NEW YORK — BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and investment services, has issued a white paper that summarizes the transformational changes taking place in the payments space and analyzes survey results from more than 100 banks to describe the strategies being employed by banks to align themselves with the emerging payments environment.
Available on the BNY Mellon Web site, the new paper, entitled “Reinventing Payments in an Era of Modernization,” is coauthored by Tony Brady and Chris Mager, two experienced BNY Mellon bankers deeply involved in the company’s participation in the transformational changes taking place in global payments. Brady is head of global product management for BNY Mellon Treasury Services, and Mager is head of global innovation within BNY Mellon Treasury Services’ global product management group. The paper also features perspectives on payment modernization from Steve Ledford, senior vice president, product & strategy for The Clearing House; Wim Raymaekers, head of bank marketing for SWIFT; and an array of product experts and technologists from BNY Mellon who are playing important roles in the company’s development and deployment of new payment-related products and services.
Reviewing the factors that are driving the changes taking place in the payments space, the authors point out that ecommerce has radically changed consumer expectations regarding the levels of ease, efficiency and transparency that should surround transaction experiences. They also detail the challenges that the banking industry needs to overcome – notably network effect, the creation of standards conducive to integration and ongoing innovation, and regulatory compliance – in the development and deployment of payment innovations. The industry’s strategic response to these challenges is discussed under three broad headings: enhancements being undertaken by banks separately; initiatives being undertaken by banks collectively as part of industry groups; and the management of relationships with fintechs that range from competition to collaboration.
Bank clients have a great deal at stake in terms of understanding the strategy their bank is employing, and some of the study’s most interesting findings report on survey responses from banks that detail the level of engagement in payment innovation across the industry, attitudes of bank executives toward the principal client benefits of payment advances, and expectations on the part of survey participants in terms of the long terms prospects for fintechs in the payment space.
“The issuance of our white paper during the runup to this year’s Sibos event is no accident,” said Ian Stewart, executive vice president and chief executive officer of BNY Mellon’s Treasury Services business. “Payments are an absolutely core treasury services offering, and it’s incumbent on us as an industry to seize the moment and step up to client expectations in terms of their payment experience. We’re actively engaged not just in the collaborative projects being undertaken by banks to improve the delivery of payment services, but also in the industry’s larger discussion around how to best meet the needs of our clients. Our white paper will be an extremely useful resource in both regards.”
