Opinions

The industry can gain lifelong members in this demographic by validating their financial concerns as the economy struggles and offering guidance without judgment.

The service signals the start of a broader shift in retailers directly challenging Amazon and threatening the platform as a shopper's default choice, says Bolt's Greg Greiner.

While validating the card itself can protect merchants from accepting fraudulent cards at the point of sale, it does not protect the actual data on the card itself from being intercepted in the POS device, says Bluefin's Rustin Miles.

The trends were already pushing new payment experiences, which now seem less futuristic, says VeriTran's Omar Arab.

The threat has been exacerbated during the pandemic, as shelter in place orders forced consumers inside and businesses to close their physical doors, while simultaneously opening online ones, says Sift's Kevin Lee.

Facebook's size and aggressive moves into mobile wallets and stablecoins pose a formidable threat to other big technology companies and traditional payment networks, says Intrepid Ventures' Eric Grover.

For suppliers, getting paid by card is the fastest way to get their money in the bank. On the buyer’s side, virtual cards are the most secure payment method, and they can also generate rebates, says Nvoicepay's Kristin Cardinali.

The ongoing pandemic and economic crisis should accelerate the adoption of payments as a service, APIs and open banking, says AFEX Americas' Christian Spaltenstein.

Many companies seek ways to maintain their payments and collections functions centrally when expanding overseas, whether regionally or globally wherever possible, to avoid fragmented processes and technology, says Standard Chartered's Tarek Elyafi.

Embedded finance isn't new, but the influence of online payments and banking creates vast new scale, says Kunai's Sandeep Sood.