2012 has seen a huge number of new technology developments, products launched and exciting strategic partnerships. And, writes Sara Perria, the payments industry now has a great base to build on

The past 12 months have shown some clear trends: the industry believes in the future of mobile payments and is pushing to convince consumers of its value proposition. Governments in Asia and Africa are actively involved in the development of the infrastructure and telcos worldwide are aggressively moving into payments, challenging – as well as partnering with – banks.

The story of this technological advancement is not without drama, as the vulnerability of the Google Wallet has proven. Fraud statistics are still a cause for concern, and we are still far from convincing the majority of consumers to engage with new forms of payments. It is not by chance that Apple has adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach, deciding not to incorporate NFC technology in its latest model.

An insight into the development of electronic of payments in 2012 also shows the growing importance of cross border transactions in a global economy where the US dollar is retreating to make space for Renminbi and Rupees.

E-invoicing has continued to be a much-discussed topic but, as in the case of mobile payments, there is still a long way to go, with conversion costs the main barrier.

Across all these areas, one emerging theme is clear – the industry need to convince all parties involved of the advantages in order to reach better levels of adoption. However, the fact is that this year saw some highly significant first steps on that road.

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January 2012

Voice Commerce joins SWIFT

Google Wallet hit by vulnerability claims

February 2012

MasterCard Europe appoints former VocaLink CEO to lead UK and Ireland

Vodafone, Visa in global m-payment strategy

March 2012

People’s Bank of China enables RMB settlement

Apple receives patent for m-payments

April 2012

Google revamps wallet, acquires Txvia

India implements Government e-payment gateway

Nokia: US consumers not willing to pay by mobile

June 2012

PayPal brings in-store payment service to UK

China: Alipay authorised to process investment fund payments

iZettle raises $31.4m to fuel its global expansion

July 2012

EPC abandons SEPA e-Payment Framework draft

MasterCard, Deutsche Telekom partners on m-payments

August 2012

Google Wallet to support all cards and offer enhanced security

Singapore sees NFC smartphone launch

PayPal cuts merchant referral bonus programme

September 2012

EU approves Vodafone, Telefónica, Everything Everywhere JV

Hong Kong authority opens to NFC m-payments infrastructure

Square brings in $200m in funding

October 2012

FIS launches real-time payment network

ISIS goes live

EUR20bn potential loss with SEPA transition

PayPal partners with MoneyGram

November 2012

EC approves smartphone and tablet security JV

Moneygram to pay USD100m to settle wire fraud charges

Belgium fined by EU for failure to implement e-money Directive

December 2012

PayPal hacker found guilty