A perfect storm of economic pressures – increasing inflation, supply chain chokeholds, and soaring energy costs – is putting more strain on everyone. Along with the urgent need to cut costs, social disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic, global instability, conflict and climate disasters are all widening the gap of financial inequality.
Against this backdrop, the quest for greater financial literacy and inclusion becomes more important than ever before, across societies, countries and industries. The shocking statistic that only one-third of adults globally are financially literate, according to a recent study from Standard & Poor, is unacceptable. When people are held back from participating in the financial system, economies can’t grow, and society as a whole suffers.
For many people, financial resilience comes from being able to understand the complexities of financial systems. Understanding is the first step to building the knowledge of how payment tools can positively impact their own lives and ability to pay for items that are needed. With that knowledge, people can have the confidence to make financial decisions with conviction.
With the European Union having set out its financial competence framework in January 2022, there is a clear need – and a growing movement – to empower people around the world to engage with money, payments and personal finance with confidence to lessen the gap between the financially resilient and the financially fragile. In an uncertain world, I strongly believe that the payments sector has a critical role to play in this movement for better financial awareness.
The payments sector is driving technology innovation
Establishing a diverse, dynamic and ever-evolving global payments ecosystem will ultimately create more options for people to engage with and understand money in a way that works for them, thus increasing financial resilience.
As the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of one of Europe’s leading payment processors, I know first-hand that offering a wide range of payment options significantly increases the number of people who can participate in their economies. For example, by the end of 2022, the number of users in digital wallets is expected to reach around 3.6 billion worldwide – equivalent to almost half of the world population. When you consider emerging markets where there is a lack of access to formal banking services, mobile wallets can be a lifeline for people traditionally excluded from mainstream, modern finance.
~Novel Serialisation: Heavens Fire~
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of companies like Enfuce to ensure people understand these modern payment options as well as the implications of making purchasing decisions. While younger generations often consume only digital money and view Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) as a sensible and safe payment solution, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently announced that it plans to introduce stricter regulation for the BNPL industry around concerns over potential harm to customers. In this environment it is clear that consumer debt also needs to be addressed. By championing this education, we can empower more people to have financial freedom and get access to the products and services that they need and want.
In order to continue solving these challenges faced by individuals, communities and society as a whole, the payments sector is committed to driving technological innovation. As new products, services and schemes are brought to market, so too are the new ideas, collaborations and positive changes that go with them. I believe passionately that we need to accelerate the pace of innovation, and ensure that it continues well into the future. One way to do this is by encouraging people of all ages, genders and backgrounds to develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills to help shape their organisations, cultures and wider communities.
Supporting financial literacy through STEM skills
In the digital era, the world of work will look very different from how it did just a few years ago. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed digital transformation across all areas of life – not just in payments, but in the way that we work, the jobs that were created, and the software and technical skills needed in today’s and tomorrow’s societies. STEM skills are a necessity for the generations making their way into work, and will underpin the growth of digital-native businesses with even more revolutionary ideas.
We need the support of future generations to ensure that this positive change continues to build financial resilience and inclusion around the world. Whether it’s fighting climate change, driving sustainability efforts, tackling inequality or incentivising those from under-represented backgrounds into industry, promoting data and STEM skills can help firms to find the answers to the most pressing problems facing the world today, such as financial inequality. Not only do we have more data available to us than ever before, we also now have the tools to capture, analyse and utilise it to create products and services that will enable people to meet this challenge head on, and solve it even faster.
By promoting STEM skills, diversity and inclusion efforts will also be promoted, helping to give a true representation of the communities that businesses seek to serve. Diversity is no longer a tick-box exercise, it is a core strategic priority that will ensure future-proof growth and success. In fact, according to research by Fundera, racially and ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better.
Crucially, businesses should limit themselves to specific efforts around gender or race diversity, but should take the opportunity to create a level playing field for people from all backgrounds. At Enfuce, we proudly champion the skills and expertise of everyone in our organisation, and we celebrate the pivotal role that all individuals play in driving our expansion, culture and the solutions of our business.
Businesses driving positive change
Many organisations struggle to offer new payments services, because the world is changing faster than they can keep up with, while technical limitations and high costs of using legacy processing systems are holding back established businesses from further growth. From a business perspective, partnerships are a great option to ensure that a wider range of payment options – cards, digital wallets and more – are placed in front of the individuals who need them most.
Enfuce, which I lead alongside my Co-Founder and Co-CEO Monika Liikamaa, supports debit, credit, prepaid, gift, fleet and fuel card programmes in any form – plastic, digital and/or tokenised, along with digital wallets. With our turnkey service model, packaged BIN sponsoring, the fastest onboarding time in the market, and all regulatory compliance taken care of, Enfuce is a one-stop shop for companies that want to issue cards to their customers.
With climate emergencies and conflicts shaping the narratives of 2022 and beyond, businesses can take a leading role by giving the right tools to people, and where they are most needed, faster than ever before. Just one example is the Enfuce First Aid Card, which is particularly beneficial for NGOs and social benefits organisations: it is a quick way for aid organisations to mass distribute funds immediately and safely without having to jump through regulatory hoops. Services like these are critical to help migrants and refugees, as they can be launched quickly, ensuring people have access to funds in a secure, cost-effective way.
In the fintech race to innovate, it’s easy to focus on the product. But losing sight of the people that can be helped will only produce a payment player without an audience, and a solution without a challenge to solve. While some companies only care about the tech, Enfuce cares about solving human problems. In this way, we’re disrupting what it means to innovate, by fusing finance and technology to make a real, immediate and positive difference to people’s lives.
By Denise Johansson
About Denise
Denise Johansson is a thought leader within payments and open banking, a key driver in bringing sustainable financial solutions for the world, and an active spokesperson for women in fintech. As the co-founder of leading European fintech, Enfuce, the first in the world to put payment processing in the public crowd, she is driving the payments revolution for fintechs, banks and merchants.
Denise has more than 15 years of experience in the payment industry. She has helped numerous European fintechs and financial institutions enter new markets quickly with safe, secure and scalable card products, while continuously making the financial industry more sustainable.
About Enfuce
Enfuce is a one-stop shop for modern card issuing and payment processing. Founded in 2016, Enfuce has become one of Europe’s leading payment processors that delivers cutting edge debit, prepaid, and credit card solutions across Europe and scaling globally, with offices in Finland, Germany, Latvia, Sweden, and the UK. With Enfuce card solutions, traditional banks, neobanks, and fintechs can create next-level payment experiences for their end users now and into the future.
Enfuce has raised a total of €62 million in several funding rounds and been awarded with recognitions like the Visa Fintech Fast Track programme, Mastercard Lighthouse Development Programme, and 2019 PayTech Award for Best Payments solution for Payment Systems in the Cloud.
For more information, please visit www.enfuce.com/.
