Some corporate banks have recently been losing clients to non-traditional providers of payment services. Others are wondering how best to tap into this important revenue opportunity during a period of rapid evolution. Either way there are some fundamental concepts that need to be incorporated when designing an extended online service. Disruptors have demonstrated the importance of creating digital solutions that make it easy for customers to conduct their payments fast and with full transparency. Fortunately, there is no exclusivity on functional excellence and more conventional banking providers are now benefiting from the lessons learnt.
In a survey last year, two-thirds of treasurers responding as dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with their bank’s electronic payments. The reasons for sticking with incumbent providers typically cited are trust and data security. Risk aversion is most strongly associated with some of the newer channels. For example, the 2017 AFP Payments and Fraud Control Survey found that “over 70 percent of corporate treasury and finance professionals are hesitant about adopting mobile payments at their organisations, as they question the security of this payment method.” However, these fears are not expressed about established banks that offer outstanding online payment services. So, while the disruptors are still building their reputations there remains an opportunity for banks to grow their corporate business with both existing and new clients.
Improving a bank’s electronic payments offering does not necessarily require a massive infrastructure overhaul. While many banks are transforming radically to remain competitive, the truth is many others struggle to justify both the significant project costs and disruption to daily business activities and procedures. In response, here at Eurobase we have worked with our clients to adopt strategies that provide incremental, prioritised improvements in integrating a proven yet fully customisable, online payment portal that allows seamless navigation from a payment perspective. This fully reflects sensitivities to continue existing trading processes while also rolling out additional services. Ensuring control and choice of liquidity connections also adds to project benefits.
In summary, there is no need to make drastic investments to remain competitive. Our clients are both saving money and acquiring new customers by providing simple user interfaces to their corporates that include secure, real-time pricing and visibility at each step of the transaction. Customer experience and brand loyalty are reinforced because by the time your end users see them they are no longer part of our solution, they are part of yours. Get in touch to see some examples or uncover further insights on the FinTech disruptor challenge by reading our white paper here.