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Global economic problems will cause pain for the payments industry through the whole of 2009, but opportunities will remain in emerging markets and other areas, according to payments executives who spoke Tuesday during the World Card Summit, part of the Cartes and Identification show in Paris. "We are going into a soft market in 2009," says Thomas Savare, CEO of France-based card vendor Oberthur Technologies, reflecting comments from most of the eight other executives on the panel, populated by card, chip and terminal vendors. He projected that banking and telecommunications are among the areas that will see slackened demand. Mobile operators in those sectors will grow cautious, affecting sales of subscriber identity module cards, which account for most smart-card shipments around the world. Sounding a more upbeat note, Olivier Piou, CEO of France-based card vendor Gemalto, a rival of Oberthur, says opportunities could come from bank mergers, which offer opportunities for rebranding of card bases, plus a continued push toward payments innovation. The situation "is much better than Thomas suggests," Piou says. Financial institutions will continue to boost anti-fraud efforts during the crisis, several executives pointed out, helping payments firms weather the bad economy. "The biggest driver will be security," says Douglas Bergeron, CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based payment terminal vendor Verifone Holdings Inc.. Emerging markets, which Bergeron says provide VeriFone with 50% of its business, will continue to buy terminals and related technology, providing an additional cushion. "Outside emerging markets, it will be tough," Bergeron says. None of the executives predicted an economic rebound before 2010, though only Bergeron was willing to predict the problems would last for five or six quarters. Savare, meanwhile, says he was "very bullish" about the long-term prospects of the industry.
