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  user 3:36 pm on October 6, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, APAC ( 3 ), banking ( 225 ), banks ( 784 ), Brave ( 4 ), fintech ( 1,103 ), Malaysia ( 4 ), Open ( 63 ), technology ( 921 ), world ( 28 )   

  The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Malaysia 

  Following the rollout of #Open #Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable #banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts.

  

  Regulatory Developments

  As in Singapore, #Malaysia’s approach to Open Banking, while less comprehensive than that of its city-state neighbour, has been to establish a non-mandatory framework and to support banking transformation with the creation of implementation teams. There are currently no timelines for implementation.

  Malaysia’s central bank and principal financial services regulator, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), established a Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG) in June 2016 to support innovations in the sector. The FTEG is responsible for formulating and enhancing regulatory policies related to the adoption of new #technology in financial services in the country. Accordingly, in mid-2017 it launched a #Fintech Regulatory Sandbox framework to allow the testing of applicable technology, including Open Banking.

  In its final quarterly bulletin of 2017 [PDF], BNM focused on open APIs and their potential impact on the country’s financial sector, promising to establish an Open API Implementation Group in early 2018. This was set up in March, with a remit to develop standards on open data, security, access rights and oversight arrangements for TPPs, and to review existing regulations covering controls on customer information.

  Also in March, the BNM set up an Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF), which promotes collaborative competition for mobile payments.

  Key market initiatives, opportunities & risks

  The government is prioritising the impact of new technology on the banking sector, with insurers and government agencies a secondary focus. Banks have already seen the opportunities and risks, with some acting to anticipate and benefit from the impact of the country’s vibrant fintech scene, although in the main they lack the capabilities to launch and scale open APIs.

  CIMB, for instance, launched its fintech incubation programme as early as 2015, targeting and mentoring startups for their API platforms. The bank subsequently released a point-of-sale and payments platform. Standard Chartered in early 2017 launched a global developer sandbox with limited API capabilities. Later that year, Maybank also launched a developer portal equipped with 20 APIs, enabling 85 differing operations. Hong Leong Bank, meanwhile, runs a “LaunchPad” contest to develop innovations, which led to the successful launch of five applications in its first year.

  Another significant development that banks in Malaysia seized on was BNM’s granting in December 2017 of an e-money license to WeChat Pay, the payments platform run by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Hong Leong Bank, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB subsequently partnered with WeChat Pay.

  Partnering with fintech innovators is one way banks in Malaysia are monetising Open Banking APIs; bank-specific POS systems have also been sold with payment-API connectivity. Predetermined pricing models—subscriptions, per-call and flat rate charges—have also been used. So far, successful open API use cases such as Maybank’s Treats Card app, on the Maybank2u platform, have been focused on retail customers.

  

  Several global, regional and Malaysian banks have granted developers access to their APIs via publicly available developer portals and sandboxes. Maybank, OCBC and DBS have advertised various applications and partnerships that have arisen from the use of their developer platforms. Some other banks, such as CIMB and Hong Leong, have been more selective, privately choosing which fintechs can access their APIs.

  The use of developer portals and individual selection means that Malaysia has a number of siloed Open Banking use cases and products. The country’s Open Banking future will depend on how banks, fintechs and regulators develop a common framework and infrastructure that supports a cohesive ecosystem. The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), has been established to do exactly that.

  AFIN, which is supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Finance Corporation, aims to accelerate fintech innovation, digital transformation and build an Open Banking ecosystem across the region. This gives Malaysian fintechs and banks the opportunity to develop the infrastructure and capabilities with other geographies to support a regional Open Banking ecosystem.

  Like Singapore, there are risks in Malaysia’s approach: without enforced compliance, the standardisation and adoption of APIs across the country could prove difficult. There is also uncertainty around when the Malaysian authorities will impose regulation.

  In Malaysia as well, further opportunities will present themselves to drive retail and SME customer adoption with additional services and reduce the cost of servicing banks’ customer bases. Ecosystem platforms for real-time data sharing between banks and regulators will enable new use cases and shared revenue models—and, ultimately, enable banks to build their own TPP services using their competitors’ APIs.

  This article was written in collaboration with Ewa Wojcik, Sam Waldman and Hakan Eroglu. Many thanks for their input, research and analysis.

   

  Accenture at Sibos

  We’ll be discussing Open Banking and other topics at Sibos. Come see us at our booth and join us in the conversation around enabling the digital economy. Keep up to date on all the latest from us around Sibos right here on the blog.

   

  The post The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Malaysia appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   

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  user 3:36 pm on October 6, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, APAC ( 3 ), banking ( 225 ), banks ( 784 ), Brave ( 4 ), fintech ( 1,103 ), Malaysia ( 4 ), Open ( 63 ), technology ( 921 ), world ( 28 )   

  The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Malaysia 

  Following the rollout of #Open #Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable #banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts.

  

  Regulatory Developments

  As in Singapore, #Malaysia’s approach to Open Banking, while less comprehensive than that of its city-state neighbour, has been to establish a non-mandatory framework and to support banking transformation with the creation of implementation teams. There are currently no timelines for implementation.

  Malaysia’s central bank and principal financial services regulator, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), established a Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG) in June 2016 to support innovations in the sector. The FTEG is responsible for formulating and enhancing regulatory policies related to the adoption of new #technology in financial services in the country. Accordingly, in mid-2017 it launched a #Fintech Regulatory Sandbox framework to allow the testing of applicable technology, including Open Banking.

  In its final quarterly bulletin of 2017 [PDF], BNM focused on open APIs and their potential impact on the country’s financial sector, promising to establish an Open API Implementation Group in early 2018. This was set up in March, with a remit to develop standards on open data, security, access rights and oversight arrangements for TPPs, and to review existing regulations covering controls on customer information.

  Also in March, the BNM set up an Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF), which promotes collaborative competition for mobile payments.

  Key market initiatives, opportunities & risks

  The government is prioritising the impact of new technology on the banking sector, with insurers and government agencies a secondary focus. Banks have already seen the opportunities and risks, with some acting to anticipate and benefit from the impact of the country’s vibrant fintech scene, although in the main they lack the capabilities to launch and scale open APIs.

  CIMB, for instance, launched its fintech incubation programme as early as 2015, targeting and mentoring startups for their API platforms. The bank subsequently released a point-of-sale and payments platform. Standard Chartered in early 2017 launched a global developer sandbox with limited API capabilities. Later that year, Maybank also launched a developer portal equipped with 20 APIs, enabling 85 differing operations. Hong Leong Bank, meanwhile, runs a “LaunchPad” contest to develop innovations, which led to the successful launch of five applications in its first year.

  Another significant development that banks in Malaysia seized on was BNM’s granting in December 2017 of an e-money license to WeChat Pay, the payments platform run by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Hong Leong Bank, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB subsequently partnered with WeChat Pay.

  Partnering with fintech innovators is one way banks in Malaysia are monetising Open Banking APIs; bank-specific POS systems have also been sold with payment-API connectivity. Predetermined pricing models—subscriptions, per-call and flat rate charges—have also been used. So far, successful open API use cases such as Maybank’s Treats Card app, on the Maybank2u platform, have been focused on retail customers.

  

  Several global, regional and Malaysian banks have granted developers access to their APIs via publicly available developer portals and sandboxes. Maybank, OCBC and DBS have advertised various applications and partnerships that have arisen from the use of their developer platforms. Some other banks, such as CIMB and Hong Leong, have been more selective, privately choosing which fintechs can access their APIs.

  The use of developer portals and individual selection means that Malaysia has a number of siloed Open Banking use cases and products. The country’s Open Banking future will depend on how banks, fintechs and regulators develop a common framework and infrastructure that supports a cohesive ecosystem. The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), has been established to do exactly that.

  AFIN, which is supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Finance Corporation, aims to accelerate fintech innovation, digital transformation and build an Open Banking ecosystem across the region. This gives Malaysian fintechs and banks the opportunity to develop the infrastructure and capabilities with other geographies to support a regional Open Banking ecosystem.

  Like Singapore, there are risks in Malaysia’s approach: without enforced compliance, the standardisation and adoption of APIs across the country could prove difficult. There is also uncertainty around when the Malaysian authorities will impose regulation.

  In Malaysia as well, further opportunities will present themselves to drive retail and SME customer adoption with additional services and reduce the cost of servicing banks’ customer bases. Ecosystem platforms for real-time data sharing between banks and regulators will enable new use cases and shared revenue models—and, ultimately, enable banks to build their own TPP services using their competitors’ APIs.

  This article was written in collaboration with Ewa Wojcik, Sam Waldman and Hakan Eroglu. Many thanks for their input, research and analysis.

   

  Accenture at Sibos

  We’ll be discussing Open Banking and other topics at Sibos. Come see us at our booth and join us in the conversation around enabling the digital economy. Keep up to date on all the latest from us around Sibos right here on the blog.

   

  The post The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Malaysia appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   
• 

  user 3:35 pm on September 30, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, APAC ( 3 ), banking ( 225 ), banks ( 784 ), Brave ( 4 ), fintech ( 1,103 ), Open ( 63 ), singapore ( 6 ), technology ( 921 ), world ( 28 )   

  The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Singapore 

  Following the rollout of #Open #Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable #banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts.

  

  Regulatory developments

  #Singapore’s approach has matured rapidly to make the city one of the leading jurisdictions for Open Banking in the region. The groundwork was done as early as 2014, under the government’s Smart Nation Singapore initiative to drive the adoption of new digital technologies, starting with open data and payments.

  In November 2016 the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in collaboration with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), published a comprehensive roadmap—Finance-as-a-Service: API Playbook—which, in effect, set the gold standard for regulatory advice on the topic in Asia. The playbook set out a comprehensive framework that introduced governance, implementation, use cases and design principles for application programming interfaces (APIs), together with a list of over 400 recommended APIs and over 5,600 processes for their development.

  

  In May 2017 MAS, the International Finance Corporation and the ASEAN Bankers Association launched the ASEAN #Fintech Innovation Network. AFIN aims to accelerate financial sector development, boost access to finance, improve the customisability of products and reduce banking costs in the region. AFIN is scheduled to launch their Industry Sandbox, which will sit between banks and fintechs, in late 2018. This interoperable and scalable infrastructure will act as a method to standardise banking infrastructure and data while also allowing institutions to test applications.

  The launch in September 2017 of the Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) nationwide payments service, including the NETSPay eWallet, was another major milestone. Also in late 2017, the government built an API Exchange (APEX) to serve as a centralised data-sharing platform, which allows government agencies across the city to share data securely through APIs. It has also established a Financial Industry API Register, updated semi-annually, which tracks APIs by functional category as they are launched.

  The approach of Singapore’s authorities to Open Banking has been characterised by a willingness to shape innovation with a comprehensive, non-mandatory regulation and governance framework; to lead by example by opening their own data for APIs, and to establish scalable data practices and a payments infrastructure that underpin innovation in the area. MAS officials have preferred not to force the issue and to approach the development of Open Banking services in an organic fashion, according to comments made in recent media interviews. There is no specific timeline mandated for compliance or adoption.

  Key initiatives, opportunities & risks

  The reason for the regulatory light touch is principally because banks in Singapore see the opportunities of the #technology and are already keenly pursuing them, with competition driving innovation.

  DBS, for instance, launched an Innovation Plan in mid-2015 that had over 1,000 experiments in APIs, cloud computing, microservice architecture and Machine Learning. In May 2016, OCBC Bank launched the first open API developer platform in Asia, Connect2OCBC. CitiBank’s Global Developer Hub opened its first platform in Singapore in late 2016; Standard Chartered did so in early 2017, and DBS in November that year launched an API platform with more than 20 categories and 155 functions. More recently UOB announced plans to launch an open, digital-only bank.

  So far these efforts have been characterised by a focus on retail opportunities, with competition driving banks to move quickly and establish large API platforms while also releasing novel products that showcase Open Banking capabilities.

  Many banks in Singapore, unlike elsewhere in the region, have partnered with fintechs and developers to launch applications that use their publicly available APIs. One example is Standard Chartered’s The Good Life service, which provides its Singapore customers with an ecosystem of merchants that offer deals, alternative payment methods and reward-point options. UOB, by contrast, has been more selective: instead of launching a public developer platform, it has selected specific fintechs and launched applications that leverage their APIs.

  Banks in Singapore have monetised their APIs through a combination of private partnerships with third-party platforms, predetermined pricing models (including subscriptions, per-call and flat-rate charges) and also pricing models determined by sales functions.

  There are risks in Singapore’s approach: Without enforced compliance, API standardisation across the country is difficult. There is also uncertainty around when the MAS will impose regulation.

  Nevertheless, further opportunities will present themselves to drive retail and SME customer adoption with additional services and reduce the cost of servicing banks’ customer bases. Ecosystem platforms for real-time data sharing between banks and regulators will enable new use cases and shared revenue models—and, ultimately, enable banks to build their own TPP services using their competitors’ APIs.

   

  Accenture at Sibos

  We’ll be discussing Open Banking and other topics at Sibos. Come see us at our booth and join us in the conversation around enabling the digital economy. Keep up to date on all the latest from us around Sibos right here on the blog.

   

  The post The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Singapore appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   
• 

  user 3:35 pm on September 21, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, banking ( 225 ), banks ( 784 ), Open ( 63 ), regulation ( 16 )   

  The art of Open Banking regulation 

  Taking Europe as a blueprint, other jurisdictions are now using #Open #Banking as an accelerator to meet their own specific goals, which include increasing competition, reducing costs, fostering innovation and addressing consumer rights.

  Some of the most prominent regulations globally include:

  • PSD2 in the European Union
  • CMA Open Banking in the UK
  • HKMA Open API in Hong Kong
  • Australia Treasury Open Banking
  • Other countries in Asia Pacific (e.g. Japan, Malaysia), North America (e.g. US, Canada) and Latin America (e.g. Brazil, Mexico) are currently investigating Open Banking regulations.

  In some cases, the regulations are moderate and favor the banking industry, while others more aggressively favor competition, which could potentially threaten #banks’ existing business models and revenues.

  To some degree this depends on which of the multiple levers regulators use to achieve their specific goals, including:

  • Target group: Are all banks regulated or a selected set of banks?
  • Product scope: What banking products are targeted? The more products are affected, the more banks will have to find strategies to defend their existing business or take a leader position by innovating themselves.
  • Use cases and access types: What type of use cases and access operations can be performed on the regulated products? Banks could lose their role as the trusted gatekeeper for customers, particularly where regulations require banks to open their networks to allow third parties to initiate transactions.
  • Cost of usage: What are the costs for third-party providers to use the APIs? Most regulations require banks to open up access for free: in such cases, banks need to find ways to monetize Open Banking.
  • Level of openness: Who has access to the APIs? In some cases, regulations allow TPPs to register with the authorities once and gain access to banks’ APIs without any contractual agreements or bank-specific registration processes.
  • Level of market involvement: Who is involved in designing the #regulation? Are banks’ concerns and ambitions taken into account?
  • API standards and infrastructure: Who is designing API and security standards and building the central infrastructure for the market? This is vital: multiple standardization initiatives could lead to fragmentation of standards and directory services.

  How should banks act now?

  As Open Banking rolls out worldwide, regulators are watching developments closely to learn best practices and implement a regime that will best meet their goals. However, too much regulation could threaten banks’ revenues and jeopardize their financial stability—which is not in regulators’ interests.

  The art of Open Banking regulation is in finding the right balance between regulation and market dynamics. Banks in both regulated and unregulated markets should join forces now to take the lead in self-regulating rather being forced to act.

  Read my complete article at Finextra for more insights and share your views.

   

  Accenture at Sibos

  We’ll be discussing Open Banking and other topics at Sibos. Come see us at our booth and join us in the conversation around enabling the digital economy. Keep up to date on all the latest from us around Sibos right here on the blog.

   

  The post The art of Open Banking regulation appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   
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  user 3:35 am on September 20, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 000000 ( 7 ), 7500c0, crucial, market ( 41 ), payments ( 197 ), Retail ( 8 ), shifts, technology ( 921 )   

  Retail payments: 5 crucial market shifts 

  I always like to start from the beginning. So, let me begin my blog by introducing myself. I recently joined Accenture to lead our North America #Payments practice. After more than 30 years in financial services—much of it working with companies across the #retail and commercial payments value chains—I am no stranger to change.

  But in today’s era of digital payments, it is not just velocity of change but the scale that brings with it both opportunity and peril. It is exhilarating, but can be overwhelming. My focus is helping payments players make sense of it all, so they can harness the potential of digital payments to drive their businesses forward.

  
  Retail payments is in the thick of digital disruption. That should be no surprise. Digital is reinventing daily life fast—how we watch, listen, talk, shop, travel, ride and connect. It is a powerful and profound force of change. One that is ubiquitous for everyone. The combination of consumer demand, evolving technologies and retail #market dynamics is creating a new future for retail payments with digital payments at the core.

  These are the five #crucial market #shifts to watch:

  1. Mobile jumps on the S-curve

     Remember when you joined Facebook or made your first online banking transaction? I bet you did it from a desktop computer. I also bet that today, you check social media and bank from your smartphone. This is the trajectory of digital #technology adoption. All roads lead to mobile. While US consumers haven’t embraced mobile payments with the gusto we expected considering their smartphone obsession, a tipping point is near. Accenture research shows that 64 percent of North American consumers plan to use a mobile wallet in 2020—a 39 percent rise in the user base in three years.¹

     This is a pivotal moment for payments players. Should they double down on the inevitability of mobile as THE consumer access point or move more deliberatively? History offers a cautionary tale. From Blockbuster and Napster to Borders and Polaroid, there’s a graveyard of companies that took a wait-and-see approach to digital disruption. Digital economies tend to scale toward natural monopolies with most markets consolidating into a handful of winners—Amazon owns nearly half of the US e-commerce market.² I expect this consolidation to occur in mobile payments too. That’s why payments players should act now to create mobile payments experiences that capture consumer’s hearts—and wallets.

  2. The great vanishing act

     Consumers want payment transactions to disappear. Uber, Amazon and countless online subscription companies have shown that making a payment can be seamless and convenient. So much so that the payment becomes invisible. Consumer interest in frictionless payments is palpable driving recency, frequency and monetary value to digital payment savvy retailers. Consider that visits to US restaurants where payment is by mobile app jumped by more than 50 percent over the last year.³ I expect this interest across all retail categories to gain momentum fast.

     But the payments industry has work to do to meet consumers’ expectations. Today, the payment transaction is often the speed bump—actually, the rush-hour traffic jam—in the retail experience. Research reveals that consumers loathe complex checkouts. In fact, they will not stand for them. Eighty-seven percent of online shoppers abandon their carts due to complex checkout. And over half (55 percent) would not just leave their carts, they would never come back to that retailer’s site.⁴ The time has come for payments players to make invisible payments a visible priority.

  3. RIP, channels

     Traditionally, companies were built in a linear fashion with stores, call centers, online and mobile—a maze of departments, functional areas and channels. These silos reflect organizational structures and internal complexities, not consumer mindsets and behaviors. Put simply, channels are about companies, not consumers.

     When consumers interact with payments companies and merchants, they want to learn about a product, buy a product, or service a product. They want to do this on their own terms. And in the digital era, they have countless options to do so. For payments players to be truly customer-centric, they have to stop being product- and channel-centric. They must kill channels as we know them, driving integration and absorbing complexity to provide simple, streamlined experiences to consumers. Integration must be so seamless that channels stop existing. Rest in peace.

  4. Recognize. Remember. Recommend. Reward.

     The three Rs of education are reading, writing, and arithmetic. The four Rs of the customer-centric business model: recognize me regardless of my entry point and device, remember my history of interactions, recommend relevant products and services, and reward me for my loyalty. There’s been a wake-up call for payments providers in recent years related to these four Rs. The old days of focusing purely on payments transactions are no more. After all, the digital economy is an experience economy. More and more, the customer (and merchant) experience is becoming a critical differentiator in retail payments.

     As payments players develop customer experiences beyond the transaction—such as providing advisory or expense management services, offering a single view of account information, or curating real-time rewards and deals through partner networks—they should look to digital powerhouses that excel in customer experience. Amazon is a leader. The company recognizes and remembers consumers every time, recommends products they will love, and rewards them. The benefits are mutual. Amazon Prime members spend about $ 1,300 more each year than non-members.⁵

  5. Security&8217;s silver lining

     There is not a more serious or consequential issue for payments players than security. Without it, nothing else matters. A day does not seem to go by that there isn’t news of a breach. As cutting-edge as their technologies are, even digital-born companies like Facebook and Google are not immune.

     There is a silver lining in this storm for traditional financial institutions. Security is never absolute, and criminals are always getting better at being bad. Protecting data is central to the industry. It always has been. Compare this to the fact that digital competitors have built their business models on packaging and selling data, not on protecting it. The clarion call for payments players is to double down on security, to keep innovating to protect data while it is stored, and while it is in flight. Tokenization is the gold standard now. Expect biometrics and continued migration to multi-factor authentication to be the next wave.

  In future blogs, I will explore these market shifts in detail and how new players are taking advantage of them. In the meantime, I hope to see you at Money 20/20 where Accenture will share more insights on what’s next in digital payments.

   

  ¹ Accenture, “Driving the Future of Payments: 10 Mega Trends” 2017
  ² Ingrid Lunden, “Amazon’s Share of the US E-Commerce Market is now 49%, or 5% of all Retail Spend” 7/13/2018
  ³ NPD Group, “In a Slow Market, US Restaurant Operators Step it Up by Offering Consumers Digitally-Enabled Convenience” 3/13/2018
  ⁴ James Melton, “Getting the Online Checkout Process Wrong Can Be Costly, Research Shows” 8/13/2018
  ⁵ Beth Braverman, “Amazon Prime Members Spend More on the Site— a Lot More” 7/7/2017

  The post Retail payments: 5 crucial market shifts appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   
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  user 3:35 pm on August 28, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, banking ( 225 ), banks ( 784 ), defining, doomed, from ( 89 ), Moment ( 5 ), Open ( 63 ), Start ( 6 ), technology ( 921 )   

  Open Banking: defining moment or doomed from the start? 

  The impending arrival of #Open #Banking in Australia may not be news to many in the financial industry. But judging by research we conducted recently, it certainly is to everyday consumers. Of the approximately 2,000 consumers we surveyed, a mere 17 percent were aware the government is implementing new Open Banking laws that will allow them to grant more third parties access to their financial information.

  The poll also showed consumers are concerned about the management of their money and financial data, and that although the whole idea of Open Banking is to have more of that data flowing to companies outside the financial sector so they can use it as a building block for innovative consumer-led products and services, people aren’t necessarily inclined to let that happen in practice. Just 17 percent said they would be willing to share banking data with non-bank third parties—even if they would benefit as a result.

  A question of trust

  All this may seem like a pretty grim indictment of an initiative that’s less than a year away and supposedly destined to reshape the financial landscape. The data certainly indicates there’s some work to be done in terms of educating consumers about what Open Banking entails and its implications. It may even cause some bankers to throw up their hands and wonder whether the whole thing is worth the effort, or dismiss Open Banking as just another regulatory box to tick. But that would be a mistake. And here’s why.

  Australians may be deeply protective of their financial data—but they also seem to trust their #banks with it more than anyone else. Over 80 percent of those surveyed said they would only trust their bank with their financial data, and just 20 percent said they would be open to giving that data to a #start-up, a large #technology company or a retailer—again, even if there were an incentive to do so.

  Be that as it may, many of these companies will be watching Open Banking closely and looking to develop exciting new products and tools that take full advantage of the new regime. Those products and tools may run up against consumer resistance initially, but if there’s one thing consumers value as much as security, it’s convenience. This is particularly true of an emerging category of banking customer we call the ‘Nomads’: digitally savvy, demanding and accustomed to getting services on demand. These are the needs third parties will be looking to meet—and that banks themselves will increasingly have to deliver on in the future.

  The relative trust that banks enjoy—and the fact that consumers may be slow to share their data with other organisations—gives banks a solid head start in the race to innovate on the back of the data Open Banking makes available. It’s up to banks to maintain and build on that lead by quickly developing targeted, on-demand services that address real customer pain points. Failing to act on the possibilities of Open Banking will eventually result in those customers—and their data—migrating elsewhere.

  Of course, not all Open Banking-based experiments will succeed. But with other organisations trying, and change all but inevitable, a certain degree of boldness is required. Banks shouldn’t be afraid to try, test and fail. These are exciting times for the industry—even if most Australian consumers don’t know it yet.

   

  Accenture at Sibos

  We’ll be discussing Open Banking and other topics at Sibos. Come see us at our booth and join us in the conversation around enabling the digital economy. Keep up to date on all the latest from us around Sibos right here on the blog.

   

  The post Open Banking: defining moment or doomed from the start? appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

  Accenture Banking Blog

   
• 

  user 3:35 am on July 22, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 7500c0, APIs ( 26 ), banks ( 784 ), Enabler ( 2 ), financial ( 121 ), Services ( 53 ), technology ( 921 ), transformation ( 14 )   

  APIs: An enabler for transformation in financial services 

  Guest blogger Conrad Sheehan shines a light on the emergence of #APIs as innovation drivers.

  The adoption of powerful, open application programming interfaces (APIs) provides an opportunity to shape product innovation and partnerships across #financial #services, particularly in the payments industry.

  APIs are the connectors, making it possible for producers, consumers, products and services to connect and create value. #Banks, payment service providers, fintechs, and other financial services-related companies are using them to expose business data, functionality and services to the outside world—stretching beyond their customary internal borders to create broader, unique business partnerships. It is how financial institutions are beginning to establish themselves as an integral part of a full, rich ecosystem. Indeed, APIs represent new opportunities to enable and accelerate #transformation of financial services in highly efficient ways to deliver enhanced customer experiences.

  Figure 1: How APIs work

  

  Both regulation and market demand around the globe are influencing and shaping perspectives of Open Banking API product innovation in local markets. The European Union’s revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), for example, is one of the most notable acts of regulation that aims at nurturing innovation, competition and data sharing in ways that better serve customers. PSD2 sparked similar legislative action in Australia and Hong Kong to create an open environment for their financial services markets. In the US, NACHA’s API Standardization Industry Group is an example of a market-driven initiative focused on defining API standards in payments. The ability of APIs to enable payments players to deliver more valuable, customer-focused payments experiences and find engaging ways to offer true value beyond the transaction itself continues to fuel demand across the digital ecosystem.

  I was delighted to participate recently in a panel discussion at SWIFT’s Latin America Regional Conference 2018. When polled about API enablement, 70 percent of the audience indicated that their organizations are using APIs. The audience also shared about the areas that APIs are helping facilitate: internal #technology (25 percent), third-party integration (18 percent), and business flows (8 percent); nearly half (49 percent) answered “all”. The results further highlight that APIs have evolved from back office to front office and are enablers of third-party partnerships. Panel participants articulated that it is essential to start with strategy, and while organizations are competing, that there is a need for standards. The discussion also emphasized the importance of being mindful of trust, security and data protection as well as learning from initiatives around the globe in markets such as Asia that are leading innovation. Throughout the conference, there were other discussions about APIs such as SWIFT global payments innovation, which has APIs for banks to integrate the payment tracker into their channels. There are countless examples of APIs as products emerging from Open Banking and as propriety offerings across financial services.

  We see five key benefits of APIs as building blocks for the transformation of payments and financial services overall:

  • Productization. In the increasingly open financial services industry, an API is more than simply a means to access back-end services. It is a product in and of itself that providers can monetize and set as a foundation for other new services.
  • Collaboration. Some of the most popular (and profitable) uses of APIs result from third-party developers working together and creating apps that define new markets and create new revenue streams.
  • Enabling “API First”. For a digital business, it’s all about how you engage with API consumers—providing exactly the data they need, in the format they want to use.
  • Speed to Market. APIs can be provisioned quickly, often with minimal back-end refactoring required.
  • Security. The leading API Gateways have been vetted for security and are compliant in many areas (PCI, HIPAA, etc.) They also offer OAuth and LDAP support.

  As organizations seek to adopt digital business models, they need to ensure that everything and everyone can interact with what they have to offer. It’s no longer just about enabling mobile apps or even embracing the Internet of Things. It’s about having an API-driven ecosystem that can power your digital business and provide stakeholders the information they require in a faster world.

  Read more of our insights on open APIs in Driving the Future of Payments and The Brave New World of Open Banking

   

  Conrad Sheehan,
  Managing Director – Payments

  

   

   

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  user 3:35 am on May 5, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 000000 ( 7 ), 7500c0, banks ( 784 ), Need ( 29 ), Talk ( 4 ), technology ( 921 )   

  Banks: We need to talk 

  Forget mobile apps—#banks #need to start talking to customers

  As part of our guest blog series, Accenture Nordic Banking Practice Lead Satu Pulkkinen explores how banks can take the next step in evolving customer relations. 

  First came online and mobile banks, with Nordic banks leading the way. The next wave of digital banking? The conversational bank that operates within messaging applications. #Technology that can see and hear us, continuously growing ecosystems around increasingly popular messaging applications, as well as the amazing progress of artificial intelligence (AI), are enabling personalized, fully digital banking assistants that you can #talk to anytime, anyplace.

  Technology is an integral part of our daily lives. Increasingly, devices that used to simply respond to our commands and actions can now also hear and see us. We use mobile applications for almost everything, especially instant messaging. Since the beginning of 2015, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat have become the world&8217;s most used social media applications.

  Over 60 percent of customers prefer messaging applications over email or phone calls. And we are moving on from using several different mobile applications to services that are integrated within ecosystems of those applications.

  Towards digital assistants with human understanding

  The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, like machine learning and deep learning, has progressed at such a pace that the chatbots many Nordic banks use today are already starting to look outdated. As AI technologies continue to mature, bots will become even more human-like.

  The increased volume of data and number of analytic tools create the possibility of offering individualized digital services on a mass scale. This has already led us as customers to expect each digital interaction to be as good as our best last experience—regardless of the brand or industry in question.

  The result is a bank that can talk

  Conversational banking exploits these technology trends in an intelligent way. Banking bots within messaging applications and virtual assistants (like Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant) connect cost savings brought by the previous generation’s online and mobile banks, with the personal touch previously provided by bank clerks.

  

  What is behind all this progress? Talking is natural for people. Complex language and communication separate humans from other animal species. Stories form the cornerstones of civilizations. Talking is, therefore, genetically encoded in all of us.

  In much the same way, messaging applications are natural to current mobile devices. These applications are easy and fun—and effortless to use, even on the move. We can type or speak and we can hold one- or two-way, personal or group conversations.

  Therefore, brands have rushed to embrace messaging applications. For example, Facebook Messenger has over 33,000 bots offering customer assistance and counseling as well as providing interactive experiences. And we seem to like them: over 60 percent of consumers use messaging applications to communicate with brands.

  Paying the bills or looking for investment tips—all accessible from your couch just by using your voice

  For example, in the future, a bank bot could interact like this: “Hi Satu! I noticed that there’s €100 left over in your bank account. Should we put it in a fund that matches your expected return by only investing in environmentally friendly companies?´´

  Capital One in the US is one of the first financial institutions to move into conversational banking. It offers its customers an opportunity to check their account balances or pay bills just by talking with Amazon&8217;s Alexa—and without once touching a device. The customer just has to link his or her bank account to an Echo device. Once that’s set up, the bank literally obeys the customer’s voice.

  Now it’s time for Nordic banks to move on from online and mobile banking and start talking to customers. Who will be the first?

  Satu Pulkkinen, Nordic Banking Practice lead at Accenture

   

   

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  user 3:36 pm on March 1, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 2018 ( 47 ), 7500c0, banks ( 784 ), bitcoin ( 241 ), cryptocurrency ( 124 ), fintech ( 1,103 ), payments ( 197 ), Predictions ( 5 ), remainder, technology ( 921 )   

  Payments predictions for the remainder of 2018 

  As I step into my new role as Accenture’s global #payments lead, it got me thinking about the constantly evolving industry landscape—and the themes that will play important roles in that evolution the #remainder of the year. I’ve divided my selections into three categories: Established Trends, Building Trends and New Trends, though some are applicable to more than one category. Take a look.

  Established Trends

  1. Contactless payments will continue to grow at 100%+ in Europe—expect more than 40bn transactions, all told.
  2. Cash will experience an accelerated decline across Europe. Expect fewer than 1.8bn ATM withdrawals in the UK (which peaked at 2.9 bn in 2012).
  3. Real-time payments will grow quickly where they have been established for many years. Faster Payments volumes in the UK will exceed 2bn transactions.
  4. Mobile wallet payments such as Apple Pay and Samsung will experience strong growth.

  Building Trends

  1. Propositions using PSD2-compliant APIs will appear gradually. Expect bank and #fintech applications such as account aggregation to appear in the first half, followed by retailer applications in the second half.
  2. Infrastructure renewal programmes will appear around the world, for real-time domestic payments and RTGS wholesale payments.
  3. Real-time payments adoption in Europe will be slow. While a large number of #banks will implement the #technology required and connect to new real-time central infrastructures, volumes will remain low until at least 2019.
  4. Some banks will start building cloud payment solutions as an alternative to on-premise technology.
  5. Request-to-pay as an invoicing and payment method will emerge as a proposition in several countries.
  6. Mobile wallets from China, already accepted by many retailers in Europe for Chinese nationals, will take advantage of PSD2 account access to launch services targeted at Europeans.
  7. Wearables for payments will start proliferating with new devices and fashion accessories.
  8. Although most banks will still shun #Bitcoin, expect to see cash management products appear aimed at corporate treasurers using Bitcoin and Ethereum.
  9. Ethereum will grow rapidly in popularity; its market cap will exceed Bitcoin by year’s end.
  10. Ripple’s network for cross-border transactions will grow significantly, attracting more banks and corporates, which will lead to rising transaction volume.

  New Trends

  1. The consumer experience for payments will become a battleground for banks, especially around authentication for PSD2 on third-party applications.
  2. Challenger bank adoption will be much higher than in the past due to their superior customer experience for payments.
  3. Biometrics such as facial, voice and hand-movement recognition, now robust enough for mass use, will be adopted by banks and fintechs as a weapon in the consumer experience battle, and also for securing #cryptocurrency wallets.
  4. Retailer wallets for both ecommerce and in-store payments will start appearing in sectors such as supermarkets, fuel and quick-service restaurants, emulating the success of Starbucks and Walmart, and focused on a slick checkout process using biometrics.
  5. Retailers will start demanding new payment methods for recurring payments for subscription- and credit-based services.
  6. Fintechs and banks will see the importance of linking credit and payments. Expect to see this as an emerging theme in payments innovation.
  7. Voice-activated payments will start appearing as Google Home, Alexa, Cortina, Siri, etc. grow in popularity.
  8. Central banks around the world will warm to the idea of issuing their fiat currency on distributed ledger technology—and at least one will have concrete plans to implement the technology.
  9. As banks adopt real-time payments in economies such as Australia, Europe and the US, new capabilities will emerge to operate in real time, for example, corporate cash management solutions for real-time cross-border payments, virtual accounts and fraud innovation.

  I welcome your thoughts on these #predictions—and encourage you to share your own. Thanks for reading!

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