BPC has released a guide to assist financial institutions in developing next-generation closed and open-loop wallet ecosystems.
Titled “Essential Guide for Building Closed and Open-Loop Wallet Ecosystems,” the document offers a strategic roadmap for designing, launching, and scaling digital wallet platforms within today’s payments landscape.
With approximately 3.4 billion active users worldwide, digital wallets facilitate nearly $9 trillion in annual transactions. By 2026, user adoption is anticipated to grow to 5.4 billion, placing wallets at the forefront of financial tools for about two-thirds of the global population by 2030.
Insight Highlights
- Merchants that incorporate digital wallets experience an average transaction increase of 25-30%;
- In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile wallets processed over 17 billion transactions in the first half of 2024, solidifying the region as a global leader in mobile money usage;
- India’s UPI system now handles more than 16 billion transactions monthly, significantly bolstered by wallet ecosystems;
- In Europe, digital wallets account for 44% of ecommerce payments and are expected to grow by over 20% annually through 2029.
This guide covers various wallet ecosystem models, from closed-loop systems that enhance customer loyalty within brand-controlled networks to open-loop systems that enable global interoperability through integration with payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay.
It outlines a comprehensive step-by-step process for transitioning from a closed-loop environment to a fully integrated open-loop ecosystem, addressing challenges like regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, interoperability, and scalability.
The SmartVista platform by BPC provides a solid foundation for creating both closed and open-loop wallet systems. With its modular microservices-based architecture, multi-currency support, and easy integration with global payment networks, institutions can offer user-friendly, scalable, and compliant wallet solutions.
