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Report

Managed Services: Helping Banks refocus on Innovation and Growth

Key concerns such as security and compliance are often cited as barriers to banks adopting managed services. In fact, the managed model can deliver significant advantages in these and other areas. It’s important to understand how today’s services providers contribute more than just piecemeal solutions to individual problems. Managed services is about creating a partnership that focuses on outcomes, and adopting the latest technology continually to turn pain points into competitive advantage. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with Finastra, to learn more.

280 downloads

Report

Corporate Mobile Banking and the Road to Omnichannel

Innovation is picking up pace in treasury management, but development is far from the fintech revolution that has replaced outdated technologies and streamlined antiquated practices in retail banking. While there is an appetite amongst treasurers to remedy historic shortfalls, continuous improvement in operational treasury efficiency has been the biggest hurdle. International payments continue to be an expensive and burdensome process, multi-currency accounts cannot be accessed, can only be operated manually, and take weeks to open – even though very few organisations operate using a single currency. Mobile banking can alleviate these pressures by removing geographical limitations and in turn, improving efficiency and productivity. Considerable time has also passed since supply chains and banks had to ascertain how to pool cash and conduct trade across multiple nations, currencies, and continents for the first time, which is unacceptable in this real-time age of payments processing. Mobile services can remedy these issues by accelerating collection, refining reconciliation, and eliminating a significant portion of risk. Here’s how.

340 downloads

Report

Driving successful Cloud Transformation

Capital market firms face the challenge to evolve at pace with technology, so that they're able to innovate and adapt to the customer’s needs quickly. Cloud is seen as a key enabler to their digital future, however cloud adoption isn’t just about IT infrastructure. How can executives develop a holistic approach towards cloud modernisation to ensure their investments pay off? As ‘digital’ engulfs business strategies, large-scale financial services players need to develop smarter ways to adapt and accelerate technological change. They are also under constant pressure from fintechs operating on agile systems, rolling out products and services at speed. The pace of innovation at large firms often suffers due to the scale of operations, monolithic tech infrastructure, ‘people alignment’ and old ways of working. Challenges brought about by COVID require even greater levels of resilience and agility to navigate. More firms than ever are using cloud-led modernisation as a catalyst for holistic enterprise transformation, and crucially, this should lead to adaptable business models that can sustain growth and weather future uncertainties in an ever-changing milieu. To maximise the value from investment, operating models need to align closely business and tech strategies. A democratised approach needs to be implemented enterprisewide and with that, a portfolio management approach to balance the long-term evolution of the underlying platform whilst pursuing growth with new products and features. Technology modernisation is also an enabler for lean product management practices such as low-cost rapid experimentation for exploring and exploiting innovative opportunities. Organisational, as well as technological change is needed to ensure teams can tap into the acceleration and agility that cloud-based architecture promises. Organisations need a mind shift- moving from a top-down decision culture to an empowered agile workforce that can continuously deliver on strategic business outcomes. This research paper from Finextra, in association with Thoughtworks, is based on interviews with senior leaders on their plans and challenges around digital programmes and cloud modernisation.

338 downloads

Report

The Future of Payments 2021

The Road to Successful Digital Transformation. Every player that operates within the intricate ecosystem of financial services is at a tipping point. The pandemic deeply entrenched the digital agenda, especially for payments, and financial institutions recognise that the effects of Covid-19 are likely to have a permanent impact on the industry. Tink1 found that 74% of European banks see an increased need to enhance their digital services, and 65% believe that banks must increase their speed of innovation. This immense pressure to digitise is being played out across the globe, as regulators and industry bodies scramble to expedite timelines for the modernisation of payments systems. On top of this, technology firms and fintech startups have never been more innovative, leaping into action to capitalise on the opportunity the pandemic presented and shepherd financial services into the new digital world. Embedded finance is answering the demands of consumers, and incumbents are eager not to lose their footing by investing heavily to innovate and evolve. Open banking has taken hold in several jurisdictions, and in certain circumstances, is flourishing into the more expansive open finance. Ultimate success will depend on fundamental impediments such as incumbent banking cooperation, consent mechanisms, and concerns around privacy being managed or removed. Certainty around digital identity is predicted to bolster not only the momentum toward open finance, but to build on the capabilities required to deliver a central bank digital currency. 2020’s upheaval of brick-and-mortar retail led to the soaring uptake of e-commerce and a shift in payment trends, as contactless transactions became the norm. While the efficiencies of this new digital world have been exponential, criminal activity has naturally followed, and financial institutions are having to protect customers from sophisticated fraudsters. New forms of crypto assets further complicate the situation, especially as regulators attempt to balance the need to regulate alongside the need to foster innovation, all the while attempting to protect consumers from new forms of harm. The opportunities, however, are myriad in nature. The seemingly unquenchable appetite for the potential new technologies hold payments modernisation appears to be outpacing the historically risk-averse financial services sector. With expert views from Banking Circle, Nuvei, and Thunes, in this report, you will learn from industry leaders about the events and trends defining global payments into 2021 and beyond. The report includes insights from BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, ING, J.P. Morgan, Metro Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Open Banking Implementation Entity, Plaid, Rabobank, Raiffeisen Bank International, Société Générale, and SWIFT.

1436 downloads

Report

Factoring of the Future - Why Factors need to look to the Cloud

The concept of factoring has its roots in financial transactions stretching right back to Roman times, but the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of processes powered by the most modern of cloud-based technologies. Scalability in terms of both performance and business is increasingly important for companies providing accounts receivable factoring. Software as a Service (SaaS) has become an ideal solution for banks and factoring companies both large and small—particularly for those just starting out—due to the many and varied benefits cloud-based systems provide. One of these is the flexible pay-as-you-grow model, which enables organisations to pay only for the services that they use, rather than shell out in advance for a rigid software license fee. It’s a particularly attractive proposition in times of uncertainty, such as during the pandemic, which severely affected global trade. The SaaS model also helps businesses that want to provide factoring services to get up and running quickly. Up-front costs incurred when investing in on-premise servers and IT security can be prohibitive when starting any kind of financial services business, making cloud-based systems ever-more popular. Integration with clients’ ERP systems is also key, and easy to achieve with cloud-based systems that can import invoices and provide transparent reporting. The requirements of clients vary hugely according to the systems and solutions they use, meaning that the flexibility provided by cloud is increasingly important. There are three options when a company needs a factoring system. It can build it in-house, which is increasingly unlikely to be the option taken with so many third party offerings in the market. Building a system in-house also requires a separate development team, an approach that can be costly and time-consuming and lead to unreliable outcomes. Secondly, a company can outsource an external company to write the software—on-premise or cloud-based, based on company requirements. This can be just as costly and resource-hungry, as well as time-consuming. The third option is the SaaS model, which, once minor adjustments are made, provides out-of-the-box and ready-to-go functionality. This avoids having to devote time, resource and cost to development, operational and maintenance processes. Businesses need speed and flexibility in order to stay focused on their growth goals by onboarding new clients, without the need to address potential security risks and maintenance associated with traditional in-house builds. By using the right cloud-based software, banks and factoring companies have access to a wealth of opportunities that are available immediately, instead of having to test, run and develop services in-house. In this way, new businesses can leapfrog forward, tailor-making a microservices offering from a variety of industry tried and tested processes, making new features available to customers with a short time to market. Download your copy of this white paper from Finextra, produced in association with Comarch, which explores the challenges for new and existing factoring companies, how these can be addressed using cloud software, and what it takes in a digital ecosystem to stay competitive and grow quickly.

253 downloads

Report

Five Business Benefits for Analysing and Combatting Fraud

A Finextra Research Impact Study in association with Aerospike. With increased financing options at point-of-sale, card-not-present transactions, and contactless payments, comes a resultant surge in fraudulent transactions and financial crime. This increase in digital fraud has been catalysed by the recent Covid-19 pandemic-induced shift to online banking and commerce. Now more than ever, financial institutions must implement payments authentication processes to prevent the long-term risks associated with fraud, including slimming margins and reputational damage. One way financial players can stay ahead is to analyse all available historical and real-time data, and apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools – which encompass a range of algorithmic approaches that derive from statistical methods such as regressions and neural networks – to decipher legitimate transactions from the illegitimate. There are, however, five further business benefits to understanding customer risk profiles. Actionable insights derived from fraud profile analysis can help banks visualise each customer, not as a collection of disassociated data points, but as a mosaic, made up of different characteristics that merge to provide a comprehensive view. This can lead to complex, holistic, and predictive analysis of customers’ behaviour – generating consistent and tailored services. Download your copy of the paper below to learn more. 

218 downloads

Report

Payments Modernisation: The Cloud Imperative

This survey, conducted in early 2021, was global in scope and based on a sample of 150 banks and payment service providers.  It was aimed to quantify trends in payments modernisation, cloud and ‘as-a-service’ delivery models for account-to-account payments (corporate and retail/consumer payments). We were also interested in gauging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial institutions’ own operations, and on the needs and expectations of their customers, and the adoption rate of various domestic and cross-border payment networks. The movement of money can be a complicated business. Payments modernisation has always been an imperative for banks since the inception of the modern banking system – from the introduction of cheques to the telegraphic transfer by radio or cable through to the networks of today. The trend is always towards greater speed, security and interoperability – but with that, complexity. The proliferation of payment networks covering various models for moving money domestically and internationally means financial organisations have to deal with many gateways, messaging standards, processing and settlement rules and regulations. This proliferation has led to much fragmentation and duplication of payment systems within organisations. It has also limited reachability and interoperability. Delivering on these requirements can involve system replacement, but just as often the challenge is to work around and integrate legacy systems that can’t easily be replaced, and bring them into a more modern architecture. Download your copy of this Finextra Survey Report, produced in association with Volante Technologies, to learn more.

574 downloads

Report

Industry Spotlight - Real Time Intraday Liquidity Management

This piece from Finextra, in association with Montran, shines a light on an increasingly dynamic industry focus- the importance of intraday liquidity management- and the benefits to banks who tackle this head on. Finextra interviewed Joost Bergen, Cash Dynamics, liquidity management specialist and industry speaker about a real time and technology-first approach to the challenge. Read the associated white paper here - Liquidity and Beyond: Building a future through certainty

179 downloads

Report

The Future of Cloud 2021

Evolving the Financial Services Industry. As consumers have come to expect the same experience of their financial services providers that they have elsewhere in their lives, traditional financial institutions (FIs) are increasingly looking for ways to improve customer service and deepen engagement. For many, optimising the digital experience for customers is a priority. From leveraging omni-channel communication strategies to creating more personalised experiences, the goal is to deliver the right message, at the right time, in the right channel. Fintech firms have been faster to innovate. Many, in fact, were created to address consumer dissatisfaction with traditional financial services providers. However, many players across the banking, payments and capital markets industries such as Barclays, Broadridge, Capgemini, Calypso, Collibra, DBS, FICO, Fraud.net, Global Payments, HSBC, IHS Markit, Kx, Mambu, Nasdaq, Numerix, OakNorth, Singapore Exchange, Solarisbank, Standard Chartered and Trading Technologies are increasingly turning to the cloud as a way to accelerate their digital transformation for customers. Shifting away from legacy infrastructure reduces time and resource constraints and financial institutions can innovate and respond to customer needs with the cloud. Banks, payments services providers, and capital markets firms must take advantage of the cloud’s greater elasticity, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Download your copy of the report below to learn more. Part of the Finextra Cloud Series, in association with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

850 downloads

Report

Corporate Onboarding: Will it become a competitive differentiator for banks in a real time world?

The way in which banks onboard corporate clients can impact many aspects of their business, from reducing time to revenue, to improving customer experience and loyalty, and to compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. The accuracy of data used for onboarding customers is therefore a key differentiator for banks. Relying on primary source data that is legally compliant contributes to compliance peace of mind, while banks can make better decisions based on compliant data that is 100% accurate and continuously updated. This is particularly important in the world of corporate onboarding, where vetting a company can be time and resource heavy, and a complex task with many moving parts. Accessing regulated and authoritative data from company registries to onboard a client in a timely manner is a complicated process that involves a series of manual checks. There are continual updates to regulations to comply with, such as the requirement for ongoing monitoring within the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) as well as due diligence in ensuring that company data for KYC checks is up to date and accurate. From a business perspective, banks are keen to onboard new customers as quickly as possible to maximise income and profit. An efficient process can also be a crucial differentiator in procuring loyal clients for a lifetime of service. Expectations for a real-time experience are growing in the corporate environment, just as they have in the world of retail and consumer banking. This white paper explores how banks can deal with changing KYC regulations and the incoming 6AMLD; what technology can be utilised to assist banks achieve seamless corporate onboarding; and what stands to be lost, and more significantly, to be gained, with a seamless real-time onboarding experience. Download your copy of this Finextra white paper, produced in association with Kyckr, to learn more.

758 downloads

Report

The Future of Regulation 2021

Resetting the rulebook for 2021 2020 was a year of rule-breaking, 2021 is the year to reset the rulebook. Unable to grow unchecked, the regulatory framework within which innovation has been trying to flourish has shown its creaky joints, ill-equipped supervisory mechanisms and outdated mindsets. Yet, despite early concerns and predictions that Covid-19 would hinder progress across the payments landscape, the monumental shift toward reliance on digital payments has instead lit a fire under financial institutions and the regulators which oversee them. The pandemic presented unmatched challenges to the global economy, including the provision and regulation of digital financial services and fintech activities across both advanced and emerging economies, but innovators were quick to pick up the reins, and presided over a proliferation of tools and products catering to those most in need. Open banking continues to evolve, and as Open X takes hold, the obligation to place consumer protection at the heart of this growth is evidenced in the implementation of the Second Payments Services Directive’s (PSD2) requirement for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). While financial services remain challenged with ever more malicious cyber threats, AML and fraud regulations are clamping down on crime. The deployment of sophisticated technology is also increasingly being used to identify and quash threat-actors, and particularly in the case of LIBOR’s cessation and ESG objectives. Delving into the key industry-shaping regulatory updates for 2021, the Future of Regulation sets out the insights of leading industry players including Accenture, Clifford Chance, JP Morgan, Mollie, NatWest, Oaknorth Bank, Shearman & Sterling and TrueLayer. Download your copy of the report below now to find out more.

838 downloads

Report

Liquidity and Beyond: Building a future through certainty

Creating a strategic advantage. There is an evolving approach to liquidity management: from merely monitoring, to actively managing and optimising, to using liquidity for a strategic advantage. Achieving this requires the right tools and technology, and also an open mind about the opportunities that effective real time liquidity management can bring. Seconds, minutes or hours – whatever the definition of ‘real time’ in real time liquidity management, its speed is definitely increasing. Banks and corporates are operating in an increasingly dynamic environment: consumers want services on-demand; payments are faster; information travels at warp speed, news is rolling 24/7; and crises can unfold in an instant. This always-on environment has an impact on liquidity, which has to be managed effectively to ensure an organisation can meet its obligations; in times of stress, it can be critical for its survival. Having the right information at their fingertips – in real time – gives bank and corporate treasurers accuracy and assurance in navigating this changing environment. And if liquidity management is done well, they will do more than keep pace with their environment – they will use it to their advantage. The right analysis of information in real time brings better understanding of their customer, their business, the potential to reduce costs and hence, greater potential for planning and growth based on new levels of certainty. The possibilities and potential that the business concept of real time can bring, in conjunction with up-to-the-minute use of advanced technology, is staggering. Businesses and banks were not built to operate in a 24/7 environment, and it is no mean feat to step up to the plate to meet this challenge and turn it into potential. Real time automatic payments, settlement, account updates, exception handling and data sharing can eliminate the need for cash buffers- idle cash becomes investment. Real time can bolster banks’ credit ratings; real time analysis predicts behaviours leading to reduced risk; real time can provide instant forecasting adjustments- further finetuning an organisation’s position. It feeds a 360 view on a client, fostering better relationships, and with agile systems, enables a firm to plan and grow with a certainty hitherto never seen. Now is the time for banks and corporates to act, redefining their business goals, and crucially, their technology requirements. Download your copy of this Finextra white paper, produced in association with Montran, to learn more. Read the associated Industry Spotlight here - Real Time Intraday Liquidity Management.

426 downloads

Report

Managing Compliance and Growth

For banks large and small there is no question about the sheer volume of transformation pressure currently at play. Regulatory changes on the increase, various migration deadlines to implement amid the general shift to real time means that mere survival in itself can seem like a win. More is required of organisations who want to differentiate and compete for and retain the customer’s attention. When risk awareness plays a crucial role how can banks start to carve a safe and secure route to innovation at a speed which meets market demand for new and intuitive services? For smaller and newer organisations, arguably it is easier when they don’t have legacy constraints and are more attuned to the benefits and possibilities of emerging technologies. But as they strive to diversify and grow their volumes, they are often blindsided by the associated risk and indeed the threat of suffocating a start-up culture. Becoming consumed by the here and now and not being able to see the woods for the trees is an all-too-familiar theme for many medium-sized banks. Being able to establish and refine their own agile way of working so they can learn fast and grow fast is key. But when one size does not fit all in terms of scaling projects, it becomes very difficult to take the reins on their own unique journey of growth. This research paper by Finextra, produced in association with Finastra, is based on several interviews with small and medium-sized banks, garnering their perspectives and experiences in their efforts to grow and scale while managing compliance and all that goes with it. Download your copy of the Finextra industry sentiment report to learn more.

357 downloads

Report

The Future of Core Banking 2020

The Catalysts Driving the Smart Finance Evolution. Core banking continues to rank among the top technology investment concerns in banks. However, there is a fundamental mismatch between expectations based on real-time consumer experiences and a bank’s ability to serve those experiences front to back.  There is no shortage of effort by banks to broach this gap and shore up the end-to-end consumer experience with emerging technologies, but the realisation that core banking infrastructure may not be up to the task is a bitter and expensive pill to swallow. Especially for the more traditional, legacy institutions. While this is nothing new, pressures brought about by Covid-19 have served to exacerbate structural weaknesses as banks have scrambled to deliver and outperform in a purely digital manner. The cost of expediting these projects is substantial, to say the least, yet when presented with few other options, banks overwhelmingly accept as they appreciate the speed at which digital newcomers will happily step into their shoes. The realisation that investment in resilient, powerful core banking systems will improve banks long into the future certainly softens the financial blow. Greenfield banks, for instance, are curating the architecture they are investing in now to ensure that they remain in step with the pace of change 10 to 15 years down the line. The ease with which these digital banks are operating and expanding across diverse markets also informs how more traditional players can approach banking into the future. Yet, even the most sophisticated technology requires smooth implementation in order to profit from its offering – this means nurturing and honing DevOps agility is equally fundamental to both resilient core banking infrastructure and client satisfaction. These opportunities present institutions with the proposition: replatform, refactor, augment or replace. The age-old dilemma is no longer painted with a brush of scepticism as banks increasingly see the value in collaborating with third parties to increase their product offering and view modularised systems as a keystone for ongoing innovation. To deliver the full potential of this technology, the way core banking interacts with data remains an ongoing concern for banks which are being pulled in opposing directions by the need to both innovate and remain compliant. This challenge weighs on latent revenue streams and institutions are carefully considering whether monetising data resources can be achieved without compromising customer rights and privacy regulations. Optimistically, however, banks are entrenching already established sustainability strategies with data-focused technology to deliver more ambitious carbon reduction objectives. Engaging with leading financial institutions across the globe, this report grapples with the subjects that are front of mind for banks of all shapes and sizes as they face the unprecedented pressure of a pandemic coupled with meeting the breakneck pace of financial technology advancement. This report by Finextra, in association with Red Hat and Temenos, explores the limitless opportunities firms hold to enhance and build upon their core banking infrastructure and gathers the views of several experts from Alba Bank, BBVA, CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Crown Agents Bank, ING, Investec, OpenBank, Sberbank, Société Générale, Standard Chartered, and Varo Bank. Download your copy of the report below now to find out more.

1299 downloads

Report

Securing the API Ecosystem

New and different banking models are emerging as the various influences in financial services today take hold. Change happens at a faster pace than ever, increasing in rate by the year, and this is very much part of the new operating norm. Regardless of the pressure for banks and other financial organisations to adapt, transform and carve a new identity out of an everchanging ecosystem and set of demands and requirements, there cannot be a lapse in the protection of systems, of customer and client data, and hence, trust. This is, after all, arguably the most valuable asset banks have. Security, while not of itself the driver of digital transformation strategies and dialogues, underpins each and every activity, plan and transaction an institution makes or hosts. And the direction of travel that industry transformation is taking places a lot of pressure on reconfiguring systems to be robust, because that direction is branching out into the realm of myriad other players through open banking APIs. In some regions the opening of banking services is mandated, such as in Europe with PSD2; in others, a commercially-driven approach has taken hold, such as in the US. And in others still, where mobile phones have formed the basis of modern banking, it is more an innate approach than a transition or shift, such as in Asia Pacific. APIs are nothing new in financial services, but while they have always been a back office functionality tool, they have now moved very much to the fore in being the connectors of a new, more open financial ecosystem. They have been used to connect developers to payment networks as well as to display billing details on a bank’s website. Through open banking, however, APIs are now being used to allow third parties access to certain data sets, with the requisite consents, and vice versa. They provide democratised, low fidelity, low latency ‘bridges’ between organisations to facilitate the rapid expansion of the ecosystem, competition, and hence choice and empowerment for the consumer. But with such change and opportunity also comes great risk. Download your copy of this Finextra white paper, produced in association with Equinix, to learn more.

489 downloads