After years of a lack of clear agreement from the financial sector, the payments hub is finally getting some focus, as companies seek significant gains in financial efficiency. No longer referred to as simply advancements in technology, rather it’s now about actually providing a solution to a business problem.

For banks, a single payments hub would more often than not fail to meet their requirements. Commonly, a more targeted approach is needed. For example, a front office hub provides a great platform for managing the complexities of a customer relationship, including translation, batch management and information reporting. A middle office hub might be needed for providing the orchestration to the different engines you might have, as well as visibility of all transactions, and a back-office hub can control your settlement gateways and least-cost routing.

This is not to say three hubs are ultimately necessary. Rather, banks must focus on the pain points and the best opportunities. But whatever it is that you need, make no mistake that one size does not fit all. A bank needs to determine where they need to consolidate systems and then identify a solution that can help, and thankfully, that is what we are starting to see. Without clear definition of what you are trying to solve, how can you possibly be successful?

Thank goodness we've moved on from “your solution is a payment hub, now what was your problem?”