Banche e struttura modulare dei sistemi di pagamento: una prospettiva di analisi economico-aziendale

Technology is changing the fundamental economics of the payment industry, just as it has in many other industries. Technological innovations in payment systems have deep managerial and financial implications at firm, industry, and regulatory levels. This paper adopts a business management perspective of studies to examine the distinctive factors of the adoption and diffusion of technological innovation in the economics of payments systems. The main aim is to identify the relevant drivers which lead to modularity of payments systems in the financial industry. In this paper, I adopt a modular design methodology to identify the factors related to the interoperability of payments systems, to analyse the implications of the modularity for a payment system architecture, and to explore some of the challenges likely to be faced by banks. I discuss how the modular properties of a payment system are drivers of great importance that affect the flexibility and variability of the components and structure of payment systems over time. The paper shows that the modularity structure of the information and telecommunication technologies, such as intergenerational compatibility, upgradability, interconnectivity, creates strategic and operating opportunities concerning the economics of payment systems. Participants provide specific modules of activity and customers access multiple payment service providers via a variety of distributors. The comprehension of the rational underlying them is critical to develop competitive business models for the production and distribution of payment instruments and services. Different theoretical and empirical perspectives analyse the process of adoption and diffusion of innovations in the banking industry. These different perspectives point out the complexity of the issue and the many implications on the shaping of the boundaries of a payment system. Although the existence of substantial research on payment systems and financial innovation in the literature, none has directly focused on the modularity properties of payment systems and the subsequent processes of network integration, adoption and diffusion of innovations. It leaves a gap that the paper aims to overcome.