PayThink

While the primary focus for most credit card providers in March was on emphasizing fee forgiveness and payment deferral support, moving forward issuers need to focus on a mix of strategies to retain their cardholders' share of spend, says The Futurist Group's Demitry Estrin.

As Amazon and e-commerce companies in parallel broadened their adoption rates, they further trained consumers to expect a frictionless and speedy checkout process, says Grubbrr's Bhavin Asher.

The SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program is nearly depleted, but there are ways small banks and fintechs, with help from Congress, can remedy the situation.

The benefits of virtual payment cards go beyond replacing physical cards and eliminating social contacts. Payment vendors that manage these virtual cards can also create branded cards and portals for companies, says Berkeley Payments' Jonathan Hamburg.

The industry was already on a path toward increased digital services, but the global pandemic is showing why CUs need to speed up that process.

Unlike in 2008, banks have become a steady force during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the increase in online activity because of COVID-19, tracking down and investigating red flags might be more difficult given the volume of transactions on existing accounts, unless strict authentication measures are applied, says Giact's David Barnhardt.

As coronavirus puts parameters on how we interact with each other, instant issuance is more important than ever, says Matica's Paul Schwerdtfeger.

There is no doubt that many restaurants and merchants are struggling right now. But it makes no sense to hurt consumers and financial institutions by expanding failed policies like the Durbin Amendment, argues Jeff Tassey, chairman of the board for the Electronic Payments Coalition.

A combination of digital and cloud capabilities, data gathering and regulatory experience should give smaller banks an edge over nonbanks.