Some 80% of corporate treasurers in territories with no real-time payments (RTP) infrastructures would change banks to secure more advanced services, new figures reveal.
Published in a survey report by banking software specialists Temenos and research firm Ovum, the findings show that the most desired facility among treasurers in those countries is RTP tracking.
According to the report, almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents based in the relevant areas are eager to have that tool under their belts.
The figure chimes exactly with a recent SWIFT survey, which also found that 64% of treasurers put RTP tracking at the top of their wish lists.
Overall, the findings demonstrate the value of banks keeping pace with the technological evolution of the financial system – most importantly, by providing state-of-the-art service offerings.
“Corporate treasures face a host of challenges by the nature of their role,” says the report, “from FX volatility to geopolitical factors to dealing with multiple relationships with customers, suppliers and intermediaries.
“Managing this complexity is an accepted part of life for them – but it need not be exacerbated by their bankers.”
The report notes: “While RTP capability allows banks to address some of the immediate challenges facing corporates, the availability of RTP and balance information raises the expectations that corporates have around their wider banking experience.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, once corporate treasurers see enhancements in some areas of their banking services, they expect (or at least hope) to see their challenges in other areas also addressed.”
Pain stemming from the complexity of managing multiple accounts, the report explains, only increases once RTP shows what is possible.
“At a global level,” it says, “83% of corporates in RTP countries cite this as a challenge, compared to 76% in non-RTP countries.
“There are signs that some of the largest banks are addressing this through the introduction of account aggregation capabilities using APIs, in which Bank A will allow its corporate customers to import account data held at Banks B to Z into their Bank A internet or mobile banking service.”
At the same time, the report says, “demand for easy access to account data also increases. The proportion of treasurers who would like better access to their transaction information is 77% in markets with real-time infrastructure, compared to 72% in other markets.”
It adds: “While this is clearly a critical issue for treasurers everywhere, it’s clear that banks need to do more than simply put real-time in place.
“They need to invest in additional services on top of the infrastructure in order to address the core needs of corporate customers by renovating their systems to offer true, front-to-back, seamless platforms.”
The report found that RTP has added value to corporates in a number of key areas:
Ovum principal analyst David Bannister said: “Corporate banks are responding to the ever-changing landscape of banking and the move from batch to real-time. But they are often still driven by regulation, and are still grappling with the issues of ageing legacy systems and a tangle of bolted-together, in-house developments.
“This report… provides insight into the priorities and attitudes of today’s corporate treasurer and shows where the banks that service them need to invest in order to satisfy their needs.”