchase and payment process. One in twenty advance payment transfers and payments on invoice requires manual processing.
Nearly 90% of respondents believe that distributed ledger technology will be relevant to their company in the next three years – 17% also for use in payments and cash services. Embedded finance is also one of the biggest growth drivers, gaining the most ground since the survey was conducted a year ago.
Switzerland introduced instant payments in August 2024. In the SEPA area, initial coverage was 1% of payments; in Switzerland, it was over 95%. The fastest transaction in Switzerland takes only 1.6 seconds, whereas in SEPA it can take up to 10 seconds.
5 December 2024 2 minutes
According to Capgemini, instant payments will account for approximately 22% of global cashless payments by 2028. Brazil and India will lead the way. In its World Payments Report 2025, the consulting and services company also identifies wallet and P2P payments as important drivers. In the EU in particular, regulatory measures would drive the increasing interconnectedness and efficiency of the ecosystem, promote innovation, and protect consumers.
Switzerland uses bLink for the secure exchange of data between banks and fintechs. The EU is planning mandatory access to customer data with FiDA. The challenges here are data protection and acceptance. This could influence competition and put Switzerland under pressure.
Older people are increasingly using digital means of payment. In the DACH region, the use of contactless payments among people over 65 years of age rose to over 60% in 2023. The trend away from cash and toward digital payments is unstoppable worldwide, including among seniors.
“Model TWINT: Europe’s new payment platform.” – Headlines like this appeared in the Swiss media on the launch of the European payment system Wero. Without an IBAN, private customers will be able to send money in just a few seconds using their cell phone number or e-mail address. The system will initially work in Germany, France, and Belgium for P2P payments. From 2025, it should also be possible to pay online with Wero, and in stores from 2026.
Cash is becoming less important, but it still has a role to play. Since the number of ATMs in Switzerland is declining, pooling is a suitable solution for saving costs and ensuring access. Other countries, such as Sweden and Finland, are already successfully using pooling.
5 September 2024 2 minutes
The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), which came into force last year, will apply to crypto assets, including e-money tokens (ETMs), from 30 June 2024. ETMs include stablecoins. A number of fintech companies have already received an EU license to issue euro-denominated token money. Stablecoins from outside the EU/EEA that are not pegged to the euro will be subject to stricter rules. A cross-border customer approach, e.g., from Switzerland, would only be allowed under MiCAR in exceptional cases. Regulatory equivalence between Switzerland and the EU is not foreseeable at this time.
Embedded finance allows for the direct integration of financial services into other platforms, such as travel insurance when booking flights. This practice is gaining in importance worldwide. In Switzerland, it is not yet widespread, but could increase significantly in the near future.
The EBICS community in the DACH countries and France is driving forward the transnational standardization of the transmission protocol throughout Europe. The Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard (EBICS) enables secure data transfer between companies, banks, and other financial institutions via the internet – for payments as well as for securities and master data. The first drafts of the new generation of EBICS have now been published and show how the standard will be developed in the future from the customer’s point of view. All interested parties can provide feedback until 16 September 2024.
Central bankers like CBDCs, but the risks often outweigh the benefits. In Nigeria, a CBDC has failed despite high approval. In Canada and the EU, interest is low. In Japan and Switzerland, the people will ultimately decide on their introduction.
There is a wealth of research and discussion indicating that contactless POS payments (NFC) are no less secure than transactions with PIN entry. In its analysis, the Banque de France states that contactless payments are no riskier. The central bank draws this conclusion from the fraud rate for French cards, which is 0.011% for both payment methods.
Switzerland has developed SCION, a secure network architecture that is used by ETH Zurich, the SNB and SIX. SCION is also used internationally and is being reviewed by the IETF for standardization. It offers routing control and protection against cyber attacks.
6 June 2024 2 minutes
The Bank of central banks (BIS) is launching a significant project in collaboration with seven central banks, including the Swiss National Bank, and the private sector. The objective of this project is to investigate the potential benefits of integrating tokenized customer deposits at commercial banks with tokenized central bank money in order to enhance the functionality of the monetary system, with a particular focus on cross-border payments. A year ago, Swift demonstrated the feasibility of integrating cross-border transactions with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) into existing financial infrastructures in collaboration with central and commercial banks. Both BIS’s Agorá project and Swift’s CBDC connector are independent initiatives pursuing similar goals. It is unclear whether there is coordination or at least an exchange of information between the two projects to create synergies.
The CBDC adoption is progressing worldwide. 134 countries are evaluating central bank digital currencies, including 19 G20 countries. Challenges remain in the US, where development has stalled. Despite the hurdles, CBDCs appear to be playing a sustainable role in the financial system.
The research also found that cash is the most expensive means of payment, followed by credit and debit cards.
Decentralized financial services (DeFi) enable financial transactions without intermediaries through smart contracts. Although turnover is still small and volatile, DeFi has great potential. Regulatory approaches vary worldwide, with Switzerland taking an open approach.
In a recent study, the Deutsche Bundesbank examines the future use of cash. The central bank warns that access to and acceptance of cash would not be fully guaranteed in two of the three payment worlds outlined and that the stabilizing function of cash would be jeopardized in times of crisis.
A study shows that the rules of financial intermediaries strongly influence the use of payment technologies. The increase in the maximum amount for contactless payments from CHF 40 to 80 during the COVID pandemic led to an increase in usage, especially among already active users.
8 March 2024 2 minutes
Three eras have shaped payment transactions. Paper-based transactions with cash, checks, and bank credit transfers until the 1960s, then plastic with physical cards, and finally account-to-account payments since the 1990s. According to a new McKinsey white paper, we are on the cusp of a fourth: the “decoupling” of the value chain. This is characterized by the fact that payments are increasingly decoupled from accounts. Banks will no longer be able to rely solely on the account ownership paradigm. They will have to build new business areas to keep customers in their service ecosystem. The new era will be even more reliant on technology, providing banks with numerous opportunities for innovation, differentiation, and growth.
The EU Commission has presented new rules for instant payments that also affect Switzerland. Service providers must offer instant payments around the clock, fees must not be higher than for other transfers, and daily sanctions list checks are required.
Assuming a tenfold increase, annual CO₂ emissions could be reduced by more than half, according to a new study. This is equivalent to the amount of CO₂ produced by approximately 120 million kilometers driven by cars today.
International standardization is crucial for secure online identification. SASFS supports the development of the “Protected Confirmation” security feature for digital identity wallets. A pilot test with the UBS Access app was successful.
More than 90 Swiss financial institutions support the EBAS portal of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). This underlines the importance of the portal as a trusted source of information on secure online banking. Practical tips on data protection and online courses are aimed at the general public and SMEs. In addition, the HSLU offers training courses on IT security with a focus on e-banking for customer advisors and helpdesk staff at banks.
Pay apps are a growing source of fraud. Behavioral biometrics is designed to help detect and prevent fraud. This technology analyzes user behavior for authentication. The market for behavior-based biometrics will grow to over $9 billion by 2032.
5 December 2023 2 minutes
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has various monetary policy instruments at its disposal to manage the liquidity banks in Switzerland. These include repo transactions, the intraday facility, and the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), which involve covering cash amounts to banks with securities. For some time now, the SNB has been able to provide liquidity to systemically important banks in Switzerland against mortgage collateral. In the event of a crisis, the SNB can now provide liquidity to any bank at very short notice by taking over mortgages and the associated electronic mortgage notes.
A smart banknote combines physical and digital money. It feels like a normal banknote, but can be transferred to a wallet by scanning a QR code. This hybrid form of money was developed by Orell Füssli and could offer an alternative to CBDCs.
The major issuing banks, Viseca and SIX, have founded the association “SwissDebitPay” as a counterpart to the Swiss Payment Association (SPA, for credit cards) in order to effectively represent the interests of the card-issuing banks vis-à-vis political decision-makers, retailers, the media, and the public.
On 10 July 2023, the EU Commission adopted the new data protection framework with the US. This is intended to restrict the access of secret services to personal data. US companies can obtain certification. Switzerland is negotiating its own data protection agreement.
What do the trends open banking, embedded finance, and banking-as-a-service mean for the value chain of banks? The new whitepaper from SIX sheds light on emerging business models and their significance for the competitiveness of the Swiss financial center using practical examples.
Swift improves payment processing by providing pre-validation to help avoid errors. Banks can compare transaction data with previous reports to prevent delays. This enables smooth, error-free payments and increases payment processing efficiency.
6 September 2023 2 minutes
In July 2023, the US Federal Reserve launched its FedNow Service. Financial institutions can use a new RTGS system to process customer payments in the United States as instant payments.
The IBAN requirement simplifies and standardizes payment transactions, increasing security and transparency. Since 2016, SEPA payments have only been possible with IBAN. Switzerland is also moving to IBAN-only for more efficient payments.
In its recently published blueprint for the future monetary system, the bank of central banks BIS speaks plainly. The decentralized world of cryptocurrencies is a flawed system, it says. According to the BIS, this is evidenced by the “collapse of cryptocurrencies” and the stalled progress of other tokenization projects. It argues for a new type of financial market infrastructure: a unified ledger that captures central bank money, tokenized deposits, and assets on a single programmable platform.
The fight against fraud is one of the most pressing issues in Europe, and checking the IBAN and the name of the beneficiary party will soon be a must.
The introduction of instant payments requires additional verification requirements such as IBAN matching and sanction screening. Fees must not be higher than for traditional transfers. Retail chains and big techs will be the main beneficiaries. Banks will need to reposition themselves.
1 June 2023 2 minutes
Central banks and major banks, including UBS, successfully tested a new API-based solution from Swift. It enables digital central bank currencies to be seamlessly deployed on existing financial infrastructures and to process cross-border transactions in more than 200 countries.
Today, 25% of EU banks are reachable for SEPA Instant Payments. The EU Commission plans to make this mandatory for all payment service providers. Challenges include money laundering prevention and beneficiary party confirmation.
The European Payments Initiative (EPI), originally intended to compete with Visa and Mastercard with a pan-European card, has scaled down its ambitions. The project now focuses on a digital wallet and instant payments. For example, EPI has developed a complete payment process that enables instant payments in retail.
The Central Bank of Brazil is set to launch a suite of tests for its CBDC with a focus on privacy and security.
The Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), UBS, and Google are working on the standardization of a new security function for mobile devices that will go beyond the financial sector. BFH has made an APC Demo App available in the Play Store, which can be used to test the security function on a Google Pixel device. UBS plans to pilot the security feature in its UBS Access App this summer. The new technology makes it easy to use security-critical applications in a secure environment – for example, for confirming financial transactions.
The EPC has published the SEPA Payment Account Access Scheme Rulebook to promote open finance in Europe. It contains API-based rules to facilitate data exchange between banks and third-party providers and defines premium payment services beyond PSD2.
15 March 2023 2 minutes
Further information
The payment process is like an iceberg: at the top, the simple use of cards/apps; at the bottom, complex processes. According to a Worldline study, this gap is widening as a result of digitalization. Innovation is needed to create simple, secure and automated payment solutions.
The Swiss Confederation has added eBill and Instant Payments in its "Digital Switzerland Strategy" action plan. It is binding for the Federal Administration and serves as an orientation for all other stakeholders involved in digitalization.
PhonePe is the most popular mobile payment app in India, similar to TWINT in Switzerland. It uses the UPI infrastructure, which processed over 7.8 billion transactions in December 2022. India plans to expand UPI internationally to facilitate payments and money transfers.
With the rise of stablecoins and their potential impact on financial stability, global economies and the Financial Stability Board urge updates to standards. CPMI and IOSCO published guidelines for applying FMI principles to systemically important stablecoin arrangements.
7 December 2022 2 minutes
Fintech Early Warning Services – a company owned by seven of the largest US banks – is taking on Apple Pay and PayPal. It plans to launch a digital wallet for its owners later this year.
Despite the digitalization and innovation in payment transactions over the past few years, cross-border payments remain expensive, slow, and non-transparent. The G20 has therefore launched a multiyear program with 19 building blocks to enhance cross-border payments.
Matthias has held various roles at Zürcher Kantonalbank as product and project manager for payments, cards, and TWINT and has been a member of the Board of Directors of SIC Ltd since 2017.
Financial institutions across Europe are exploring how to maximize the potential of instant payments and enhance customer experiences. Multinational corporations believe that "request to pay" could be the solution, adding value for both consumers and companies.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is currently testing central bank digital currency in euro. Amazon, CaixaBank, Nexi, Worldline, and the European Payments Initiative are participating in the prototype. Initial results are expected in the first quarter of 2023.
For eight months, Swift has interlinked various digital currencies from central banks (CBDCs). The tests show that a global CBDC network works and can be connected to existing payment systems. The German and French central banks as well as HSBC, Standard Chartered, and UBS took part in the experiment.
The service is scheduled to go live in 2023.
Engage in technical deep dives with payment experts and thought leaders.
8 July 2026
6 minutes
4 minutes
5 December 2024
5 September 2024
2 minutes
5 minutes
3 minutes
6 June 2024
8 March 2024
5 December 2023
6 September 2023
1 June 2023
15 March 2023
7 December 2022
Explore cultural and historical perspectives on payment methods.
Check out our archive of all PAY issues!
PAY NEWSLETTER
Join our community and never miss an update!
Categories