As one report from Rigo on the rise of family digital wallets suggests, financial institutions should set their sights on offering a specialised digital wallet focused on helping consumers manage their childrens’ finances, Karine Martinez, Head of Sales at Edenred Payment Solutions, looks at what else is on the horizon for mobile and digital wallets.
Digital wallet use has been on a steady upward trajectory, with figures from Juniper Research suggesting the total number of digital wallet users will exceed 5.2 billion globally in 2026, up from 3.4 billion last year.
Use of PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay are all on the rise, but it’s been noted that these popular tools lack the functionality to help consumers manage their families’ finances, or help parents monitor, control and guide spending activity.
There’s certainly a gap in the market for this capability, and it’s exactly the kind of innovation we pride ourselves on delivering: digital banking products that enable greater financial inclusivity, facilitate convenience, and boost user engagement.
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I think digital wallets aimed at families will emerge in the near future, just one of many developments that will continue to drive uptake of this technology.
Super wallets
A single-function app approach is already starting to feel outdated. As consumer continue to expect a one-stop-shop payment experience, adding financial offerings that go beyond facilitating payments will become the norm.
The result will be more financial super apps, or super wallets, each a connected ecosystem where users can manage payments, savings, investments, crypto, budgets, loans, insurance, and more, in one place.
Looking further ahead, I think the next step for the financial super app will be to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and elevate these platforms from tools that hold money, to AI-powered financial assistants that help users make smart decisions about their money.
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Crypto wallets
But as we know, dealing in cryptocurrency comes with risk, including price volatility, technical complexity and governance, keeping the private keys safe and protecting them from hackers.
Currently, a hardware wallet device is the most secure option. Unlike digital wallets, which are connected to the internet and vulnerable to hacking, a hardware wallet holds private keys on a secure physical device that’s not connected to the internet.
But crypto wallets are constantly evolving regarding their security features and technology, creating a growth opportunity in the market. Software wallets are already protected with cybersecurity measures like two-factor authentication and cryptography which make it difficult for hackers, and here again, AI is being utilised.
More than ever, consumers demand seamless, digital financial experiences. This expectation is driven by ever-more sophisticated technologies, such as automation, AI and the cloud. This, combined with the complex regulatory landscape, means now is the perfect time for our business to better support the market by aligning our products and services for maximum impact under our new brand: Edenred Payment Solutions.
At Edenred Payment Solutions, we can provide our customers with an even more robust, yet simplified suite of solutions, that will enable them to create unique products and services for end-users.
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