The Oyster Cards days are numbered, according to a new report from two telecoms industry companies. 

Telecoms and media consultancy Greenwich Consulting and law firm Olswang have teamed up to co-author a report on the future of digital money. 

The report says that the rise of intelligent payments will lead to mobile banking, ticketing and travel advancements, which could mean the death of dedicated travel payment cards such as Oyster in the UK and E-Z Link in Singapore.

Other conclusions of the report are that coupons and loyalty cards need to be added to the mobile payments value chain to provide value to the service providers, while the authors expect greater sophistication from social shopping. “Loyalty applications could look at your purchase history, as well as the purchase history of your friends, before pushing coupons,” say the authors. 

Fred Huet, MD of Greenwich Consulting, says: “What this report has found is that the payments industry is traditionally low margin, therefore the real value lays in enriching the transaction itself. Loyalty cards and couponing provide a unique opportunity to understand in real time what the consumer is doing. Payments are also going more social, which will enable retailers to generate more footfall. Eventually, these intelligent payments will replace current payment systems, as retailers and banks see financial transactions as more of a customer engagement process.”

Olswang Asia managing partner Rob Bratby says: “Weve been tracking and advising on developments in digital money and mobile payments for years finding ways to match consumer trends with technology in the mobile industry. This report sets the scene for how the mobile industry and banking industries will converge over the next five to ten years, explaining the evolving relationship between consumers, financial and telecoms institutions.”