Although the title to this post in Forbes indicates something specific, it might be more accurate to say that banks are seeking opportunity anywhere they can find it. The piece refers to a recent survey of commercial banking executives around IT spending. It seems that the survey needs to be read for more detail, since the author touches on various subjects for which the supposed underpinning is RTP, but actually has a broader meaning.
“The introduction of RTP infrastructures internationally, combined with regulatory change, the rapid developments in open banking, and competition from technology-driven new market entrants, means that commercial banking systems – and the expectations of corporate customers – are changing more rapidly than ever before,” …
The broader point is the need for banks to provide digital capabilities that reflect the needs of their corporate constituents. To the extent that an Real-Time Payments offering helps to accomplish this is good, but in our estimation is only a piece to solving the larger puzzle. The posting does cover this with mentions of better cash forecasting, mobile capabilities, analytics, open banking, even suggesting modern payments infrastructure (i.e.; hubs) and so forth. So these are all related but also tangential points and services, each pointing towards digitizing bank product delivery. In point, payments infrastructure updates can facilitate a better RTP experience, but is basically a separate conversation.
“Corporate treasurers and other financial professional are increasingly used to accessing and managing their personal banking information via smartphones and expect to be able to do the same in their daily working lives with their business accounts. Banks who aren’t able to provide account data and enhanced payment data will be at a major disadvantage – a message that may US commercial banks seem to have taken on board,”
Since 2009 it is tougher to make a buck in this business, with monetary policy and regs having a fair amount of impact on ROA, so banks indeed continue to find revenue opportunities and cost savings in all aspects of product/service delivery.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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