Peoples Trust On The Multifunction Wearable Future

The PYMNTS team caught up with experts in the payments field to ask them their views on industry trends, predictions for the future and what their ideal payments system looks like.

Here’s what Peter Read, President of Peoples Card Services at Peoples Trust, had to say.

PYMNTS: What were the biggest trends of 2015?

PR: One of our focuses is to make sure that every card that we issue can be accepted into any open wallet, so of course the Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android pay — we want to align ourselves with all of them as they launch. That’s the current trend that’s going on. Is it there yet? No, it’s only just launching right now. Rather than having a dedicated closed channel or closed loop, we’re moving into the open loop where your prepaid can be used anywhere in the world.

PYMNTS: What will be the main themes of 2016?

PR: Into 2016, I think it’s all technology and millennials because they’re very tech savvy, they want everything instantly and now — and it needs to flow smoothly. If you introduce an app and it’s not successful, I think you’ll have quite an uphill battle getting back in with them, so you need to get it right the first time. Make it simple, hit their needs on the nose, and don’t mess it up, because you won’t get them back again for a second try.

PYMNTS: What do you see as the future for payments?

PR: I don’t think anybody’s seen the final payment system yet. We know that it’s moving to wearables, and everybody’s experimenting with wearables, but the wearable is going to have to have multifunction. Nobody wants to just use a wearable for payments, it’ll have to be the key to your house, the key to your car, get you into your computer, do your payments, and it’ll have to be so infinitely secure that it becomes part of your life. I think it’s almost a science fiction story. I don’t think we really know where it’s going to go to right now, but I think the next stage is right in front of us as far as coming up with various types of wearable technology and authentication. Whether it’s eye identification, whether its your fingers, whether it’s your heart, biometrics and authentication is key.