The world is currently witnessing a milestone shift in
the international payment landscape as the world
migrates from magnetic-striped payment technology
(cards, terminals, network, etc) to EMV (EuroPay,
Mastercard, Visa) technology. The existing payment
infrastructure has been around for 20 years with minimal
changes, mainly supporting old and dated technology such
as analog leased lines (with limited bandwidth and
value-added services) and PSTN (Public Switched
Telephone Network) dial-ups.
Today, however, the payment landscape is fast-changing,
accelerated by the adoption of digital, wireless and
smart-chip technology. This poses a new challenge for
Banks to keep up with evolving technology to maintain
competitive advantage while ensuring maximum returns on
their payment infrastructure investment.
Meanwhile, Banks are also facing another threat from
non-bank competitors brought about by the convergence of
new technologies and players - commonly known as the 3Cs
- Communications, Computers and Consumer Electronics!
Telcos are already offering alternative form of payments
- micro-payments for the purchase of ring-tones,
picture-messages, stock-quotes, etc. Some telcos are
also offering their subscribers to pay for their
post-paid phone bills using their prepaid mobile reload
cards typically transacted through cash while it is also
possible now for subscribers to top-up a prepaid account
with the top-up values being charged to their post-paid
bills!
Banks that use the changing
payments landscape to improve their performance
stand to bolster their long-term competitiveness at
a time when payments are becoming holistic, not a
fragmented, business
Banks “typically lack an enterprise-wide focus on
payment-related risk because it occurs over multiple
payment methods and mechanisms
Source: Tower Group - 2004 Perspective on Global
Payments report
Payments costs can be up to 40 per cent of total bank
costs”
75 per cent of bankers said refocusing on revenues, is a
top priority for 2003
Banks “can use a payments strategy to rebuild
competitive advantage”
Source: BCG Global Payments 2003 report
For further information about GHL Systems and other products and solutions, please email us at int.sales@ghl.com (International) or my.sales@ghl.com (Malaysia).
