The payments landscape is on the verge of a major transformation. All participants must step up to keep pace with the customer’s evolving expectations, says NatWest’s Marion King. Mohamed Dabo reports.
The players in the payments ecosystem are interconnected and dependent on one another, King, director of payments, NatWest told RBI.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe global payments industry is a vibrant community that brings together many types of stakeholders. “We can take some initiatives to come together as an industry to respond quickly and meaningfully to different situations we find ourselves in,” king said.
King, who was a speaker at the 35th annual Retail Banker International Conference and Awards, believe that meeting the challenges will take joint effort.
“The situation we find ourselves in, as an industry, is not just about the pandemic. It is also about major changes that are happening right now in our industry. Indeed, really exciting things are happening in the world of technology and regulation.”
We you bring all those things together, she said, such as open banking, you start to see the possibility of new business models, new partnerships, new innovation right across the industry.
Changes in customer expectations
All these factors are driving changes in customer expectations.
The way in which we interact, socialize, and transact is being disrupted by new technologies, new products, and innovative businesses.
“People expect to be able to transact anytime, anywhere. The expect the tools to be safe and simple to use. They expect certainty that their money goes where it’s supposed to go, in a timely and secure fashion.”
Customer adoption is, of course, integral to any financial innovation.
“We see everything moving now to real time., including real time monitoring of what we’re doing. That creates a huge opportunity and a shift in various aspects of managing capital, such as treasury management.”
These momentous changes are leading to the emergence of global standards. These standards will help improve transparency and disclosure requirements, as well as risk management processes and governance structures.
“What all that does is increase the opportunity for global interoperability, which is really exciting. It also provides a rich data source, so that payment data strategy can become a key part of what payment providers can bring in to their portfolio.”
She added that these benefits include better customer insight, better forward management, and keeping customers informed in a simple and intelligent ways.
“So, a lot is happening, which makes us a very vibrant market.”
“The payment industry is an ecosystem”
The payments marketplace will look fundamentally different a decade from now –new form factors, real-time infrastructure, greater levels of integration with social and commerce, among other aspects.
Disruption can be foreseen and managed. By embracing openness, driving organizational agility, and making smart bets in technology, disruption can and will be positive to the winners in the payments marketplace
“The payments industry is a network industry. One major section fails, we all fail. We all need to work together; it’s an ecosystem.”
The ecosystem works best when there is collaboration between players. Customer adoption requires smooth user experience. To achieve this, programs and payment solutions must be capable of working together.
“The key to an effective payments industry is ubiquity, whereby the customer knows that their payments will get to whoever they pay, wherever they are maybe. They don’t care how; they just need to be sure that it’s going to happen safely and securely.”
In search of equal protection for payment types
“Looking forward, in terms of strategy, we need to make sure as an industry that consumer protections for all payments types are the same—right now, they are not.”
There’s a protection mechanism that surround certain payments types.
It’s safe to use a credit card than it is to use a debit card. It’s safe to use a card than to use faster payments methods. Direct debit has a guarantee, and faster payments do not. They irrevocable payments.
She said this is challenge which become obvious during scams in the UK.
“Some of the work we are doing with pay.uk as an industry and with UK Finance is looking for ways to get that ubiquity again, where customers don’t have to think about which channel they’re using. Where they just know they’ll always be protected if something goes wrong.”
King believes the industry needs to “come together and collaborate to provide customers with what they need, and bring all our resources, skills and knowledge to bear to create a safe UK payments industry.”
Doing that, she said, “will help rebuild our economy—we’re certainly going to need that in the face of the looming recession.”
