New Visa Study Reveals Increased Demand for Faster Payments

The world is progressively moving towards a more agile or real-time payments ecosystem. This has clearly been reflected in the preferences of consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s).

The study Faster Payments Landscape in Latin America, by Visa, conducted by Americas Market Intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean, reveals that 60% of consumers and SMEs in the regions surveyed would like to adopt faster payment methods.

According to the survey, 80% of respondents find the emergence of more agile methods a very attractive facility. Interest is greater among younger and lower-income consumers.

As for SMEs, 52% declare that they would probably adopt more agile means of payment if they had this option.

In addition, the study indicates that more than 30% of salary payments in the analyzed regions are made in cash.

However, 80% of people prefer to receive in another way. This highlights the need for an increasingly agile, modern payment infrastructure that meets the needs of workers.

“This is Visa’s first Latin American study aimed at examining the current status and opportunities for faster payments for consumers and SMEs. And the results are clear. Faster access to money for people and companies has become essential for maintaining survival conditions, making people’s lives even easier”, commented Romina Seltzer, Senior Vice President of Products and Innovation for Visa Latin America and Caribbean.

End of banknotes

Faster payments are already gaining ground in the region. But they are not limited to money transfers between people (P2P).

“We see that the trend towards faster payments in Latin America has been growing rapidly, which can help drive more efficient, seamless and digital-first ways for workers, businesses and consumers to access cash.”

As Visa pointed out, technological innovation creates the expectation that almost everything will be available in real time with ease.

In fact, the study reveals that immediate access to cash is the number one reason people want faster payments (47%).

The high probability of adopting fast payments is registered in all studied markets. This includes: Guatemala (91%), Mexico (69%), Colombia (63%), Peru (59%), Brazil (58%), Argentina (49%) and Chile (48%).

Finally, the study shows that 50% of these people received 10 or more payments in 2020. Still, 19% receive at least one payment per month. This corresponds to a population whose monthly family income depends on these receipts.