Real-time Payments: A Roadmap for Banks

Executive Summary

Across the world, immediate payments systems and infrastructures are being planned or rolled out in more and more countries, following the success of schemes such as Faster Payments in the UK. This rising tide of immediate payments reflects growing consumer demand for real-time transactions, driven partly by the ubiquity of smartphones and other connected devices, which have catalysed consumer expectation for immediacy. With customers increasingly requiring ease, speed, convenience, security and always-on processing for their payments transactions, the momentum behind immediate payments is now unstoppable. This paper takes a close look at real-time payment initiatives—and examines how financial institutions and other participants can exploit this “once-in-a-generation” paradigm shift in the payments landscape both competitively and collaboratively.

What's inside:

• Seizing the Immediate Payments Opportunity
• How to Start the Journey
• An Opportunity to Think Differently About Payments
• A Roadmap to Get There
• Lessons Learned Along the Way
• Conclusion & Experience

How Banks Can Create the Right Strategy for Real-Time Payments

There are clear and compelling reasons for banks to offer real-time payment services. Customers who experience the best that digital provides in other industries, now increasingly want and expect instant access to monetary value. Growing customer expectations are also leading to a dramatic increase in the rate of launches of real-time payments systems in countries like Denmark, Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. Additionally, governments are increasing pressure on banks to collectively create a ubiquitous, nation-wide real-time payments system used by all financial institutions.

To move quickly and safely to adapt to this new real-time paradigm, banks can look to service providers who have gained experience through several similar schemes launched around the globe. Lessons learned through the breadth of such experience gained by Accenture and Finastra, both independently and collectively, are illustrated in this joint paper.

Strategic

One Australian Bank's Strategy for Its Participation in the New Payments Platform

• Create a great customer experience
• Seize the opportunity to create industry wide innovation and collaboration
• Look beyond the value transfer capability and create customer centric solutions for our customers