Latest Retail banking reports and research: Finextra Research

Report

Managed Services: Helping Banks refocus on Innovation and Growth

Key concerns such as security and compliance are often cited as barriers to banks adopting managed services. In fact, the managed model can deliver significant advantages in these and other areas. It’s important to understand how today’s services providers contribute more than just piecemeal solutions to individual problems. Managed services is about creating a partnership that focuses on outcomes, and adopting the latest technology continually to turn pain points into competitive advantage. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with Finastra, to learn more.

03 September 2021 282 downloads

Report

Corporate Mobile Banking and the Road to Omnichannel

Innovation is picking up pace in treasury management, but development is far from the fintech revolution that has replaced outdated technologies and streamlined antiquated practices in retail banking. While there is an appetite amongst treasurers to remedy historic shortfalls, continuous improvement in operational treasury efficiency has been the biggest hurdle. International payments continue to be an expensive and burdensome process, multi-currency accounts cannot be accessed, can only be operated manually, and take weeks to open – even though very few organisations operate using a single currency. Mobile banking can alleviate these pressures by removing geographical limitations and in turn, improving efficiency and productivity. Considerable time has also passed since supply chains and banks had to ascertain how to pool cash and conduct trade across multiple nations, currencies, and continents for the first time, which is unacceptable in this real-time age of payments processing. Mobile services can remedy these issues by accelerating collection, refining reconciliation, and eliminating a significant portion of risk. Here’s how.

23 August 2021 341 downloads

Report

Stemming the tide of Social Engineering Scams with Behavioural Insights

Fraud and cybercrime are always on the increase, evading the latest security conventions and morphing into a different approach, following the money. In the same way, banks and financial organisations worldwide need to continuously respond and adapt. Global events create new trends and directions for fraudsters to exploit and the recent Coronavirus pandemic is no different. Social engineering fraud has gripped the industry in the last year and in particular, phone and business email scams seem to be resulting in the highest losses; indeed, according to the US Federal Trade Commission, 77% of fraud complaints reported by consumers in the US involved contact by phone. In the UK, it is more commonly referred to as Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, and while measures have been introduced, such as the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) code and Confirmation of Payee, to protect consumers and to detect and prevent scams and illicit funds transfers, more needs to be done in the UK, and globally. The good news is banks can access and utilise increasingly sophisticated technology and expertise to meet the fraudsters’ aptitude, analysing behaviour patterns, for example, to uncover social engineering scams. Behavioural insights can be used to inform new strategies and respond to attacks in real-time where other security controls have failed. With large losses becoming increasingly publicised, and hence reputation brought into question, the industry must respond, and it is incumbent upon all players to collaborate and be proactive around accountability and prevention. This research paper from Finextra, in association with BioCatch, explores the recent uptick in social engineering attacks globally, and how banks can respond using the latest technology and security measures.

06 August 2021 223 downloads

Report

From Surviving to Thriving: Digital Customer Engagement beyond Video Conferencing

During the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensuing national lockdowns, one of the key challenges for financial services professionals involved in customer or client advisory has been ensuring a smooth digital migration – and that consumers are adequately served via video conferencing solutions. Now that the industry has largely adjusted to this ‘new normal’, it is time for those across the retail, private banking, and insurance sectors to think about how to further upscale their online customer journey, client service, and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes, by adopting an innovative, omnichannel, digital customer engagement solution. By providing easier online access to financial guidance and advice for existing clientele, financial players assume a more customer-centric approach, which can result in improved customer retention, increased revenues, and maintenance of marketshare. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with Unblu, to learn more.

29 July 2021 206 downloads

Report

Responding to Lending Disruption

Building an ecosystem and new business models. The lending market has been ripe for disruption for some time - and now COVID-19 has exposed the laggards, brought innovators to the fore, and accelerated trends that were already in motion. The global pandemic also highlights just how important lending is – it is critical to keep the economy going - and how lenders need to be responsive in a crisis. Disrupters are making existing processes better (or revamping/replacing them altogether), creating new business models, and targeting new customer segments. In these unprecedented times, traditional lenders need to respond and future-proof their business. Maintaining the status quo is not an option. On the demand side, consumers now have higher expectations of their lenders. After months of lockdown and moving their lives online, consumers expect the same convenience from their lenders as they get with Amazon, Netflix or Zoom. The user experience should be slick, decisions quick, and delivery instant. As banks respond to the disruption in the lending market, and learn from the fintech companies that do this better, they will also have to adjust to the new normal of working remotely. All banks have had massive increases in customer queries as the effects of the pandemic have taken hold. In the UK, for example, the government introduced measures that meant individuals could take a payment holiday of up to six months on their mortgages and other personal finance products. Lenders were inundated with requests, and some found their legacy systems creaking at the seams. While some lenders have struggled, the pandemic is also providing opportunities for nimble plays. Fintech company Kabbage, for example, created a gift certificate programme to help small businesses with their cash flow to tide them over through the worst of the pandemic. Businesses can sell gift certificates through Kabbage Payments, which can be redeemed at any time, with the funds deposited in their accounts the next working day. Last year Kabbage announced a tie-up with Facebook so that businesses could get a wider audience for their certificates by listing them on the social media platform. Download your copy of this Finextra white paper, produced in association with FIS, to learn more.

27 July 2021 605 downloads

Report

Driving successful Cloud Transformation

Capital market firms face the challenge to evolve at pace with technology, so that they're able to innovate and adapt to the customer’s needs quickly. Cloud is seen as a key enabler to their digital future, however cloud adoption isn’t just about IT infrastructure. How can executives develop a holistic approach towards cloud modernisation to ensure their investments pay off? As ‘digital’ engulfs business strategies, large-scale financial services players need to develop smarter ways to adapt and accelerate technological change. They are also under constant pressure from fintechs operating on agile systems, rolling out products and services at speed. The pace of innovation at large firms often suffers due to the scale of operations, monolithic tech infrastructure, ‘people alignment’ and old ways of working. Challenges brought about by COVID require even greater levels of resilience and agility to navigate. More firms than ever are using cloud-led modernisation as a catalyst for holistic enterprise transformation, and crucially, this should lead to adaptable business models that can sustain growth and weather future uncertainties in an ever-changing milieu. To maximise the value from investment, operating models need to align closely business and tech strategies. A democratised approach needs to be implemented enterprisewide and with that, a portfolio management approach to balance the long-term evolution of the underlying platform whilst pursuing growth with new products and features. Technology modernisation is also an enabler for lean product management practices such as low-cost rapid experimentation for exploring and exploiting innovative opportunities. Organisational, as well as technological change is needed to ensure teams can tap into the acceleration and agility that cloud-based architecture promises. Organisations need a mind shift- moving from a top-down decision culture to an empowered agile workforce that can continuously deliver on strategic business outcomes. This research paper from Finextra, in association with Thoughtworks, is based on interviews with senior leaders on their plans and challenges around digital programmes and cloud modernisation.

15 July 2021 340 downloads

Report

The Future of Payments 2021

The Road to Successful Digital Transformation. Every player that operates within the intricate ecosystem of financial services is at a tipping point. The pandemic deeply entrenched the digital agenda, especially for payments, and financial institutions recognise that the effects of Covid-19 are likely to have a permanent impact on the industry. Tink1 found that 74% of European banks see an increased need to enhance their digital services, and 65% believe that banks must increase their speed of innovation. This immense pressure to digitise is being played out across the globe, as regulators and industry bodies scramble to expedite timelines for the modernisation of payments systems. On top of this, technology firms and fintech startups have never been more innovative, leaping into action to capitalise on the opportunity the pandemic presented and shepherd financial services into the new digital world. Embedded finance is answering the demands of consumers, and incumbents are eager not to lose their footing by investing heavily to innovate and evolve. Open banking has taken hold in several jurisdictions, and in certain circumstances, is flourishing into the more expansive open finance. Ultimate success will depend on fundamental impediments such as incumbent banking cooperation, consent mechanisms, and concerns around privacy being managed or removed. Certainty around digital identity is predicted to bolster not only the momentum toward open finance, but to build on the capabilities required to deliver a central bank digital currency. 2020’s upheaval of brick-and-mortar retail led to the soaring uptake of e-commerce and a shift in payment trends, as contactless transactions became the norm. While the efficiencies of this new digital world have been exponential, criminal activity has naturally followed, and financial institutions are having to protect customers from sophisticated fraudsters. New forms of crypto assets further complicate the situation, especially as regulators attempt to balance the need to regulate alongside the need to foster innovation, all the while attempting to protect consumers from new forms of harm. The opportunities, however, are myriad in nature. The seemingly unquenchable appetite for the potential new technologies hold payments modernisation appears to be outpacing the historically risk-averse financial services sector. With expert views from Banking Circle, Nuvei, and Thunes, in this report, you will learn from industry leaders about the events and trends defining global payments into 2021 and beyond. The report includes insights from BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, ING, J.P. Morgan, Metro Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Open Banking Implementation Entity, Plaid, Rabobank, Raiffeisen Bank International, Société Générale, and SWIFT.

23 June 2021 1436 downloads

Report

The advantage of Machine Learning in preventing fraud

Accurately identifying customer behavioural trends and proactively preventing payments fraud and other criminal activity at the outset can be done with machine learning. Ingesting tens of thousands of complex signals and analysing patterns to monitor activity is more effective than blocking transactions based on hard-coded and antiquated rules. Fraudsters can learn to circumvent these, and trusted users are put at risk, which is why embedded machine learning algorithms can be valuable. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with Sift, to learn about: Payments fraud and how machine learning is being leveraged today, Account takeover fraud, the biggest future threat to banks, and Synthetic ID fraud, the next opportunity for machine learning.

17 June 2021 391 downloads

Report

Identity verification’s integral position in evolving digital transformation

Eliminating friction by enhancing onboarding processes with efficient identity verification is of paramount importance to the success of a financial institution. While data can bolster streamlined onboarding and verification, it can also support the delivery of actionable insights for the creation of personalised services. This establishes a comprehensive view of the customer, increases loyalty, boosts sales, and generates revenue. Therefore, in an increasingly competitive market, the transformation of user experience must be prioritised, and identity verification is central to that objective. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with Jumio, to learn how to: Establish a competitive edge with efficient onboarding, Reduce abandonment rates, Utilise biometrics, facial recognition, and AI, Ensure a positive, seamless user experience.

15 June 2021 326 downloads

Report

Refreshing Payment Orchestration for a digital future

Digitising processes and services to meet the needs of customers has been a prerequisite for the payments industry, leaving acquirers, issuers, and merchants with no choice but to adapt. The changing landscape has resulted in a need to maintain growth in online activity and has increased the need for payment orchestration. Automating the management of business operations that are tied to authorising, processing and optimising payments can help to alleviate the pressure around adaptation and in turn, time to market and time to revenue. Payment orchestration is the solution. Download this Finextra impact study, in association with WLPayments, to learn why: Simplifying the complexity of payments is required, Upgrading traditional payment orchestration is essential today, and Payment orchestration platforms are the missing link for payment providers.

11 June 2021 421 downloads

Report

The Future of Digital Banking in the UK 2021

Why digital is paramount for innovation leaders. While emerging technology has been leveraged by banking leaders and incremental progress has been made in business-led areas, the modernisation of banking must remain as an evolving journey. To find the right approach, UK banks must ask themselves: what does the digital operating model look like to make this constant innovation sustainable? For an incumbent bank, digital transformation has become a herculean task in an age saturated with technological options, requiring traditional lenders to embrace unpredictability, maintain agility and digitise to the core, which requires support from agile fintech players. Legacy players that are in the process of migrating to the cloud are struggling with application modernisation, data centralisation and security, and as a result, banks that are born in the cloud are at an advantage. However, the cloud is not a solution in itself. From building agile platforms to meet the expectations of demanding customers, to crafting an optimised digital operating model, to instilling a strong work culture that goes beyond diversity, there are central challenges which must be addressed by banks in order to lay the foundations for a successful digital future. Banks now recognise the urgency of collaborating with the leading minds in the fintech industry, to craft and deliver the best products to their discerning customers. Download your copy of the report, in association with Backbase, to gain valuable insights from leading financial institutions and understand what will make UK banks successful into the future. The report includes insights from Atom bank, Coventry Building Society, first direct, HSBC, Investec, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest, OakNorth, Standard Chartered, Tandem Bank, and Yorkshire Building Society. Additionally, join us for a Finextra webinar with Backbase, to gain insights from an industry expert panel discussion on how a future-proof digital banking operating model can reconcile digital and personal - Engagement Banking: Orchestrating the Customer Experience

21 May 2021 882 downloads

Report

Five Business Benefits for Analysing and Combatting Fraud

A Finextra Research Impact Study in association with Aerospike. With increased financing options at point-of-sale, card-not-present transactions, and contactless payments, comes a resultant surge in fraudulent transactions and financial crime. This increase in digital fraud has been catalysed by the recent Covid-19 pandemic-induced shift to online banking and commerce. Now more than ever, financial institutions must implement payments authentication processes to prevent the long-term risks associated with fraud, including slimming margins and reputational damage. One way financial players can stay ahead is to analyse all available historical and real-time data, and apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools – which encompass a range of algorithmic approaches that derive from statistical methods such as regressions and neural networks – to decipher legitimate transactions from the illegitimate. There are, however, five further business benefits to understanding customer risk profiles. Actionable insights derived from fraud profile analysis can help banks visualise each customer, not as a collection of disassociated data points, but as a mosaic, made up of different characteristics that merge to provide a comprehensive view. This can lead to complex, holistic, and predictive analysis of customers’ behaviour – generating consistent and tailored services. Download your copy of the paper below to learn more.

20 May 2021 218 downloads

Survey

Payments Modernisation: The Cloud Imperative

This survey, conducted in early 2021, was global in scope and based on a sample of 150 banks and payment service providers. It was aimed to quantify trends in payments modernisation, cloud and ‘as-a-service’ delivery models for account-to-account payments (corporate and retail/consumer payments). We were also interested in gauging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial institutions’ own operations, and on the needs and expectations of their customers, and the adoption rate of various domestic and cross-border payment networks. The movement of money can be a complicated business. Payments modernisation has always been an imperative for banks since the inception of the modern banking system – from the introduction of cheques to the telegraphic transfer by radio or cable through to the networks of today. The trend is always towards greater speed, security and interoperability – but with that, complexity. The proliferation of payment networks covering various models for moving money domestically and internationally means financial organisations have to deal with many gateways, messaging standards, processing and settlement rules and regulations. This proliferation has led to much fragmentation and duplication of payment systems within organisations. It has also limited reachability and interoperability. Delivering on these requirements can involve system replacement, but just as often the challenge is to work around and integrate legacy systems that can’t easily be replaced, and bring them into a more modern architecture. Download your copy of this Finextra Survey Report, produced in association with Volante Technologies, to learn more.

18 May 2021 575 downloads

Report

Adapting to a shifting Cards Landscape

Identifying opportunities for Issuers. The payment cards industry has changed dramatically in recent years, with new technologies and regulations spurring innovation and lowering the barriers to entry for issuers. Meanwhile, there has been a shift to digital payments, which has created opportunities for bank and non-bank issuers alike. Card payment volumes have been growing, and the world’s standout region is Asia Pacific. China is the star performer, and the number of cards in issue is staggering. And while digital wallets such as Alipay and WeChat Pay have pushed the growth of mobile payments in China, cards have a key role to play. Similarly, in Africa, where mobile money services like mPesa have been hugely popular, there is still a role for payment cards in the rapidly developing markets. Cards are also in demand in other regions. In Europe, the most recent figures from the European Central Bank show an increase in the number of payment cards issued. So far, there has been a reported shift to digital payments in various markets, such as the Middle East, and even the least internet-savvy consumers have changed their spending habits and are now shopping online. In the physical world, contactless - both on smartphones and cards - has been successful in providing convenience for cardholders in stores. Additional innovations have attempted to make it even easier for customers to tap and go. Card programmes have become increasingly cost-effective, especially for issuers who are unencumbered by legacy systems. With on-demand digital printing, for example, cards can be personalised and issuers can order a smaller print run for smaller customer segments as they are needed – such as fans of a football club – rather than committing to a large batch upfront. Download your copy of this Finextra white paper, produced in association with FIS, to learn more.

14 April 2021 626 downloads

Report

The Future of Cloud 2021

Evolving the Financial Services Industry. As consumers have come to expect the same experience of their financial services providers that they have elsewhere in their lives, traditional financial institutions (FIs) are increasingly looking for ways to improve customer service and deepen engagement. For many, optimising the digital experience for customers is a priority. From leveraging omni-channel communication strategies to creating more personalised experiences, the goal is to deliver the right message, at the right time, in the right channel. Fintech firms have been faster to innovate. Many, in fact, were created to address consumer dissatisfaction with traditional financial services providers. However, many players across the banking, payments and capital markets industries such as Barclays, Broadridge, Capgemini, Calypso, Collibra, DBS, FICO, Fraud.net, Global Payments, HSBC, IHS Markit, Kx, Mambu, Nasdaq, Numerix, OakNorth, Singapore Exchange, Solarisbank, Standard Chartered and Trading Technologies are increasingly turning to the cloud as a way to accelerate their digital transformation for customers. Shifting away from legacy infrastructure reduces time and resource constraints and financial institutions can innovate and respond to customer needs with the cloud. Banks, payments services providers, and capital markets firms must take advantage of the cloud’s greater elasticity, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Download your copy of the report below to learn more. Part of the Finextra Cloud Series, in association with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

26 March 2021 850 downloads