The outlook for the global payments market is positive as consumers shift to electronic tools over cash, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData expects the global economic downturn to hit overall payments revenue, but also present significant opportunities for e-commerce and mobile payments. GlobalData forecasts a decline in electronic payments growth up to 2023, due to an overall reduction in consumer spending, but long-term growth will be accelerated by learned behaviours from the pandemic.

Ravi Sharma, Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “E-commerce Is already performing more strongly than forecast and will continue to do well as consumers move from physical retail to online. We believe that mobile payments, peer-to-peer and especially instant payments all have major growth opportunities now. Mobile payments providers in the west finally have the required push factor to move consumers away from cards and onto mobiles.

“The recession will hit overall card spending, and therefore card payment revenue, hard though. Furthermore, as consumers move away from cash to card payments, regulators will cast their eye once more over card fees, further constricting revenue in the long term.”