Cash & Liquidity Management
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Digital Innovation in Cash Management 2018


Recognised as one of the most powerful women in banking, Diane S Reyes, HSBC’s Head of Global Liquidity & Cash Management talks to Helen Sanders, Editor, about the impact and potential of digitisation in cash management.


What would you say the distinctive characteristics of digitisation in cash management are today compared with a year or two ago?

The concept of digitisation of cash management is not new, and indeed substantial progress has already been made in recent years, but the vision is now truly becoming a reality. In the past, retail customers have tended to benefit first from emerging payment innovations compared with wholesale customers. However, the retail and wholesale customers are part of a single ecosystem and we all expect a comparable experience of banking in our personal and professional lives. Consequently, there is now significant convergence taking place between retail, small business, mid-market and corporate banking to align the functionality, convenience and value delivered through banking channels and payment innovations.

Mobile is a good example of this. Users download the HSBCnet Mobile app in the same way as any other mobile app, so adoption is seamless: a big difference from receiving packages in the mail with electronic banking software and tokens! In addition, a key characteristic of mobile banking in 2018 is that users do not simply consider it to be a tool to manage small transactions, but it is a core element of their banking communications. Over the past year alone, use of HSBCnet Mobile has grown by 38% by volume with a comparable growth in value. Recently we saw $2.6bn of transactions in a single week, and one transaction from a single client exceeded $1bn in size.

Not only are users benefiting from rich functionality and convenience through HSBCnet Mobile, but they are also able to enjoy the highest level of security with an increasing use of biometric technology. HSBC’s thumbprint access, Touch ID, is now live across 35 markets, with remarkable uptake. Thirty percent of clients in the UK and 40% in Australia downloaded this capability as soon as it was made available. HSBC is also a pioneer in the banking community of biometric tools, with voice recognition already in live operation and facial recognition now being piloted.