Payment Trends: BAI Beacon 2017 Preview

By Holly Hughes, BAI

Payments is a booming sector in the financial services industry. But with so many buzz words floating around, it’s difficult for financial services professionals to know which payments trends to pay attention to. More importantly, which of the latest trends will most directly impact their bottom lines and how do they take the fullest advantage of these innovations? Financial services leaders from around the globe will gather at BAI Beacon in Atlanta next week to tackle this and more.

Here’s a look at some of the hottest payments trends, worthy of attention, that BAI Beacon will cover.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is more than just a buzz word, and its uses in payments still are being defined. From streamlining the payments process to increasing back-office efficiencies, AI is rapidly changing how payments technology is used. To uncover just how financial institutions are applying AI and machine learning to improve the customer experience, BAI is teaming up with Digital Banking Report and Deluxe to release a new research report at the event. Attendees will hear how data are being used for marketing communication, chatbots, voice banking and personalization, and receive the research report as part of their registration.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

The IoT is bringing the idea of connected payments to fruition. But financial services leaders need a better understanding of how to leverage connecting things to payments. Alexa, Home Assistants, Amazon Dash and others are changing commerce in the IoT space—how consumers pay bills, transfer money and more.

For example, banks like Capital One and U.S. Bank enable their bank customers to complete banking tasks, such as checking an account balance or making a payment to a credit card, simply by speaking a command to an Amazon Alexa device. Barclays now allows its U.K. mobile banking customers with iPhones to make voice-enabled peer-to-peer payments using Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. There are a number of other ways financial institutions of all sizes can and should adopt IoT innovations that will resonate most with their particular customers.

APIs

APIs truly bring financial institutions and fintechs together to provide collaborative, innovative solutions for consumers. APIs enable financial institutions to deploy the most efficient fintech solutions in payments, such as mobile check deposit and advanced card processors, without the hassle of building or rebuilding the FI’s entire platform.

Regulatory Changes

With all the new and emerging regulatory requirements to consider, it sometimes seems that compliance serves as a huge barrier to innovation, or at least, that innovation must take a backseat to compliance. However, innovation and compliance are not mutually exclusive; they can both be achieved simultaneously. Dave Lott from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will speak on some of the upcoming regulatory changes, such as the impending Regulation CC changes, and what to expect in 2018.

Global Look into Real-Time Payments

Faster payments continue to evolve in the U.S., but in other parts of the world they already have found their place in financial services and are making a real impact on customer experience, fraud mitigation and client acquisition and retention. As U.S. financial institutions—and other value chain stakeholders—grapple with how to usher in faster payments in the U.S. by the Fed’s 2020 goal, looking at what’s worked and hasn’t worked in other countries will be vital to success.

Financial institutions have a critical role to play in shaping the future of payments and commerce. From AI, to IoT to APIs and other innovative offerings, there are a number of opportunities for financial institutions to consider.

These innovative offerings don’t necessarily have a one-size-fits-all approach. Financial institutions must thoroughly review their strategic plans and have a comprehensive understanding of their customer base to make the right decisions for their particular institutions.

Holly Hughes is the chief marketing officer at BAI. The association is hosting its annual BAI Beacon on Oct. 4-5 in Atlanta. Register at https://www.bai.org/baibeacon/register.

In Viewpoints, payments technology professionals share their perspectives on the industry. Paybefore presents many points of view to offer readers new insights and information. The opinions expressed in Viewpoints are not necessarily those of Paybefore.