What can payment providers – and specifically banks – do to stand out in an ecosystem where fintechs, market infrastructures, card schemes and tech players are all gaining ground?
This was one of the most keenly anticipated panel discussions at this year’s Sibos conference, one which saw representatives from Lloyds, DBS and Bank of America outline their strategies.
When deciding whether to continue with an existing payment provider or to test the market, businesses must take into account cost, transparency, customer support and customer experience, as well as the range of currencies or clearing methodologies offered.
“The user experience presents a real opportunity for differentiation by incorporating value-add services such as validating the beneficiary account, as we have seen in the UK with confirmation of payee,” said Oonagh McGrane, director financial institution commercialization, client products at Lloyds during the panel.
It is vital that payment services address the key factors of speed, cost-efficiency and transparency, whether that is a specific payment choice, lower cost, increased speed, or data that allows clients to track a payment end to end, suggests Will Artingstall, global co-head of cross-border payments at Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions.
“We also want to enable our clients to provide those services, which is why we enable many of these capabilities through APIs [application programming interfaces].”
