Back in February of this year, when the threat of COVID was becoming a global cause for concern, we posed the question on this site about whether 2020 would be the year of the QR code.

There’s a counter on the homepage of the GSMA’s website which tells you that today, there are some 5.1 billion unique mobile subscribers in the world. Elsewhere in its pages you can see that there are now more than one billion registered mobile money accounts – that’s one in five of the world’s mobile subscribers.

This month’s Wired magazine has refreshed its opinion of the QR code from marketing gimmick to everyday essential.

Payments consultancy CMSPI believes the looming deadline in Europe for retailers to comply with the regulations around Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for online sales could cause further damage to an industry already suffering from the effects of severely reduced in-store footfall.

The modern mobile industry is only a little over 30 years old – the mobile money market barely a decade. Yet the power of that mobile device to change habits and revolutionise the way we live is both breathtaking and undiminished. The GSMA released a report this month that showed there are now more than one billion mobile money accounts active in the world.

Social distancing – it’s phrase that few of us would have used little more than one month ago, but one which has now entered the social lexicon in different countries and different languages all around the world. But as well as changing language and behaviour, the Covid-19 Coronavirus crisis has also changed business and the way we trade.

We are living through unparalleled times. The COVID 19 pandemic is causing worldwide disruption on a scale that few thought possible – stocks and shares in free-fall, restrictions on travel, on socialising, entertainment, on sport. There’s panic buying in the shops and online grocery sales are booming even as retailers struggle to manage the demand.

January 31, 2020 sees the UK ‘leave’ the European Union and begin the process of determining its future trading relationship with EU member countries and indeed the rest of the world. And it’s worth remembering that EU regulations tend to have impact on countries both within and without the European Union.

Regardless of Brexit, or the speed of adoption of PSD2, or the success of the challenger banks, or indeed the involvement of third parties, our Onescan solution provides the basis for consumers, retailers, and all the other players in the payments field to securely and speedily authorise transactions.