The results also pointed to rise in adoption of contactless payments by consumers and merchants in this time. "Nearly 45% of small businesses started accepting new methods of contactless payment whereas 43% of respondents have educated themselves and their staff on maintaining safety in the stores, " said Adlakha. "On our own channels, we have seen the online billing as a percentage of offline billing increase significantly. " Adlakha said that 85% of the bills generated through Amex cards were through online payment modes as against 55% before the pandemic. He added that consumers would prioritise safety and small businesses are now increasingly adopting low-touch modes of accepting payments in line with social distancing and hygiene norms. According to the survey, about 63% of the consumers said that they may resume their pre-Covid-19 shopping habits in the next three to six months and 53% said a safe shopping environment was their topmost requirement.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Banking apps backed by SoftBank Group Corp, China's Tencent Holdings Ltd and others are proliferating in Brazil, offering such a dizzying array of choices that skeptics say a shakeout looks increasingly inevitable. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Nubank, a Brazilian FinTech startup, is pictured at the bank's headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker/File Photo Customers can shop, open no-fee checking accounts and take out loans using digital wallets from retailers like Lojas Americanas, e-commerce platform Mercadolibre Inc and even small football team Avai. Brazil already has 50 million digital wallet accounts offered by more than 100 companies, according to some estimates. These apps challenge the dominance of an initial wave of online banks like SoftBank-backed Banco Inter SA and Tencent-backed Nubank as they seek to grab a piece of Brazil's 9. 4 trillion real ($2. 24 trillion) of banking assets. The wave of startups are partly the fruit of central bank regulatory changes aimed at boosting competition in a banking sector in which five leaders hold 82% of total assets.