As the world moves rapidly towards instant (or real-time) payments—with initiatives underway across the Eurozone, Canada and the U.S.—CGI partnered with the Financial Services Club, a leading European network for senior financial services executives, to research key trends and issues in the adoption of instant payments.
Financial Services Club members, including bankers, payment processors, corporates, consultancies, academics and government representatives, were surveyed in March and April of 2017. More than 360 respondents shared their input and key findings from the survey include the following:
Within the next five years (i.e., by 2022)...
- Account-to-account transfers are likely to be the single largest payment instrument, overtaking cards
- Checks and other paper instruments will continue to disappear, and cash will decline
- Retail and wholesale payment capabilities will be accessed through APIs
- Payments will be predominately initiated using mobile technology
- Big technology companies will become increasingly dominant in impacting retail payments, changing the customer journey instead of simply supporting payments
- Social media has not materially changed since 2013 and will likely remain insignificant in terms of its impact on instant payments
- Real-time capabilities will bring new challenges, including real-time fraud and increased cyber crime
In addition, we solicited input on the following key questions:
- Value-added services: The future should be about value-added services, but can banks develop them? Will consumers pay more for them?
- Infrastructure: Who should pay for the infrastructure required for real-time payments?
- Overall funding: How should the move toward real-time payments be funded overall?
- Liability: Where should liability sit when a third-party is involved in payment processing?
We hope you find the results of this research interesting and informative. Download an overview of the survey’s findings. We also invite you to contact us for further discussion.
