The European Payments Council (EPC) is polling its web visitors about the future of payments. It asks the question: in your view, which of the following factors is most likely to trigger the next wave of innovation in the European payments market? Voters are asked to choose from the following options:

• mobile payments
• instant payments
• regulation
• virtual currencies
• cyber security

While mobile and instant payments may well have the biggest impact on the retail sector and consumers – mobile and instant together currently have three-quarters of the vote in this poll – is this also the case for corporates? It's easy to foresee the innovation – already happening in some countries – in instant payments, which allow individuals to make small-value payments instantly, using our mobile phones. This really could ring the death knell for cash. But innovation in the corporate sector will require more than a mobile phone with contactless technology.

In the EPC's poll, regulation has so far gained the least votes, despite European initiatives in recent years such as the Single Euro Payment Area (Sepa), which has been time-consuming but game-changing for many corporate treasury departments making payments and collections in the EU. Although it has been a complex migration process, Sepa has simplified European payments, enabling standardised collections and fewer bank accounts. From a European corporate treasurer's point of view, this is an example of regulation triggering substantial change and innovation in the payments industry.

Cyber security is of course a huge issue for companies, not to say a huge cost. If technology and systems aren't up-to-date they may be open to the risk of cyber crimes such as hacking and data breaches or even transaction fraud. Companies and governments are investing heavily in protecting their data online, from systems to insurance, staff training and processes. The cost of actually being hacked can run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Whether this will lead to the next wave of innovation in the payments industry remains to be seen.

Then there are the virtual currencies such as BitCoin. Few corporate treasurers report seeing demand from clients for payment using a cryptocurrency (just 7% according to a recent EuroFinance poll of international treasury professionals).

But, in the EPC's latest newsletter, Roberto Garcia, of Isban, outlines the possible applications of Bitcoin's blockchain technology by the banking industry and how it could trigger the next breakthrough in terms of efficiency: “It could trigger the next breakthrough in terms of efficiency. This would entail replacing current inter-banking infrastructures based on bricks and mortar models with those based on central nodes in charge of operations such as authorisation, clearing, fraud prevention, dispute resolution and execution of payments and contracts.”

So, while virtual currencies have so far had little real impact on corporate payments, could they hold the real key to future innovation?

The poll results – as of 11.30 GMT on Monday 11 May – are as follows:

• mobile payments (29%)
• instant payments (46%)
• regulation (6%)
• virtual currencies (10%)
• cyber security (9%)

Don't forget to vote here on the EPC website.