Latest reports and research: Finextra Research

Future of Report

The Future of US Digital Payments 2025: ACH & Beyond

A special edition for Nacha's Smarter Faster Payments 2025. The US digital payments landscape stands at a transformative crossroads. With the launch of RTP in 2016 and FedNow in 2023, the foundational infrastructure for instant payments is finally in place - poised to revolutionise the speed, efficiency, and security of transactions across the economy. Yet despite these advancements, the path to widespread adoption remains complex and cautious. Entrenched systems like ACH and Wire, with their deep integration and long-standing reliability, continue to dominate due to their established utility and the significant investment required to pivot toward newer rails. It’s not just a question of technological readiness, but of mindset, cost, and strategy. The advantages of instant payments—real-time access to funds, reduced credit risk, and improved liquidity—are clear. However, to truly unlock these benefits, banks and institutions must overcome the inertia of legacy systems and embrace modernisation, often with the support of flexible, cloud-native solutions that can de-risk and streamline the transition. This Finextra report, in association with Form 3, explores industry sentiment on the future of US digital payments and showcases the views of BNY, Citizens, Green Dot, J.P. Morgan, U.S. Bank, and the US Faster Payments Council. It explores: Evolving ACH infrastructure; Enhancing RPT and FedNow capabilities; How new rails interact with existing rails; Redefining transactional architecture through emerging technologies; Recognising risk as a strategic advantage in fraud prevention; Prioritising innovation and compliance at the same time.

15 hours 5 downloads

Event Report

ISO 20022 for CBPR+: Driving Efficiency and Innovation in Financial Messaging

How far is the industry along its ISO 20022 for CBPR+ journey? The financial industry is on the brink of a significant transformation with the implementation of ISO 20022 for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+). This new standard promises to revolutionise transaction handling by offering enhanced data quality, improved compliance, and greater operational efficiency. The shift from the current MT format, which is becoming insufficient in today’s data-driven and regulatory-focused environment, to ISO 20022 addresses these challenges with a more structured and comprehensive framework for financial messaging. This transition is crucial for banks and non-bank financial institutions to understand and prepare for as it enables more effective communication across borders and systems. The reconciliation of payments, especially for corporate and SME sectors, demands accuracy in linking all related data. ISO 20022 significantly streamlines this process by enhancing data richness and interoperability across various payment systems. This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Finastra, by a panel of industry experts. Discover: How far the industry has come in the transition, the challenges organisations are facing, and the strategic importance of ISO 20022 for CBPR+ adoption.

15 April 2025 12 downloads

Survey

US Regulation Survey 2025: Compliance at a Crossroads

Assessing financial industry preparedness in a shifting US regulatory landscape as organisations struggle with deadlines, cost, and technology. In an environment of rapidly evolving regulations, driven by legislative and policy shifts at the federal and state levels, the US regulatory landscape is marked by complexity and uncertainty. Understanding the level of preparedness across industries is crucial for ensuring compliance, mitigating risk, and enhancing operational efficiency. This survey was conducted at the beginning of 2025, gathering financial services industry sentiment as the Trump Administration took office and began pivoting on key regulatory elements. With the US financial regulation regime also somewhat in limbo, that uncertainty was – and is – increasingly impacting the views of the 200 organisations surveyed. Analysis of our survey responses provides a comprehensive overview of the state of regulation readiness in the US, differences in reporting obligations, the impacts of automation for compliance, the roles of technology and data, and industry plans for modernisation. We explore: Which regulations will have the biggest impact on US financial services in 2025; Regulatory effects on organisational frameworks, budgets and staffing; How organisations are leveraging technology and partnerships to streamline regulatory compliance.

26 March 2025 222 downloads

Event Report

Using modern technology platforms to create an AI-driven bank

In the rapidly advancing banking sector, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become less of a choice and more of a crucial stepping stone. The industry is facing a turning point in the adoption of AI where organisations either embrace the opportunities in front of them or risk falling behind. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in a new era of digital transformation. In banking operations, the integration of AI presents an opportunity for significant growth. However, this integration is not without its challenges. Banks are dealing with more data than ever before, and managing this information effectively is a crucial hurdle to overcome. From ensuring data accuracy and relevance to adhering to privacy regulations, these challenges require careful consideration. The decision to incorporate AI should be a strategic one, aimed at addressing specific business challenges and not just a nod to the latest trend. Identifying growth-inhibiting challenges and evaluating the viability of AI as a solution is a practical and cost-effective approach. This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Red Hat, by a panel of industry experts. Discover: Overcoming barriers in integrating AI into banking systems; AI integration: A strategic approach; and Effective utilisation of AI in business operations and risk mitigation.

05 March 2025 411 downloads

Event Report

The US Instant Payments Landscape: Navigating Growth and Challenges

The increasing demand for instant payment solutions is a key trend driving the adoption of faster payments. This webinar report explores what is holding instant payments back in the US. In the US, real-time payments (RTP) have grown significantly since The Clearing House introduced them in 2017. Currently, the RTP network covers approximately 70% of customer accounts in the US, with transaction volumes and values rising dramatically. The Federal Reserve’s FedNow service, launched in mid-2023, has also contributed to this growth, processing a substantial number of payments in its initial quarters. These networks provide low-cost, efficient payment solutions that are gaining popularity for both consumer and business transactions. Despite this progress, challenges remain in the adoption of faster payments. Interoperability between different payment systems and networks is a primary issue. While domestic instant payments are becoming more common, cross-border instant payments face obstacles due to the complexity of multi-currency transactions and varying regulations across countries. Additionally, the regulatory environment in the US does not mandate the adoption of faster payments, which can slow down the pace of implementation compared to other markets with regulatory mandates. This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted for the PREDICT 2025 campaign, by a panel of industry experts. It aims to answer: What is holding Faster Payments back in the US and how much progress can be attributed to open banking and the ISO 20022 standard? Which applications of Faster Payments in the UK are transferrable to the US? With RtP and FedNow, how much choice is too much choice? What evidence is there that the financial services industry is at a tipping point and technology must be leveraged to ramp up adoption?

28 February 2025 344 downloads

White Paper

Confirmation of Payee progress and APP fraud mitigation: Where are we now?

This report compares Confirmation of Payee progress and APP fraud mitigation across EMEA, APAC and North America, and features expert commentary from AccessPay, Bottomline, Finastra and NatWest. APP fraud losses are expected to double across EMEA, APAC and North America, and legislation mandating CoP on a national or regional basis must be established across the globe. It is estimated that APP fraud losses in the UK, India and the UK will hit $5.25 billion, with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 21% across the 2022-2026 period, according to an ACI Worldwide and GlobalData report. Action must be taken, and if regulations are not put in place, financial institutions and PSPs must ensure they are leveraging technology solutions to bolster verification mechanisms themselves. Striking the balance between protecting the end customers, adding minimal friction to processes, and assessing fraud prevention procedures will be a cumbersome, yet important, project. This Finextra report, produced in association with LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, explores how to meet that need, and: The state of play for APP fraud and misdirected payment fraud across EMEA, APAC, and North America; How success stories in EMEA will set the trend for other regions; The impact non-CoP initiation in APAC will have on international payments; and What the future holds for technology solutions that can detect account activity in North America.

26 February 2025 602 downloads

Event Report

Risk-based authentication: Enhancing security and user experience in fraud prevention

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of robust cross-channel authentication cannot be overstated. As businesses and consumers increasingly interact across multiple platforms, ensuring secure and seamless authentication processes is paramount. Online platforms have become integral to modern financial activities, which necessitates secure and seamless transactions, backed up by robust authentication mechanisms. Risk-based authentication offers a dynamic security approach, balancing user convenience with stringent fraud prevention. The integration of cross-channel data and advanced technologies like machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) is vital, as well as access and understanding of data. High-quality data is the cornerstone of effective fraud prevention and detection, which is why organisations must invest in robust data engineering practices to ensure collected data is accurate and well-labelled. This investment enables the development of sophisticated models to better identify and prevent fraudulent activities. Prioritising data quality enhances fraud prevention strategies, protecting businesses and their customers from potential threats. So how can organisations holistically address risk-based authentication in a dynamic world? This webinar report summarises the discussion of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Mastercard, and explores: Risk-based authentication in fraud prevention; Adapting fraud prevention to evolving threats; Advanced authentication strategies for corporate fraud prevention; Digital IDs, channels, and exclusion.

21 February 2025 271 downloads

Impact Study

Cross-border payments: How is the market addressing G20 targets?

This impact study explores how far along the G20’s cross-border roadmap firms have travelled; why cutting-edge technology platforms are imperative in today’s instant payments world; as well as how financial leaders can go beyond the G20’s objectives, in order to ensure prosperity for the coming decade. The cross-border payments market is one of the fastest growing money movement markets in the world. It reached $150 trillion in 2017, and by 2027 is expected to reach $250 trillion – a rise of over $100 trillion in just ten years. There are several factors that have led to the increase in global remittances, be they wholesale or retail in origin, including expanding supply chains; globalised investment flows; international trade and e-commerce; as well as the increased global movement of people, resulting in more money being sent across borders. While cross-border payments are booming, many financial institutions are still struggling to keep their technology platforms up to speed, and the drive toward real-time is having deep ramifications for organisations’ operations. To address these challenges, a gathering of some of the world’s largest economies, known as the Group of Twenty (G20), set out a roadmap in 2021 to improve cross-border payments. Also providing impetus for widespread modernisation are mandated initiatives like new, and continually evolving, ISO 20022 message and data standards and the European Union (EU)’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) – forcing players in the highly-competitive payments space to invest in smarter services, customer centricity, and on top of that, become the engines of growth. This Finextra impact study, produced in association with Temenos, explores: A status update on the G20 cross-border targets; The need for modernisation - an overview of other factors affecting cross-border payments; A roadmap for change beyond G20; Real-life case studies.

19 February 2025 478 downloads

Event Report

AI strategies for scalable, secure and compliant banking

Delving into effective strategies and tools for secure and compliant AI integration in banking, emphasising the importance of open-source models, the role of generative AI, the advantages of synthetic data, and the influence of regulatory frameworks. Integrating AI in banking involves more than just adopting new technologies; it requires aligning these technologies with specific banking use cases to maximise benefits and mitigate risks related to data security and compliance. Open-source models facilitate this transformation by offering a collaborative platform for innovation and transparency, essential for building trust and ensuring the safe use of AI in banking. The journey from proof of concept (POC) to production in AI and machine learning is often lengthy and complex. This extended timeline highlights the challenges organisations face in integrating AI into their operations. Embracing new tools and technologies and learning to utilise them effectively is crucial for overcoming these challenges and applying AI to day-to-day operations, leading to significant benefits in efficiency and innovation. When looking at other markets, the United States has become a hub for tech giants, focusing on fostering innovation, while regions like Japan remain cautious, reflecting their unique regulatory landscapes and societal risk appetites. This diversity in regulatory approaches presents both opportunities and challenges for firms operating globally, necessitating a nuanced understanding of each market’s unique dynamics. This webinar report summarises the discussion of a Finextra webinar, hosted with Red Hat, by a panel of industry experts. Discover: How AI is enhancing innovation, efficiency, and security; Synthetic data and regulatory impact; What factors are holding organisations back from fully adoption AI-driven services; Balancing innovation and regulation; And more.

07 February 2025 331 downloads

Impact Study

Are you ready for CBPR+? Accelerating modernisation and efficiency through ISO 20022

Challenges and strategies for financial messaging professionals to be CBPR+ compliant by November 2025. Financial institutions’ ISO 20022 for CBPR+ migration timelines vary enormously, yet the deadline is the same for all financial institutions – whether they have fully adopted ISO 20022 or are yet to make significant progress. By November 2025, ISO 20022 will become the sole globally recognised standard for interbank cross-border payments, and the new MX messaging format will fully replace the old MT messaging format. Concerningly, adoption has not picked up as significantly since the co-existence period began in November 2023. In January 2024, the ISO 20022 adoption rate of the top 175 financial institutions stood at 19%. By December 2024, this number had grown to 32.9%. It’s clear that institutions need to significantly accelerate their migration efforts over the next few months – or risk the consequences of non-compliance. ISO 20022 is not just a compliance update – the data-rich format enables organisations to enhance their analytical capabilities, improve their service offering, improve straight-through processing, strengthen anti-money laundering and compliance efforts, and more. This impact study explores readiness for the impending ISO 20022 for CBPR+ deadline and features commentary from experts at Finastra and Visa. It answers: What needs to happen between today and November? What are the main challenges institutions have been facing? How can they streamline successful strategies to hit compliance by November and beyond? What happens in November 2025 for organisations that have not made the deadline? Join the Finextra webinar, 'The ISO 20022 for CBPR+ deadline is looming: Are financial organisations prepared?', hosted with Finastra, to learn more.

05 February 2025 334 downloads

Impact Study

Bank Legacy Transformation: Exploring the Solutions

Where do banks stand with legacy transformation today? What are the market factors and changing consumer demands that make transformation increasingly crucial? Legacy transformation is not a new challenge for banks. However, as technology capability continues to advance, along with it the potential for innovation and new business models serving a digital customer base, the pressure of no longer being constrained by legacy infrastructure intensifies. Despite being the central nervous system for banks’ operations for decades serving a business purpose, legacy systems have become inadequate, and those trained to use them may lack the skills needed to meet sophisticated demands for real-time and seamless experiences. Here’s how banks can decouple their systems from each other to evolve and grow, untangle technology challenges to drive digitisation, and invest in technology and employees to ensure obstacles to rapid and gradual modernisation are removed. This impact study, produced in association with Veritran, will: Consider frameworks that prioritise initiatives based on their impact; Explore specific recommendations for each of these challenges; Propose strategies on how to integrate systems that will address data silos; Highlight clear ROI examples, efficiency gains, and enhanced customer outcomes; and Emphasise that there is no need for legacy system abandonment and modernisation can be conducted gradually without disruption.

14 January 2025 448 downloads

White Paper

UK Open Banking API Performance 2023-2024

In this fourth annual report, APIContext evaluated the performance of UK Open Banking APIs from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The UK’s Open Banking system is arguably the most advanced in the world, having been in place since at least 2018. The time in market for this ecosystem offers lessons and best practices to other countries that are looking to implement similar API-driven financial systems; as well as banks and financial institutions that seek to differentiate through quality customer experiences. In this updated report, APIContext evaluates the performance of Open Banking APIs provided by various types of financial institutions in the UK. These include the major “CMA9” banks (the nine largest banks required by UK law to provide Open Banking services), traditional High Street banks, credit card companies, building societies (similar to credit unions in the United States), and new digital banks, often called neobanks. All the data in this report are based on real API calls, having tested the APIs in real-world conditions using the same process that consumers would go through. These calls followed the FAPI (Financial-grade API) standards, which are specifically designed for securely sharing sensitive financial data. The report includes: Key analysis of the UK's Open Banking API performance 2023 - 2024 Availability and reliability of API endpoints Latency metrics (DNS, TCP connect, SSL handshake, processing, and total time) Performance by cloud provider (AWS, IBM, Azure, and Google) Comparative analysis between different bank types (CMA9, traditional, and neobanks) Cloud provider comparison and other detailed findings Key takeaways and recommendations for various players in the ecosystem

13 January 2025 491 downloads

Event Report

AI’s Role in the US Financial Services Sector

How US organisations are balancing innovation and compliance The regulatory landscape for AI in the US is fragmented, with states proposing their own regulations. California’s recent attempt to regulate AI through SB1047, which included provisions for a kill switch and legal liabilities for tech companies, failed to pass. This illustrates the complexities and challenges in creating a unified regulatory framework across the country. Despite regulatory uncertainties, AI adoption in financial services is growing. About 50% of companies have embraced generative AI, while traditional AI applications have been integral for decades. AI has been crucial in areas such as anti-money laundering, fraud protection, and know-your-customer (KYC) processes. The full potential of AI in data management and client services is yet to be realised, with many applications still in internal testing stages. This report highlights the key takeaways of a discussion had during a Finextra webinar, hosted for the PREDICT 2025 campaign, by a panel of industry experts. It includes: An overview of how AI has been adopted across the US thus far; How generative AI has been integrated into banking; Primary concerns with AI use; and Regional perspectives and approaches to AI regulation.

08 January 2025 353 downloads

Impact Study

Catering to a new generation through unified card programmes

How Gen Z is changing the payments landscape, why operational costs are soaring, and how a unified card programme can help financial institutions to unlock a competitive advantage and drive growth. Globalisation continues to shape the market as money moves between banks, businesses and even countries quicker and in higher numbers than ever before. Both debit and credit cards remain vital in today’s payment experience but changing consumer demands and the surging popularity of neobanks leave traditional banks fighting for top-of-wallet status. On one hand, traditional banks are battling surging operational costs. From a functionality point of view, the world is getting smaller. Today, there is not much perceived difference to the consumer between debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid cards. Yet behind the scenes, many banks run each of these products in different platforms and set-ups, each racking up its own costs. Add to this mix services like personal loans/buy now, pay later (BNPL) schemes and increasing regulatory demands, you have created the perfect storm: Having to bolt on a new, disparate system every time the services are extended – which costs time, money, and adds high regulatory burden. On the other hand, the consumer expectations of a new generations are shaping the market. Gen Z’s preference for digital, seamless payment methods is changing the financial landscape and traditional banks need to adapt their service offerings in order to match these new demands. This impact study, produced in association with FIS, explores: Increasing cost pressures: Why operational costs are soaring How a new generation is shaping the payments landscape Tackling change: The benefits of a unified card programme Case studies: A practical approach to change Watch the on-demand Finextra webinar with FIS - Unifying card programmes: The cost-reduction imperative

06 December 2024 250 downloads

Event Report

Sustainable Finance Live – Natural Capital Finance

A Record from the Sustainable Finance Live Conference and Hackathon 2024 On 8 October 2024, Finextra Research and ResponsibleRisk held the annual Sustainable Finance Live hybrid conference and hackathon, in partnership with NayaOne. The conference took place at Events@ No6 in London, and started off with a welcome from founder of ResponsibleRisk and contributing editor for Finextra, Richard Peers. Peers opened with an introduction outlining the themes and objectives of this year’s event: to understand natural capital risk, pricing, and trade. The focus areas of the conference were natural capital, agriculture, supply chains, as well as regulation and reporting. The sessions also highlighted highlighting new technologies that are being used to collect nature-related data such as Earth observation and satellite reporting. Richard Peers, contributing editor at Finextra and founder of ResponsibleRisk, moderated the conference: “What we wanted to do is to put on an event aimed at explaining the landscape of a natural capital transaction, with the associated data providers identified along the way. Ending the process in an asset management trading platform, taking into consideration all the steps that a regulated entity has to undertake, to prove to the financial industry that this can be an asset class, that is as tradable as any other.” Download a Visual Record of the event below to discover key themes of the event’s panels, keynotes, and hackathon. We cover: Natural capital trading from field to trade; How nature financing can be achieved; The role of data, economic profit, and policy for natural capital; How to build a sustainable ecosystem using natural value; Visions and results from the hackathon; And more.

28 November 2024 143 downloads