CU Times Technology Correspondent
BOSTON -- Thinking enterprisewide may seem to be second nature in today's integrated banking environments.
Still, one critical banking feature is still lagging behind, that being payment systems.
According to Edward Woods of Celent, smart financial institutions will actively include payment systems in any upcoming network enhancements or upgrades.
"Executives seeking to maximize the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of their businesses must look across and beyond the bank's existing payments capabilities," the analyst said in a new report.
Still, the current absence of payments systems in upgrade discussions may not be that surprising, the think firm's studies show. Celent estimates only single-digit volume growth for payment transactions in the coming years. These figures, however, do not include the expected exponential increase in available payment options (due to online and mobile-based transactional systems).
Also, payment options become a key market distinction in a banking environment experiencing a rise in international customers.
"Growth in international trade will guide bank relationships," Woods said in the new report on enterprise payment management. "Well over one-third of U.S. GDP is import-export related, while only a handful of U.S. banks provide appropriate products."
Due to this shortage, Woods expects domestic customers to return the favor by seeking out overseas banks with robust infrastructures already in place. Several Europe- and Asia-based financial institutions are proving themselves attractive to U.S. customers seeking advanced payment options, he said. This attractiveness is only increased when contrasted with the quick fix, short-term solutions to payment option problems the Celent report said characterizes many U.S-based offerings.
It's not laziness or lack of business savvy slowing down the payment options upgrade process. Rather, no single banking service carries with it a greater potential security risk, the report said.
That's because adding enterprise-level functionality to a credit union or bank's payment management system carries requires multipoint security upgrades and a price tag to match. This new functionality also must be capable of handling both individual retail as well as wholesale transactions.
"Security will take a more fundamental role in payments as the risk grows based on any number of factors," Woods said, including the number of access points (connections) into and between the systems, number of moving parts, system complexity, breadth of payment types, volume of payments, level of automation, and level of exposure to real time transactions and straight through processing."
These factors are vital if financial institutions wish to keep their key business customers happy. The Association for Financial Professionals found that 84% of B2B customers expect to quickly shift their majority of payment methods to electronic systems. Financial institutions must follow if they want the business.
Financial institutions "must change to survive and innovate to thrive; with an efficient, focused payment operation ready and able to respond to its needs," the Celent report concluded.
-- mrapport@sc.rr.com
