Legacy IT ‘a barrier to PoS tech adoption’

Complex legacy infrastructure is one of the biggest barriers to the adoption of innovative point of sale (PoS) technologies which could be worth over £157 million to UK businesses in the next year, according to a new report.

A survey of 700 IT decision-makers in banking and financial services in the UK, US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Nordics by lending platform Divido, found that 54 per cent of UK lenders are battling against legacy infrastructure when it comes to delivering new payments technology.

In addition, two thirds of respondents expected to invest up to £394 million each into payments technology over the course of the next year, with UK lenders set to invest an average of £19.6 million into their point of purchase IT infrastructure in the next 12 months.

Overall, new entrants into the FinTech and payments space were found to be a top concern for three quarters of lenders, with nearly a third (32 per cent) highlighting the ease at which new entrants can integrate with other businesses’ IT infrastructures as their biggest worry. A further 55 per cent of lenders said they were feeling the impact of increased regulation.

However, global collaboration among lenders and FinTechs was found to be on the rise, with two thirds stating that they would consider partnering with a third party platform provider to deliver services to consumers.

Overall, only three per cent of lenders felt FinTechs were their competitors, not their collaborators.

Christer Holloman, chief executive of Divido, said: “Banks can double down on existing routes to deliver services such as point of purchase finance or loans, to the digital economy.

“One way or another, banks will need to find ways to maintain and grow the lending relationship with the customer, or risk losing out to competitors and new entrants.”

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