This piece is posted in Banker and Tradesman and speaks to summary results for a recent survey conducted by Citizens, the Providence-based regional FI, which centers upon corporate reasons for seeking and retaining bank relationships. One of the key findings, at least from the constituency of responders to this survey, is that real-time payments is a catalyst for corporate relationships with their banks. This is something that would not have been true 2-3 years ago, but given that TCH has been adding a substantial number of connected banks to the RTP network during the pandemic timeframe, it makes sense that use cases are growing.
‘Citizens’ nationwide survey of 260 corporate decision-makers found that 85 percent of respondents cited a bank’s real-time payments capabilities as the most important factor when deciding on a banking partner. This was the first time that real-time payments was the top factor in the annual survey, Citizens said in a statement. Other factors included the ability to provide the lowest-cost financing and a bank’s expertise in the firm’s industry….Providence-based Citizens is among the U.S. banks and credit unions that have joined the RTP network, created by The Clearing House. The network allows customers to make payments electronically and have the funds move instantaneously from one account to another. The transaction includes information about the payment, so recipients know where the money came from and the reason for the payment. The Federal Reserve expects to launch its own real-time payments network, Fed Now, in 2023.’
In general, it seems that corporates are expecting their banks to keep them at the forefront of the rapidly advancing technology gains in financial operations. This may be somewhat counter-intuitive given the growth of non-traditional services, but also supports the FSI movement to the cloud, which we have summarized in recent member research. Corporates are interested in more self service capabilities and there is also a key finding around the desire for greater mobility as it relates to treasury management platforms.
‘Business leaders expect banks to continue to upgrade technology, with 83 percent of respondents saying they expect their bank to leverage the latest technological tools to help their business compete. And 83 percent expect their bank to provide their business with more self-service capabilities where needed….The survey also found that 73 percent of respondents were interested in having a secure mobile-optimized treasury management platform. Of those who use treasury management platforms as part of their day-to-day work, nearly nearly 40 percent expressed frustration with their current technology solution, according to the statement, saying that the majority of their time spent working with their treasury management platform could be more productive….Respondents most often cited security as the feature that should be improved or added to their current treasury management platform.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
