The Growth of Digital Payments Ebook

A digital payment, sometimes called an electronic payment, is the transfer of value from one payment account to another using a digital device such as a mobile phone, PoS (Point of Sale) system or computer, a digital communication channel such as mobile wireless data or SWIFT (Society for the Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) where both the payer and the payee use a digital device such as a mobile phone, computer, or a credit, debit, or prepaid card. This definition includes payments made with bank transfers, mobile money, and payment cards including credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

The payer and payee could be either businesses or individuals. This means that for digital payments to take place, the payer and payee must both have a bank account, an online banking method, a device from which they can make the payment, and a medium of transmission, meaning that either they should have signed up to a payment provider or an intermediary such as a bank or a service provider.