Challenges and Risk of Payment Complexity

If you pay for something with a banknote the transaction involves you and the merchant. With the arrival of cheques banks became involved. The credit and debit card required the four pillar model that remains the basic platform for most digital payments, involving four parties (issuer bank, acquirer bank, merchant and cardholder.

This four pillar model has at least six steps between the card being tendered and the transaction being completed.

Fintech solutions are designed to simplify payments, but as Chris Skinner’s recent blog reports, it is actually making the customer’s life more complicated1. Transactions are no longer transparent. It is hard to know what has happened and between whom. Which is fine so long as all has gone well.