Banks have lost a quarter of the payments franchise to new players – BIS

Non-banks now account for a quarter of the institutions offering payment services or payment instruments, up from 14% in only six years, according to a fresh batch of statistics from the Bank for International Settlements –Finextra reports.

The data comes from the Basle-based BIS’s annual Red Book report on payments and financial infrastructures. It reveals increasing incursions by non-bank competitors into both retail and wholesale payments.

„The traditional bank-based ecosystem is being disrupted from below by fintechs and from above by well established big techs,” states the report. „When asked which financial products and services are most affected by technological developments and competition, banks often rank payments the highest – both today and over the next five years.”

Non-bank providers now account for 10% of direct participants in RTGS systems in jursidictions covered by the BIS-convened Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures. In contrast, non-banks accounted for only four percent in 2012.

The payments landscape continues to morph, says the BIS: „Driven by innovation and shifts in consumer preferences, new systems, new methods and new players are shaping the future of payments.”

The report also checks in on the drive towards a cashless society. It finds the value of card payments relative to GDP is increasing for all but a few CPMI jurisdictions. In contrast, the value of small-denomination notes and coins in circulation is either decreasing or flatlining.

At the same time, the use of large-denomination notes is generally increasing , even faster than that of small-denomination.

„Overall, this has meant that total cash in circulation has grown in most CPMI jurisdictions,” states the report. „For most countries, the cashless society, or even a „less cash” society, has yet to materialise. Sweden is the exception: there, cash in circulation is decreasing and mobile payments booming at the expense of card payments.”