Payments Analytics for Gateways and Acquirers

Payment analytics is the process of collecting, storing and analysing data on payment transactions to gain insights and improve the payment process. This can include data on transaction volumes, payment failure rates, customer behaviour, and more. By analysing this data, payment gateways and acquirers can identify trends and patterns that can help them optimise their services and improve the customer experience.

3DS1 sunset is approaching fast

From October 15th the major card networks will sunset the usage of 3DS 1.0 and will only support EMV 3DS 2.1 or higher protocols. To make sure merchants stay competitive they need to upgrade to 3DS 2.2. This will lead to improved security and a better payment experience for their customers. Also, it will bring merchants the benefit of better protection against fraud and chargebacks, and decreased cart abandonment. 

The secret to a higher risk appetite while safeguarding your MIDs and lowering the chargeback costs

Managing their chargeback ratio is one of the biggest concerns for online merchants. The card schemes monitor merchants’ chargeback ratios, and a warning goes out when the merchants and acquirers exceed a certain threshold. First, the merchants get a fine or get submitted to a chargeback mitigation program. Ultimately, the merchants risk losing the MIDs and stopping their credit card processing. But before that happens, chances are that the acquirer has stepped in and frozen the MIDs, effectively halting the merchants from doing any transactions.

Payment priorities for the forex industry

In this blog, we will discuss the various solutions that Forex brokers need to look for when considering which payment gateway to partner with. Huge transaction volumes for the Forex industry attract fraudsters trying to take advantage of non-secure payment processes. Additionally, the Forex market experiences a substantial level of chargebacks. This is one of the reasons why card schemes consider the Forex industry as high-risk. Hence, it is of utmost importance that Forex brokers establish a partnership with a payment gateway provider that understands the market and the concerns of the participants within the industry.

An introduction to 3DS Exemptions

Ease of use and better security are two of the most essential characteristics for an online payment transaction. Keeping this in mind, SCA i.e, the Strong Customer Authentication, which came into force from January 2021 in the EU and was enforced in the UK by March 2022, provides a principle mechanism that works on ‘establishment of trust’. It incentivises the merchants to improve the transaction rate and volume related to their customers, which would decrease the number of requisite authentication steps in the said process.

All you need to know about Tokenisation

To put it simply, tokens are randomised values that stand in for important pieces of information like a person’s social security number. All the while, the original sensitive data is stored safely outside the business’ internal systems.

An interesting way to understand this is by viewing tokens similarly to poker chips. Instead of having a ton of cash piled up on a table, players use poker chips. If stolen, these chips can’t be used as money in the real world; they can only be used when exchanged for their representative value. Tokenisation removes the valuable data from your current environment (like removing cash from the poker table), stores it in a secure cloud environment separate from your business systems (the chip dealer), and replaces it with tokens (gives players poker chips instead).

All you need to know about payment orchestration

Payment orchestration platforms (POPs) aim to merge the many fragmented layers of payments, such as payment service providers (PSPs), acquirers, banks, risk management, analytics, and regulatory compliances into a single ecosystem. To put this in simpler words, payment orchestration platforms are essentially in charge of executing every part of the payment processing cycle from validation to routing to settlement with the use of the latest technology and innovations in the field. They take care of all the complexities of payment processing, allowing merchants more time to focus on their core business.

Trends in Global Payments for 2022

As we enter this new year still in the midst of a pandemic, it is vital for payment companies to foresee digital payment trends and plan ahead of time. The best way to predict customer patterns and preferences is to follow the current economy, the pandemic and of course innovations in digital payments. However, with the abundance of new payment tools, regulations and financing options it can be overwhelming to plan one’s next move for both merchants as well as payment companies. So we’ve broken down the most relevant changes and digital payment trends we expect to see in the payment industry this year.

The Future of iGaming Payment Processing – How your company can adapt to it.

It is a known prerogative that companies in the iGaming industry operate in an extremely competitive market, where no base can be left uncovered. Swift, hassle-free, and secure payment solutions form the fundamental structure of iGaming platforms and therefore, they have been at the forefront of innovation in the same. In the following article, we look at some of the most interesting developments in the iGaming industry’s payment processing that pave the path for the future along with certain challenges that might come in the way. 

Traditional Banks vs. Modern Fintechs

With the advent of technology, there have been path-breaking innovations in nearly every existing sector and the financial realm is no exception. One of the most prevalent results of this innovation is the rise of modern fintech firms that are catering to a wide range of customers with the provision of streamlined financial services, backed by the latest technology. The following article analyses the possible competition between the said traditional banks and modern fintechs – Are they “really” competing or can they join forces to build a more robust financial services sector?

Difference between a payment gateway and payment processor

Before we delve into the specifics, it is essential to understand how an online payment is completed to better understand the role of each component involved. There are essentially five parties involved in such transactions. These are –

•   The merchant – Offers a service or a product that the potential customer would be willing to pay for. The relationship between the merchant and a customer willing to pay for a product can be understood as the starting point for an online payment transaction.
•   The customer – The next party is the customer themselves. They would initiate a transaction of an over-the-web purchase by specifying or choosing the products/services they are willing to pay for. This shall be followed by them entering the requisite payment information.

How We Built WLPayments With Interns

As a startup, we expect things to be accomplished in a matter of hours and days instead of weeks and months; to be faster and more efficient at everything we do. Interns are in the learning phase of their career, transitioning from academics to the professional world. They are hungry to learn and grow. Hence, we found that hiring interns was the best way to grow our team and cultivate a culture that promotes quick learning and creativity. Millennials, when guided in the right direction, can quickly acquire new skills, apply them in short timeframes, and adapt to fast-changing situations.

Six Payment Priorities for the iGaming Industry

In our previous blog, we explored the importance of fraud mitigation for payments in the iGaming industry. However, it is important to stress that implementing fraud prevention tools alone are not enough. Fraud management must work alongside efficiency-boosting solutions to make sure that a seamless payment experience goes hand in hand with strong compliance. Hence this blog will discuss the various payment solutions and features that are important complements to anti-fraud solutions in the iGaming industry. 

Efficient Payment Fraud management in the iGaming space

The most important component of any iGaming business is to have fast and safe payment transactions. Because the main crux of these games is to make money, examples of which are poker, casino games, bingo, lottery, sports betting, etc. If one were to observe the largest iGaming markets, such as the UK, Italy and Sweden, one would see how highly competitive the industry is. With a structural change taking place in the United States, analysts at Goldman Sachs predict domestic iGaming market size growth from $1.5B today to $14B in 2033 (27% CAGR vs 18% E-Commerce benchmark). The Financial Times reported that the US States started to legalize sports betting, with New York being the largest state that has recently done so, and Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania becoming one of the largest markets in the world on their own. However, these substantial market growth rates have also attracted the attention of cybercriminals.  

Payment innovations in the Online Dating space

Back in the day, people only got to interact with new people through friends, family, their university, job, or some other such intermediary. However now, more and more people are beginning to find their significant other through the internet! To be more specific, on dating apps. These apps have completely transformed the way we find love, as made evident by their rapidly growing popularity. The projected revenue for the dating app market is US$ 3.241 billion in 2021. Like any other industry in this era, innovation is a necessity- dating apps must constantly look to update their services and technology if they want to remain competitive. While some dating apps are free with paid add-on features, others run on a subscription-based model. There are several advantages and disadvantages to both models, but neither is exempted from the need to keep up with payment trends.  

Payment innovations in the Crypto Currency space

Given the ever-evolving nature of the crypto ecosystem, crypto merchants may struggle to grow and expand while managing to remain competitive. They are faced with various challenges while expanding, such as preventing fraud, integrating new payment methods, removing frictions from the customer experience etc. This is why partnering with the right payment platform that offers the latest innovative payment solutions is crucial for the long-term success of a crypto company. This blog aims to explore the various payment innovations crypto companies should look out for and how these solutions can benefit them. 

2020 – A year of digital payments

This month marked the one-year anniversary of coronavirus lockdowns in most European countries. Since then, we had to change the way we interact, work and even pay. As a payments company, the latter is an especially interesting topic for us to address. Therefore, in this blog, we will take a look at how the coronavirus impacted peoples’ payment habits and whether these changes are long-lasting. Namely, with the pandemic’s end in sight, one needs to consider which consumer preferences and payment trends are here to stay and will become part of the new normal. 

Pay-by-Link: All You Need to Know

The ultimate goal of payments is to provide customers with a secure and frictionless checkout experience, while also increasing the merchant’s conversion rates. Pay-by-Link accomplishes this by providing shoppers with an alternative, quick payment option. Thus, it is essential to understand how Pay-by-Link works as it can provide immense benefits to merchants in any industry. 

Frictionless 3DS2.2 Implementation- The Solutions

In the first part of our blogs about 3DS2 implementation (which you can find here), we discussed the key challenges and the importance of a good 3DS2 implementation. In this blog, we will turn to the solutions and take a closer look at what can be done to ensure smooth implementation. 

Frictionless 3DS2.2 Implementation- The Challenges

The recent deadline for PSD2’s SCA implementation has been making headlines for quite some time now. Surely, this is a significant regulatory development in the market. However, the noteworthy amount of attention it has received can also be attributed to the arising issues of 3DS2 implementation. Although, transitioning to 3DS2 brings many new benefits when compared to 3DS1, its implementation can be cumbersome and present many challenges in itself. So let us now take a look at these key challenges and discuss the importance of a frictionless 3DS 2 implementation. 

Using Payment analytics and insights to grow your business

Now more than ever, organisations have access to large amounts of data that can be leveraged to their advantage. This age of big data and analytics has allowed merchants to make more strategic and informed operational decisions. However, the domain of payments has often been sidelined in the optimisation of data. While investing in analytics for areas such as marketing is more common, one should not underestimate the potential impact of payment data and insights. Given the growth in online transactions, now is the perfect time to learn how to use in-depth reporting features for online payments. This will enable merchants to not only significantly reduce their costs but also generate higher revenues. Let us take a look into how this is achieved. 

Most popular payment methods in LATAM

Although Latin America does not have the largest e-commerce market, valued at only 200 billion, it is certainly an interesting market to explore. In fact, according to the EBANX study, LATAM is the second fastest-growing e-commerce market in the world, surpassed only by the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, it presents a huge growth opportunity for forward-looking businesses and makes for an interesting territory to explore in our “Most Popular Payment Methods” series. 

Multi Acquirer v/s Single Acquirer: Which to choose?

An acquirer specific approach is more of a traditional approach. It entails working with a single acquirer and often the merchant’s relationship with the gateway makes this mandatory. Specifically, the gateway will route all the transactions to this single acquirer with which it has partnered. Though many times well equipped in providing merchants with an efficient Payment Orchestration layer, acquirer specific gateways are highly incentivised not to do so.

6 things you need to know about payment integrations

Since many participants are involved in online transactions, quality integrations are vital in setting up a successful payments strategy.

Chetan Chadha is leading the Integration Team at WLPayments. His team is responsible for integrating with different merchants, acquirers, alternative payment methods, and other third-party solution providers. The team is well revered and respected in the industry for carrying out integrations of the highest quality and speed. We interviewed Chetan to give us more insight on this topic, and here is what he had to say:

Things to consider when expanding to different countries

As the economy becomes more digital and interconnected across borders, the trend towards global eCommerce steadily grows. Merchants are looking for new ways to build trust among their global audiences, who demand fast, reliable, and accessible payments. While on the surface this process may seem simple, a lot of effort actually goes into optimizing cross-border transactions. Namely, this entails adding local payment methods, a robust fraud solution, integrating with multiple acquirers, and setting aside time for cumbersome reconciliation. 

Most popular payment methods in the Nordics

The Nordic countries in Europe are widely recognized as being extremely modern and digitally savvy nations. In fact, a popular opinion in the payments space is that the Nordic countries will become the first “cashless” societies, clearly conveying the importance of digital payments in the region. This is also illustrated by the fact that 84.65% of Swedes shop online, making it the number one e-commerce embracing population in the world. According to the same report,  Norway ranks as the second largest e-commerce market in terms of revenue per shopper. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Nordics are an attractive region for cross-border merchants and knowing about the local payment methods is imperative for expanding into these digital nations. 

Split Payments; Going Dutch

Considering the recently increasing shift from physical to online stores, customers are looking for ways that allow them to pay for their individual share when making a group purchase. In particular, when contributing towards gifts or group travel, the cost may be too hefty for any one individual to carry alone. Hence it’s essential for merchants to implement a way that allows dividing payments for a single transaction among multiple people. This is where our innovative solution comes into play- Split Payments; Going Dutch.  

5 Key Steps to facilitate the security of a payment platform

WLPayments, a trusted white-label global payment platform, allows merchants to run and manage a platform without the complexity of building the infrastructure themselves. Besides providing many conversion-boosting solutions, one critical feature of our payment gateway is its security. Due to the high interest in providing a secure payment process, we recently interviewed Lovepreet Singh, the Infrastructure Lead, to discuss the challenges of maintaining and securing a payment platform’s infrastructure.

What you should know about Intelligent Transaction Routing (ITR)

In 2021, e-commerce is predicted to account for 18.1% of the global retail sales, one of the highest percentages in a single year, according to Statista. As international e-commerce offers many opportunities for global business expansion, it also presents a highly competitive market. Optimizing payment success rates, decreasing the cost of transactions, and maintaining redundancy during the payment process are just a few challenges that any online merchant might face. One solution is the use of Intelligent Transaction Routing (ITR), a technology of growing interest in the last few years.

WLPayments adds 10 new processors within 4 months

In WLPayments has achieved a significant milestone in providing merchants with a complete acquirer agnostic payment gateway platform. The company has integrated the following global processors to their payment gateway solution:

GDPR 101: The Basics

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, Europe’s new framework for data protection laws. GDPR emphasizes on responsible handling of personal data by companies and authorities in order to protect citizens’ privacy and personal data from misuse or exploitation. It replaces the previous 1995 Data Protection Directive. The Data Protection Directive wasn’t written with the contemporary uses of data enabled by the internet and services – such as Facebook and Google – in mind, therefore it is now replaced by GDPR. GDPR emphasizes on the handling of personal data, and focuses on designs that center around data subjects.
It will cover all EU and non-EU companies, organisation that process European citizens’ data.