A white paper - Openness is Changing the Future of Payments – by ACI Worldwide looks at how the concept of 'openness' applies to the payments industry.

Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of openness has been spreading in business and technology, with three main attributes: accessibility, flexibility, and transparency. According to ACI Worldwide, the payments industry is becoming increasingly defined by the openness in terms of payments technology, business models and trust. The white paper tries to define the attributes of openness as follows:

• accessible means that services should be publicly available and in standard formats;
• flexible services can be combined and do not limit users; and
• transparency requires interactive documentation and clear commercial terms.

The white paper also makes the points that:

• Open business models and strategies should be non-restrictive, leverage partnerships as a foundation for growth, and encourage transparency.
• Openness is changing the nature of trust, which in payments has traditionally been created through security features, rules, and accreditations. Trust is now being formed by data transparency and sharing.
• Today’s payments marketplace is only partially open. Payment services are not yet truly easy-to-use, global, and omni-channel. Legacy systems need to be replaced so free-flowing competition and innovation can flourish.
• Access to payments is now broader than ever before, as areas that were generally restricted to banks are now open to payment institutions. The number of payment channels has exploded and payment infrastructure is more Internet-based than before. These, and other developments, have moved payments towards openness.
• Openness is redefining payments for all participants. For consumers, payments have become nearly frictionless and invisible, as payment services integrate with technologies such as smartphones.
• Payments are also simpler for merchants who now often procure their payment services as part of a broader commerce package.
• For payment providers, openness means faster time to market, more efficient and automated operations, and partnership-based business models. This is all good for those that become more open. Those that do not risk being left behind.

---

CTMfile take: This white paper's vision of openness in payments is interesting but futuristic. As the issue of the SCA and the €10 authentication requirements show (E-commerce will be disrupted by EU’s €10 checkout rules), the path to the legal and practical side of openness doesn't always run smoothely.