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PARIS—The global recession likely will permanently reshape key aspects of the payment card industry, members of a payment-industry executive panel said Tuesday during a roundtable discussion here at the Cartes & IDentification show. Most panelists agreed the worst effects of the economic downturn are abating, and there is room for cautious optimism on various fronts in 2010. "Let's face it, there has been a significant banking crisis and steep cutbacks," said Ken Howes, director of consultancy at Edgar, Dunn & Co. and the moderator of the World Card Summit. As a result, card-industry executives now must "prioritize" their new-technology development efforts around fewer initiatives versus the previous plethora of diverse concepts, he said. Several panel participants agreed that the economic downturn has fundamentally changed the direction of new card-technology development. Josh Peirez, group executive of innovative platforms at MasterCard Worldwide, suggested the recession helped the industry to clarify its objectives. "The (economic) crisis has forced us all to be a little bit smarter about where we invest our dollars," he said. "We were reminded that, above all, the products we develop must be absolutely relevant to consumers—the easiest, most usable concepts." While noting that "economically things have begun to turn around globally," Elizabeth Buse, global head of product at Visa Inc., said the mainstream credit card market "may never be the same again" compared with its pre-recession growth. Credit card purchase volumes generally declined throughout the downturn, while debit card volume rose, Buse noted, adding she expects future card-industry growth to come from "new (consumer) constituents" who will use debit, e-commerce and mobile transactions more heavily. Such growth gradually will supplant consumers' existing cash and check transactions worldwide, Buse said. "There is a tremendous opportunity in our business to penetrate new and emerging markets" with new payment technologies, she said.
