Fundtech NEWS

Fundtech
NEWS
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015
THE POWER OF EXPERIENCE
Banks today face a growing need to meet the rising
expectations of their corporate customers and to build
deeper and more profitable corporate treasury relationships.
> Full story on page 5
Setting Apart Your
Transaction Banking
Business:
Improving Direct
Debit Processing
and Slashing Costs
Industry Experts Discuss
Fitness4less realizes operational
improvements with an automated
Bacs solution.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE....
A preview of the Insights EMEA Conference, Danne Buchanan on meeting SMB’s payment needs,
and how Sweden’s central bank succeeds in delivering mobile phone payments in real-time.
WELCOME
W
CONTENTS
UPDATE
Our update section provides
the latest news from Fundtech,
including an Immediate Payment
update, award wins, and a
summary of our white paper
“Best Practices In Choosing A
Connectivity Partner.”
elcome to the first edition of Fundtech News in 2015. In this
issue, we look at how corporate treasurers are coping with the
challenge of providing enhanced experiences to their customers,
and how banks can in turn provide a similar level of satisfaction to their
corporate customers. Our feature article titled “The Power of Experience,”
highlights the growing importance of the customer experience for corporate
treasurers. It outlines benefits that can be realized by both the users and
the banks providing the systems, and discusses the value of effective
customer segmentation strategies, among others.
03
In this issue, we also explore the issue of how regional and national banks
can differentiate themselves from global banks by investing in innovative
technology and initiatives to develop an efficient, standardized and
competitive operating model. The article “Setting Apart Your Transaction
Banking Business” is based on comments shared by a panel of industry
experts at Fundtech’s Insights Asia conference, held in November 2014.
COVER STORY
With rising customer
expectations, banks must
provide an efficient, automated,
and integrated offering. Learn
five best practices for addressing
customer experience needs.
In addition to our usual update on company and industry news, the magazine
also features a profile of Danne Buchannan, Fundtech’s Global Head of
Merchant Services. In this article, Danne discusses the challenges that
SMBs face when managing the day-to-day demands of doing business while
providing their customers with multiple payment options.
As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2015, we are extremely
excited about the year ahead – both with regard to developments within the
market, and with regard to Fundtech’s continued growth and evolution. These
are exciting times.
Please enjoy this edition of Fundtech News!
Warm regards,
Reuven Ben Menachem
CEO and Co-founder, Fundtech
05
FEATURE ARTICLE
In this article industry experts
discuss “Setting Apart Your
Transaction Banking Business.”
08
CASE STUDIES
Learn how Bankgirot and a small
business in the UK improved
operations with automated
payment solutions.
10
INSIGHT: MERCHANT SERVICES
Danne Buchanan, Executive Vice
President, Merchant Services,
discusses how banks can meet
the payments needs of SMB’s.
11
Editor Tiffany Sarmiento
Subscriptions [email protected]
Art Direction Deana DiVizio
Copyright © 2015 Fundtech. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored or
transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means, including whether by photocopying, scanning,
downloading onto computer or otherwise without the prior written permission of Fundtech.
2
FUNDTECH NEWS
MARKETING AND EVENTS
A preview of the Insights EMEA
Conference, and an update on
upcoming Fundtech events and
activities.
12
UPDATE
IMMEDIATE PAYMENTS UPDATE
The momentum behind Immediate
Payments is growing around the world,
as more schemes are introduced to
mirror the “around-the-clock”, 24/7
real-time reality of today’s commercial
environment. One of the next countries
to take the plunge will be Australia
with the New Payments Platform (NPP),
slated to launch in 2017. Like other
schemes globally, the NPP shares the
commitment to speed, availability,
convenience and information-rich
messages that are common among
countries with Immediate Payments.
The NPP program targets four strategic
objectives, including: the capacity for
businesses and consumers to make
payments in real-time, with close to
immediate funds availability to the
recipient; the ability to make and
receive low-value payments outside
normal banking hours; the capacity
to send more complete remittance
and remittance-related information
with businesses’ and consumers’
payments; and availability of a system
that more easily addresses retail
payments to any recipient.
In December 2014, the global
momentum behind Immediate
Payments was increased still further
by a call to arms from the Euro Retail
Payments Board (ERPB) for a panEuropean Immediate Payments system.
The EPRB, a multi-stakeholder group
chaired by the European Central Bank
(ECB), said it had decided to step up
its work on Instant Payments in euro,
as well as person-to-person mobile
payments and contactless payments.
It added that Instant Payments with
immediate availability of funds are
the industry’s next frontier – and that
the aim is to take advantage of the
integration already achieved with
SEPA, and to avoid the development
of a fragmented market in Europe.
In Finland, the Finnish Central Bank
is currently in the vendor selection
process to support the country’s realtime payments scheme. In the U.S. the Fed released a report
on January 26th, “The Strategies for
Improving the U.S. Payments System.”
The report signaled a clear indication
of the commitment and the level of
involvement the Fed will have. The
report highlights the Fed’s pledge to
look at new ways to move payments to
near real-time and offers suggestions
for speeding up the network, improving
security, and working with financial
institutions to achieve their goals.
Next steps will be to organize
two task forces that will address:
1) the best way to develop a faster
payments system, whether it’s a
new system or making improvements
to existing infrastructure, and
2) to address security.
To download a copy of Fundtech’s white
paper on Immediate Payments, please
visit our website. Please also watch
for our upcoming paper on NPP, to be
released within the next two months.
PARTNER PROGRAM UPDATES
Fundtech continues to develop
its partner network to provide the
scalability and expertise necessary
to expand its coverage, extend its
scale, and drive deeper customer
relationships.
We’re pleased to announce that
Cognizant, a global leader in
business and technology services,
has recently joined the Fundtech
partner program. With over 50
delivery centers worldwide and
approximately 200,000 employees,
Cognizant is a member of the
NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, and the
Forbes Global 2000. In addition,
Cognizant is a Fortune 500 company
that ranks among the top performing
and fastest growing companies in
the world.
In February, we also announced that
Fundtech has partnered with Gulf
Data International (gDi) to enhance
service delivery in the Middle East.
As an Abu Dhabi-based IT systems
integrator, gDi will help Fundtech to
provide local sales and services to
support Fundtech’s rapidly growing
customer base in the region.
FITNESS4LESS HONORED
FOR INNOVATION AND
EXCELLENCE FOR CREDIT
AND COLLECTIONS
Fitness4Less, a chain of low-cost
fitness centers, has been honored with
a 2014 Corporate Recognition Award
for Innovation and Excellence from
Treasury Management International in
the category of credit & collections.
The awards, sponsored by BNP
Paribas, were announced at a
ceremony on January 22, 2015.
Fitness4Less implemented a direct
debit solution to realize significant
transaction cost savings and to
improve customer service.
> DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015
3
UPDATE
ECOBANK
WINS AWARD
Technology magazine and judged
by a panel of industry experts,
recognize excellence in the use
of IT within financial services.
Best Use Of Information
Technology In Wholesale
Transaction Banking
Ecobank received the honor based
on its development of a single
pan-African platform for payments
and cash management that would
unite the various countries in which
the bank operates. Having chosen
to implement a Fundtech solution to
meet its customers’ need for more
sophisticated banking services,
and to help it improve payments
processing and reduce operational
costs, Ecobank pursued a ‘one bank,
one platform’ model.
Ecobank, the leading independent
pan-African banking group with a
presence in 36 African countries,
has been honored with a prestigious
Banking Technology Award for Best
Use of IT in wholesale/transaction
banking. Now in their 15th year, the
annual awards presented by Banking
Working closely with Fundtech, the
bank completed the installation of the
cross-border solution throughout 32
countries in just 24 months.
Peter Reynolds, Fundtech’s Managing
Director for EMEA, commented:
“Congratulations to Ecobank for
executing such a transformative
project in such an impressive
time frame. The new platform has
already proven to be of significant
value to Ecobank, reflected in
increased customer acquisition, and
exponentially increased transaction
volume and value.”
LEVERAGING
BEST PRACTICES
IN CHOOSING A
CONNECTIVITY
PARTNER
Around the world, CFOs and treasurers
of corporations are increasingly looking
to connect to interbank services –
including SWIFT, CLS, CREST, and
many others – to realize the benefits
of standardized payments and
messaging. Their success in
achieving this depends on choosing
the right connectivity partner.
To help companies of all sizes select
the ideal partner for their own unique
needs, Fundtech has developed a
white paper entitled “Best Practices
in Choosing a Connectivity Partner.”
Pre-viewed in our last edition of
Fundtech News, the white paper is
now completed and available for
download from our website. The
paper’s core message is that the
4
FUNDTECH NEWS
choice of connectivity partner is
not a decision to be taken lightly.
Whether a corporate is handling a
few hundred transactions a day, worth
a few thousand dollars, or millions
of transactions collectively, worth
several billion, choosing the right
connectivity provider will ensure it
gains a highly trained, enduring and
committed partner, whose solution
and services will grow and adapt to
its needs.
The paper pinpoints key considerations
for corporates to apply in choosing a
connectivity partner. Businesses that
apply these best practices will gain
major advantages relating to cost,
speed, insight and effectiveness all
of which will help to drive long-term
competitive advantage.
>D
OWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER: “BEST
PRACTICES IN CHOOSING A CONNECTIVITY
PARTNER”
COVER STORY
THE POWER
OF EXPERIENCE
Banks today face a growing need to meet corporate customers’ rising expectations and build
deeper and more profitable corporate treasury relationships. They can achieve both of these
goals by providing a more intuitive, consistent, and integrated end-user experience.
Today’s treasury professionals are
not only employees, they’re also
consumers – with rapidly rising
expectations of the systems and
applications they use at work. And
what they’re expecting from their
workplace systems is an intuitive
and personalized user experience
that reflects the ease of use,
interactivity and mobility to which they
have become accustomed in their daily
lives – always-on, app-enabled,
multi-device, multi-screen – at home
and on the move.
For all businesses, this irreversible
behavioral shift brings major
implications for employee productivity
and engagement. A few years ago, it
was enough for a system to simply
offer standard functionality regardless
of the user experience it offered.
Not today. The “leisure computing
effect” means today’s employees will
no longer suffer in silence if they’re
required to use clunky, outdated
systems that are confusing, difficult to
navigate, and require heavy training.
Instead, they’ll complain – and maybe
even look for another employer who’ll
provide a better workplace experience.
Raising the bar for banks
Meeting this rising employee
expectation for an easy, familiar,
and responsive end-user experience
is a major challenge for corporate
treasurers. One effect has been to
raise the bar for banks’ treasury
management solutions, making the
quality, flexibility, and consistency
of the customer experience more
important than ever before.
In particular, the need to ensure
treasury staff becomes productive
quickly, with the least amount of
training and support, means that
ease-of-use and accessibility are key.
What’s more, pressures for efficiency
and a better user experience are
causing more and more treasurers to
turn away from using a selection of
offerings from multiple banks, and to
instead seek a treasury management
solution from a single banking provider.
In selecting such a solution, they’re
looking for offerings that are not only
efficient, automated and integrated –
thus removing manual interventions
and boosting speed and straightthrough-processing (STP) – but which
are also easy and intuitive to use.
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015
5
Benefits on both sides:
for treasurers…
Delivering an improved customer
experience across treasury
management systems creates major
benefits for corporate treasurers.
Those that meet their employees’
expectations for easy-to-use systems
have higher staff retention, lower
training costs, and a more engaged
and productive workforce. All of these
factors help to create competitive
advantage. In particular, when
treasury professionals are seeking
out and using information, it is of
tremendous benefit if the data they’re
looking for is accessible quickly and
easily, without requiring the users to
click through several levels or to check
multiple screens to find it.
This means the relevant information
that users need should be presented
in a clear and automated way with no
manual intervention and with minimal
need for navigation – ideally on the
first page they look at. A corporate
that buys such a solution from its
bank will save time, money, and effort.
It will also benefit from better insight
into its financial position, and more
accurate and timely decision-making.
…and also for banks
These advantages for corporate
treasurers are mirrored on the bank’s
side of the relationship. Over the
years, banks have built up large
teams focused on implementing their
treasury solutions, and on supporting
6
FUNDTECH NEWS
and training their customers’
employees to use them. By providing
services that are easier and quicker
to use, financial institutions can
dramatically cut their implementation
and training costs, and reduce
the need for ongoing support from
helplines and call centers.
The right customer experience also
brings advantages on the revenue
side. A high-quality, consistent
customer experience enables a bank
to meet and exceed its customers’
expectations seamlessly through all
channels – web, mobile, and tablet –
making it a major driver of customer
satisfaction. As a result banks
can boost revenue among existing
customers and it can also attract
new customers.
The pivotal role of customer
segmentation
For banks, providing a tailored
customer experience that realizes
these benefits requires a clear
understanding of the varying needs of
different segments within the overall
corporate customer base, ranging
from major global multinationals, to
mid-sized international corporations,
to relatively small ‘mom and pop’
businesses. In a smaller corporate,
the treasurer may just want to see
bank account balances. But treaurers
at a major multinational are likely
to need a sophisticated treasury
management system that allows
different levels of authorized access,
and is able to provide real-time
information on things like the current
payment status and overall cash flow.
Different industries and geographies
also have varying requirements.
Smart banks are using their
knowledge of these factors to further
tailor and fine-tune the customer
experience and the service packages
they provide. Some have invested in
developing multiple offerings targeted
at different segments, while others
have offered a single ‘one-size-fits-all’
solution that can be used across all
segments. A third group of banks
has chosen to limit their offerings to
customers in a specific size segment
or industry.
However, a treasury management
system that offers the right user
experience, supported by a flexible,
scalable, customizable solution,
enables a bank to offer one
system that can be used across
all segments, boosting take-up
while minimizing the required
implementation and training effort.
The message about the importance
of user experience is getting across
to more and more banks. According
to a TowerGroup report, “Top 10
Technology Initiatives in Commercial
Banking for 2014,” commercial
banks are exhibiting an increased
focus on strategic initiatives in areas
including enhancing the overall client
experience, enriching the digital
banking experience, making clientbank integration easier, and improving
sales enablement. Nearly 40% of
banks that have adopted strategies
indicated improvements of greater
than 50% in on-boarding time.
Five best practices for addressing
customer experience needs
So, how can banks deliver a customer
experience that generates the
benefits we’ve described? Drawing on
our experience providing banks with
solutions for their corporate treasury
customers, Fundtech has developed
a white paper – “Getting it Right: Best
Practices on How Banks Can Enhance
and Optimize End-to-End Customer
Experience for Corporate Treasury.”
The paper’s authors – Sanjay Dalmia,
Executive Vice-President, Global
Cash Management and CEO of
Fundtech India; and Mike Jackson,
Fundtech’s Head of Americas, Cash
Management – explain: “Forwardlooking banking institutions are
providing sophisticated, flexible,
and highly automated treasury
management solutions that offer a
consistent, seamless, and intuitive
customer experience. Fundtech
has identified a set of five key ‘best
practices’ that contribute to a marketleading customer experience. In
our view, any bank that adopts and
implements these five principles will
be well-positioned to achieve higher
revenues and more customers than
its competitors—and to do so at
lower cost.”
While the five best practices are
described in detail in the white paper,
they can be summarized as follows:
•U
ser experience and
personalization - Solutions that
offer a simplified user experience
and application entitlements should
be configured to meet the specific
needs of the corporate customer.
They should be as quick, simple,
and as easy as possible to access
and view.
• Channel integration - It’s vital that
banks’ treasury solutions provide
a seamless customer experience
across the online banking portal as
well as mobile and tablet channels.
This means the information,
navigation, and usability experience
should be the same across all
platforms, with consistent real-time
data across all available channels.
• T ailoring of products, services,
and user experience to specific
customer segments - A treasury
solution that offers sophisticated
segmentation capabilities can
provide a tailored customer
experience. This capability allows
different service packages to be
created that meet different or
evolving needs. This also helps
to provide a seamless upgrade
path that grows with a customers’
business.
•A
utomation of customer
on-boarding - Easy and automated
customer on-boarding by segment
using pre-packaged services
can minimize the turnaround time.
Also vital for smooth, seamless
on-boarding is integration with
multiple up- and down-stream
bank processes, including
external systems.
better, faster information for decisionmaking. Banks benefit from faster
and lower-cost implementation,
reduced support overheads,
improved management of commercial
packages, and deeper and more
profitable customer relationships –
leading, in turn, to higher revenues
and enhanced customer retention,
as well as new opportunity to acquire
new customers.
By ensuring their solutions apply the
five points of best practice we’ve
described, banks can put themselves
in the forefront of the new generation
of corporate treasury management
solutions. Banks that take this step
will position themselves as leaders
in the industry for many years
to come. They will also reap the
benefits in higher revenues, margins
and market share.
>D
OWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER: “GETTING
IT RIGHT: BEST PRACTICES ON HOW BANKS
CAN ENHANCE AND OPTIMIZE END-TO-END
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR CORPORATE
TREASURY”
•A
continuum of services and
upgrades - By providing corporate
customers with an intuitive user
experience and an environment
where they can explore and check
out new options and services—in
much the same way as they do
in a consumer-facing app-store—
banks can create opportunities for
increased sales.
Realizing the opportunity in
user experience
The message is clear: treasury
solutions that deliver the right
end-user experience for corporate
customers create a win-win situation
for both the bank and its customers.
Corporates gain more engaged and
productive employees, higher speed
and STP rates, reduced costs, and
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015
7
FEATURE ARTICLE: TRANSACTION BANKING
SETTING APART
YOUR TRANSACTION
BANKING BUSINESS:
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
DISCUSS
At Fundtech’s Insights Asia
conference, held in Singapore on
November 19-20, 2014, a group of
industry experts gathered to discuss
how regional and national banks
have an opportunity to differentiate
themselves from global banks by
investing in innovative technology
and initiatives to develop an efficient,
standardized and competitive
operating model. The panel was
moderated by Chris Zingo, Fundtech’s
Global Head of Sales. Below is an
excerpt of the discussion.
Chris Zingo, Fundtech
What is transformation and what are
some of the challenges associated
with transformation?
Bill Chua: Transformation is about
change and how best to manage
it. The question is how to move
technology when you already have
a framework (and an infrastructure)
within which you need to operate.
For example, if you have already
built a concrete building, it is very
hard to change beyond what has
been constructed unless it has been
planned for in the design. This is the
challenge we all face.
Navinder Duggal, DBS Bank:
Transformation is not new. Customers
are always transforming the way they
interact with their customers – it is an
ongoing journey. Risk management,
mobile, and many other things
continue to open things up.
8
FUNDTECH NEWS
Khun Songpol, Krung Thai Bank:
Transformation happens when people
get sick or bored. This makes me
worried – not because it is happening,
but because today, it isn’t something
that happens every 10 years but
rather every day. In order to manage
transformation effectively you need
to consider three key things: 1)
simplicity; 2) survival; 3) efficiency.
Duggal: In Asia, we still see lots of
growth. The GDP is growing, banks
are growing, and so on. The biggest
challenge is determining where to
focus – which geography, which type
of customer, and so on – and then
invest your efforts there.
Chua: For example, regional and
national banks may have opportunties
to work together within the ASEAN
Economic Community framework. It
should be a collaborative model, so
the question is whether global
banks will partner with other global
banks or with the regional and/or
national banks. There may be more
opportunities with the regional banks
because they have the regional
knowledge and can provide regional
hubs. One of the key success factors
of the ASEAN Economic Community
will be deciding on a standard so that
connectivity for all becomes possible.
Mike Hobday, IBM: There will always
be challenges with standards and
connectivity in Asia. I agree – there
are opportunities everywhere, the
real challenge is to decide what not
PANEL
>B
ill Chua
Former Managing
Director & Head,
Global Financial
Institutions Group,
United Overseas Bank
>N
avinder Duggal
Managing Director of Global
Transaction Services,
DBS Bank
>M
ike Hobday
VP and Senior Client Partner,
IBM
>K
hun Songpol
Advisor to the President,
Krung Thai Bank
>C
hris Zingo (moderator)
Global Head of Sales,
Fundtech
FEATURE ARTICLE: TRANSACTION BANKING
to pursue. First you need to decide on
the strategy – then you need to align
business and IT, and execute.
Zingo
You mentioned mobile earlier. How
does mobile factor into innovation?
Duggal: In retail, there is very wide
adoption. In corporations, adoption is
getting to be much, much more. The
opportunities are almost limitless. And
increasingly customers are finding a
need for real-time payments. This lends
itself very well to mobile.
Hobday: Mobile is an enabler but in
some ways is also a threat. Banks
need to behave like venture capitalists
– Do we compete? Do we buy? Do we
partner (with the likes of ApplePay or
AliPay, PayPal, others)?
Chua: All you need is one ‘blow up’
with the likes of an ApplePay and then
everyone will coming running back to
the banks.
Zingo
So in this landscape, where do you see
the future – New channels? SMB’s?
Something else?
Songpol: The market and the
opportunities are large. Banks have
to figure out ways to blend into
their customer’s environments – for
example, their ERP systems. The cloud
offers many opportunities to do so.
Duggal: The future of banking is
around being a digital bank. How do
we acquire customers? How do we
process transactions? How do we
settle transactions? If we are able
to do these things digitally, we have
a huge opportunity. We have to rearchitect ourselves in order to operate
successfully in a digital model.
Chua: We should look at ‘lessons
learned’ from the dot-com era. The big
question is how much can we really
digitize? A lot can be digitized but we
won’t ever become completely digital.
What we’re really talking about is not
paperless but really just less paper.
Hobday: If we truly design for the
customer, we will create a simpler
world and we will inevitably drive down
costs. A properly defined strategy and
proper execution will go a long way.
Simple, agile, scalable. Every bank is
engaging in this rhetoric so why is it so
difficult to achieve?
Chua: New regulations are not helping.
Some is also about culture and some
is about infrastructure. If you don’t
have a digital infrastructure, then how
do you deliver digital? You have to
make it an intentional point to evolve
towards digital in order to succeed.
Zingo
If you were to give one final piece of
advice to regional and national banks on
how to succeed, what would you say?
Chua: Figure out where your customers
see value, figure out what you need to
do to deliver that value and then do it
right.
Duggal: I’d support what Bill said
– spend time with your customers,
understand them, and then offer the
products and services they want.
Songpol: Figure out how customers
succeed today and in the next 3-5
years. If you can figure that out, you
will succeed.
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015
9
REAL-TIME MOBILE PAYMENTS
Bankgirot implements a new electronic payment system
Sweden’s central bank has declared
its intention for the country to be
a cashless society. The banking
community, recognizing that realtime payments was one way of
achieving this goal, launched Swish
in December 2012, a real-time
payments system allowing consumers
to make payments using their mobile
phone. The Swish system, operated
by Bankgirot and owned by six of
Sweden’s largest banks, runs
24 hours a day, 365 days-a-year
and is already hugely popular for
person-to-person transactions with
over two million users. In this case
study, learn how Bankgirot delivered
mobile phone payments in real-time.
Customer: Bankgirot
Location: Sweden
Business area: Payments
Solution: Global PAYplus
> DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY
INSIGHTS ASIA CONFERENCE
HELD NOV. 2014 IN SINGAPORE:
A SUCCESS!
On November 19-20, Fundtech hosted
212 delegates representing banks,
corporations and partners at the
Insights Asia conference in Singapore
held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo
and Convention Centre. Conference
sessions focused on current issues
including topics such as trends in
transaction banking, Immediate/Faster
payments, winning the SMB business,
electronic invoice presentment,
10 FUNDTECH NEWS
crypto-currencies and advances in
payments, cash management and
financial messaging, among others.
The conference had a stellar lineup of speakers including senior
representatives from ANZ, Deutsche
Bank, Citi, IBM, KPMG, DHL, United
Overseas Bank, and others. The
conference included a networking
lounge, where our sponsoring
partners HCL, IBM, Infosys, and
Wipro were profiled.
INSIGHT: CASH MANAGMENT
BRINGING SMBs THE PAYMENT SERVICES
THEY DESERVE
In countries across the world, smalland medium-sized businesses (SMBs)
– defined as companies with fewer
than 500 employees – are a major
driver of growth, dynamism and
employment. In the U.S. alone there
are some 27 million SMBs, accounting
for 98% of all employers and over half
of all new jobs created. In other words,
they’re the bedrock of the economy.
However, in fulfilling this vital role,
SMBs must tackle a number of
challenges. In particular, they face
the conflicting pressures of managing
the day-to-day demands of doing
business, while also seeking the
best way to manage payments and
track cash flow.
SMBs know that to succeed in
today’s business environment,
they must offer their customers
multiple payment options and types
– including online, mobile, by phone,
and using debit and/or credit cards,
eChecks or paper checks. With
scarce time to manage multiple
payment applications and track down
unpaid bills, SMBs need services that
simplify and automate all of this.
Yet to date, that isn’t what they’ve
been getting. The current SMB
payments delivery ecosystem is
fragmented and confusing, with –
for example – credit card vendors
selling credit card-only hardware and
software, and most banks offering
a patchy and incomplete range of
payments products. Thus most SMBs
are faced with having to cobble
together a set of un-integrated
solutions to cover their various
payments needs in terms of both
platforms and channels.
As a result, they typically end up with
a patchwork of multiple payments
devices, software applications,
reporting systems, user experiences,
fee structures, and methods of
updating their accounts receivables.
Put simply, it’s a mess. And it’s a
mess that banks – which tend to
regard SMBs as expensive to service,
and whose track record in developing
solutions for them is modest at best –
have to date shied away from helping
their SMB customers to sort out.
Danne Buchanan
Executive Vice President,
Merchant Services,
Fundtech
Fundtech’s new end-to-end
payments solutions for small
and medium-sized businesses
(SMBs) presents a major
opportunity for banks.
Danne Buchanan
Executive Vice President,
Merchant Services, Fundtech
However, there is a huge market
opportunity for any bank that succeeds
in meeting SMBs’ payment needs
with a comprehensive, consistent
and integrated end-to-end solution.
And such a solution is now at hand,
with Fundtech’s development of
TotalTransact: a powerful suite of
payment tools that enable SMBs
to accept, initiate, process, and
manage electronic payments in a fast,
convenient, and secure environment,
encompassing eCheck, cards, remote
deposit capture and online/mobile
payments.
untapped revenue opportunity in
SMB payments, at low risk and
without costly product planning and
development. In addition to meeting
SMB customers’ entire payments
needs, it also offers them the
additional benefits of linking straight
into their banking, accounting, and
CRM systems, while also providing
the same look and feel as Fundtech’s
market-leading cash management
system.
This comprehensive range of payment
types sets TotalTransact apart from
its competitors, most of which
concentrate on one area such as
online payments. Available to banks
from the cloud under a software-as-aservice (SaaS) model, TotalTransact
enables banks to truly capture the
2015 is set to be the year when
TotalTransact really takes off.
Fundtech has already migrated some
direct merchant customers to the new
platform, and is lining up pilots with a
number of banks. The future of SMB
payments is here – and Fundtech is
making it happen.
ISSUE 3 | MARCH 2015 11
MARKETING AND EVENTS
INSIGHTS EMEA CONFERENCE 2015
•H
ow banks can meet the cash and
liquidity demands of their corporate
customers more effectively;
Fundtech will host its annual
regional conference, Insights EMEA,
in London at the Pullman Hotel on
March 3-4. The event will provide an
in-depth look at some of the major
initiatives, key trends, and current
issues affecting the transaction
banking industry today.
Sessions Include:
• T he evolution of Immediate/Faster
Payments schemes in the UK and
around the world;
• T he future of transaction
banking, including how banks and
corporations are undergoing major
payment transformations;
• T rends in cash management, the
changing role of treasury, new
developments in Continuous Linked
Settlement (CLS), the lifecycle of
payments and much more.
Attendees will have the opportunity
to meet and network with peers,
industry experts, and partners—both
in sessions and at the gala dinner.
>T
O REGISTER CONTACT SARAH WALKER
AT [email protected]
EVENTS
Fundtech is hosting or attending a
number of upcoming events. If you
would like more information on
any of these events, please e-mail
[email protected].
> Insights EMEA Conference,
London
March 3-4, 2015
> T he Asian Banker Summit,
Hong Kong
April 14-16, 2015
>N
ACHA Payments, New
Orleans
April 19-22, 2015
FUNDTECH WEBINAR SERIES
>B
anker’s Meet, Thailand
April 2015
Payments Solutions of the Future
March 11, 2015,
1:00pm – 2:00pm SGT
franchise, significant transaction
costsand helped to provide better
customer service.
During this webinar, panellists will
discuss the evolution of payment
solutions, from multiple systems
dedicated to a single payment type, to
more comprehensive solutions, able
to process ‘any’ payments.
Panel of Experts: Emma Edwards,
Fitness4Less; Kelly Webb, Fitness4Less;
Kim Dennis (moderator), Fundtech
>P
ayments Transformation
Roadshow,
South Africa & Nigeria
April & June 2015
Panel of Experts: Bernard Chew, CIMB;
Bill Chua, ex-United Overseas Bank;
Mitchell Green, HCL; David Brown
(moderator), Fundtech.
Fitness4Less: Lean Direct Debits for
Healthier Business
March 31, 2015,
11:00am – 11:45am GMT
This webinar will focus on how
integrated direct debit processing
saved Fitness4Less, a UK health club
Crypto-Currencies and Internet Ledgers
March 12, 2015
1:30pm – 2:30pm GMT
This webinar will focus on who the
players are, how crypto-currency and
internet ledger ecosystems work, and
what new business opportunities are
made possible by these technology
break-throughs.
Panel of Experts: Mary Ann Francis,
Wipro; Phil Rapoport, Ripple Labs;
Gene Neyer (moderator), Fundtech
and more.
>M
ORE INFORMATION ON SPEAKERS
AND REGISTRATION CAN BE FOUND AT
FUNDTECH.COM/EVENTS/WEBINARS
>E
BAday, Amsterdam
May 12-13, 2015
>A
CT Annual Conference,
Manchester
May 20-22 2015
>E
PCOR Spring,
Columbus, Ohio
May 20-22, 2015
> Insights North America,
Orlando, Florida
June 1- 3, 2015
>E
xecutive Forum,
New York City, NY
June 18, 2015
CONTACT FUNDTECH
North America Corporate Headquarters
140 Broadway
40th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Tel: +1-212-497-1820
Fax: +1-212-497-1821
EMEA United Kingdom
42 New Broad Street
London
EC2M 1JD
Tel: +44-207-588-1100
Fax: +44-207-588-1155
Asia-Pacific Singapore
3 Church Street
#22-05 Samsung Hub
049483
Tel: +65-6372-3123 / 6372-3131
Fax: +65-6226-0223