Page 55 - TIC_Content-Portfolio
P. 55
The explosive growth of technology and While innovative new technologies must
the numerous launches by established always be welcomed, one should also
players and newcomers is veritably ensure that these do not make consumers
causing confusion in the minds of ordinary uncomfortable. At a time when gullible
consumers, especially in India. customers have been ripped off by
fraudsters, one of the main concerns is
Safety, security and stability are the sine
qua non for the banking (and payments) about the security of the new systems.
sector anywhere in the world. The Fintech should create convenience for
proliferation of new payments consumers. Not confusion.
technologies can bewilder consumers not
just from the lower or middle-income Consumers must be cautious of the
segment, but even sophisticated and high- “problem of plenty”
end customers.
Another problem that I foresee, especially
In India and elsewhere we’ve seen a spate in the case of digital wallets, is of
of new announcements relating to consumers falling prey to offers. Many
payments systems. Bitcoin-based consumers opt for wallets that are specific
technologies (including blockchains), P2P to a single service provider; once they buy
(peer-to-peer) lending, digital wallets, a product or service, they forget the small
payments banks, unified payment sums that are left behind in the wallets.
interface and so on.
Some consumers tend to open wallets on
the fly and possibly forget it after a while,
not realising that they’ve left behind
money. Chances are that if you open too
many digital wallets, you may leave small
amounts in them, but they add up to large
sums over a period of time.
This is comparable to a consumer opening
too many bank accounts and leaving
behind small sums. However, the
relationship with a bank is more durable.
It is also safer to open a bank wallet, as the
money will be within the eco-system and
the consumer will not possibly forget that
it is there.
So a word of caution to the average
consumer: be careful while taking to new
technologies; keep track of your money
(even small sums) and be sure that you
will use the payment system consistently.
