Technological Breakthroughs in Financial Services: Payment Services, BNPL, and CBDCs

This chapter explores some technological breakthroughs in financial services since the 2008 credit crunch. Intriguingly, no aspect of the financial services value chain, i.e., payment, loans and advances, and deposits, is spared in this technological revolution. Payment services have witnessed most of these innovations. Attributable to the increasing consumer demand for faster payment services, which attracted the attention of other service providers. This renewed interest in payment services has resulted in highly competitive financial services with an attendant impact on the banks’ margins. Some innovations in the payment service industry discussed are Mobile payment, Mobile Wallets, Online Payment, Debit/Credit Cards, and Cross-border payment. Also, the chapter briefly examines Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services offered by retail giants and the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a low-cost payment digital currency backed by Central banks. The chapter further explores how financial institutions develop strategic alliances around payments, loans and advances, and deposit services with other service providers.