Ovum survey reveals bank shortcomings
Ovum survey reveals bank shortcomings
Banks are not responding quickly enough to the rapidly changing requirements of corporate treasurers, according to new research from Ovum. Corporate requirements are expected to change further as real-time payment infrastructures are further rolled out in the main economies in Europe and the US.
Commissioned by Temenos, the research was undertaken during the second quarter of 2017 and included data from Ovum’s corporate treasurer survey, for which 100 corporate treasurers were interviewed globally. In parallel, 100 corporate bankers globally were interviewed.
Among the key findings, 18% of corporate respondents said managing multiple relationships was a growing concern – up from 12% in 2016. Corporates are also increasingly concerned about their ability to access bank data for decision-making. The percentage citing this as their top challenge rose from 1 per cent in 2016 to 13% this year.
Ovum says banks do not have a good picture of client needs. Forty-three per cent of corporate treasurers interviewed said increasing FX risk was their biggest challenge, yet only 24% of banks cited this as a concern.
Worryingly for banks, corporate treasurers are increasingly willing to change service providers. In countries that have yet to implement real-payment infrastructures, 80% said they have considered moving their main banking relations in the past year. This figure falls to 75% in countries that have real-time payments. However, both figures are considerably higher than the 52% that gave the same response in 2016.
High on the agenda for banks are virtual accounts, with 53% of corporate banks planning to provide virtual accounts in the next 12-18 months. This rises to 57% among banks operating in countries with real-time payments infrastructures in place, compared to 40% in other countries.
“Banks are listening, but are slow to change,” says Ovum. It warns that corporates will move to banks that have integrated solutions that make data access, product development and regulation easier, cheaper and faster to achieve.
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