Time Travelling Isn’t Always Fun: Why Are Cash and Cheques Still a Thing in France?
This article is part of the After Hours by RedCompass Labs series.
Where the best and brightest in the financial services industry tell what they really think about payments.
Finally… here I am, back in Paris after exactly 331 days! What I didn’t realize was that not only was I travelling back to my home country, but I was also going back in time! Indeed, somehow, I’d arrived back in the 90s, when people used to say things like ‘you can only pay with cash or cheque’. Cheque? This was tricky for me as these were the two means of payments I had decided to drop in my mid-twenties. As a result, I was forced to ask my dad for some blank cheques, like I did when I was 15.
But the worst thing happened when I tried to take the metro. I casually arrived at the gate, my phone in my hand, ready to tap to pay. And then a moment of panic gripped me. I couldn’t tap because in Paris paper tickets still prevail for non-season ticket holders. And, of course, the queue to buy a ticket was huge as it was the first day of the month when Parisians have to top up their monthly passes. Just one afternoon in Paris and I was already missing the innovative payments hub that London possesses.
As a coincidence would have it, this also happened to be the week of EBAday where some sessions explored the concept of smart cities and how the Internet of Things (IoT) payments would constitute a significant share of the overall volumes of daily payments made by the retail sector. This didn’t surprise me at all as after ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ my children learnt to say ‘Alexa’, while my four-year-old can also use Alexa to add items to my Ocado basket. To be fair, all the ingredients are now here for IoT payments to prosper:
I have not even mentioned yet the potential offered by blockchain and crypto wallets in this space. They could facilitate payment collections and supply chain management, with a machine paying on one end, and a machine processing the order right away on the other hand. You may think I am talking about a future that is very far away, but I am not. Visa announced that it is already partnering with over 50 crypto companies.
That got me thinking of the role of banks within this revolutionized ecosystem, particularly considering that most contacts between a bank and its customers happen through payments.* For me, the top three things for banks to consider are the following:
*During EBAday 2020, McKinsey mentioned that there are about 240 touchpoints between the customer and bank, and it all starts with payments.
Share this post
RedCompass Labs
Institutions have a short window to get ahead of market, technological and regulatory changes
Payments modernization is still manual. AI can change that, but only if we can prove it
Most payments modernization projects overrun, go over budget, and fail to deliver to the original spec.
Over half of banks have delayed or scaled back a project.
The articles you read, shared, and talked about most this year
Payments are evolving faster than many banks can respond
The gap between what banks need and what their payments platform delivers
Why does this happen?
From Open Banking and stablecoins to fair fees and faster access
We once trusted humans to type payments over telex.
The payments modernization is plagued by four systemic issues.
The payments industry is no stranger to transformation, and today...
AI helps banks modernize payments faster.
Europe adds payee checks to instant payments
Unlock the insights that will shape your AI strategy...
Gated content
