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Free Mercator research series sums up 2014 financial services outlook

January 28, 2014

Will 2014 be a year of fundamental change in payments, or is the industry just tinkering with user interfaces on the fringes while addressing other issues?

This is the question posed in the final chapter of the Mercator Advisory Group series of free "viewpoint papers" on payments and banking in 2014. "Outlook for the 2014 Payments Landscape" offers insights on an industry facing a year of innovation, system re-evaluation and regulatory uncertainty.

This chapter in the "Outlook" series introduces five macro themes that will comprise key elements of the firm's research in 2014 and beyond:

• Mobile payments and digital wallet evolution — paths to consolidation;
• EMV implementation — effects on payments stakeholders;
• Emerging applications of analytics and big data — one-to-one marketing, fraud management, profitability management, and credit decisioning;
• New realities for payment networks — pricing regulation, new settlement networks, real-time clearing and settlement, national payment networks, and value-added services; and
• New customer experience at merchants — e-commerce, m-commerce, embedded payments, geo-location, loyalty reward delivery, and POS delivery.

Each of Mercator's seven advisory services presents a viewpoint paper covering its area of expertise — debit, credit, prepaid, commercial and enterprise payments, emerging technologies, banking channels, and international. All are available for free download at the Mercator website. 

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