Three of Every Four Banks Planning Single Transaction Banking Business in the Next Year, According to Survey

A survey from software firm Misys shows a trend to consolidate cash and trade businesses into one transaction banking group.

London-based software and services company Misys today announced the results of its third annual Trends in Transaction Banking survey, which polled more than 120 firms across 45 countries. According to the results, reducing IT complexity and costs remains the dominant concern of transaction bankers.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents stated that they had started consolidating at least trade finance and cash management businesses to achieve this goal. At the same time, 45 percent describe their infrastructure as "multiple core processing systems," underlining that the industry has a long way to go before true consolidation happens.

Also of note, 43 percent listed "online channel development" as the top transaction banking priority for next year, reflecting the trend toward enhancements of the online delivery of cash management and trade finance in a unified fashion, according to Misys. Twenty-six of those polled cited "adding new products and services" as the top strategic focus for banks managing their transaction and cash management business over the next three years, while 35 percent listed "simplified process for making changes to payment standards and rules across all systems" as their top priority.

"This is the third survey we have done in this area and each time we have seen an increase in the proportion of banks bringing their cash, trade and payments businesses under one umbrella," noted Olivier Berthier, global solutions director, transaction banking for Misys. "This trend continues across all regions and banks of all sizes. However, few have actually fully integrated their online channels, back-office operations and payments processing successfully."

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio