Why Community Banks Can’t Afford To

‘Wait and See’ About Faster Payment Innovations

AUGUST 2017

As millennials increasingly flex their entrepreneurial

muscles, community banks feel pressure to offer necessary

faster payment services

Faster payments are no longer a thing of the

future – faster payments are here to stay.

Tina Giorgio, president and CEO of ICBA Bancard

Report finds investment in B2B technologies

increased by 40 percent to reach $12 billion

between 2015 and 2016

2

Faster PaymentsTracker™

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Table of Contents

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What’s Inside

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News and Trends

The top headlines from the faster payments space, including the long-awaited report from the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force, the growing role of blockchain and recommended steps to help companies prepare to offer Same Day ACH debits.

Why Community Banks Can’t Afford To ‘Wait and See’ About Faster Payment InnovationsTina Giorgio, president and CEO of ICBA Bancard, on why community banks must step up their efforts to win over new millennial, Gen X and baby boomer customers by adopting faster payment solutions.

Notable recent headlines from around the space.

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What’s Inside

In late July, the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force released its much-anticipated 64-page report outlining 10 recommendations for strength-ening the U.S. faster payments system. Recom-mendations outlined in the report include creating a market-driven governance framework, standards for broad adoption and working with the Fed to strength-en some areas of faster payments.

The future role of the Fed in shaping U.S. faster pay-ments was also a key element of report. The Faster Payments Task Force recommended working with the Fed to address changes to the regulatory envi-ronment and to help develop and implement a fast-er payments settlement system that operates on a 24/7/365 basis.

The Fed wasn’t the only organization to recently re-lease an outline for how to improve faster payments. A fraud prevention solutions company offered its guidance on how to provide greater security to faster payments once Same Day ACH debits become avail-able, while another report provided insights into the potential value of B2B payment solutions.

Here’s what’s happening around the world of Faster Payments:

To make global commerce and remittance trans-actions simpler, several banks invested in block-chain-based initiatives over the past month. Twen-ty-two global banks joined a blockchain proof of concept (PoC) from financial messaging services provider SWIFT for cross-border payments. In Eu-rope, seven banks turned to IBM for help in building a blockchain platform that would make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to ex-

“Most significantly, it is important to remember that the report itself was the result of over 300 individuals coming together from many different types of orga-nizations from throughout our payments ecosystem. Because our ecosystem is so vast and diverse [when] compared to other parts of the world, it took a tremen-dous amount of collaboration to develop a report that is unique to the United States. Now, we have the oppor-tunity to make it our own — by carefully considering the unique needs of our environment and determining ex-actly where future collaboration may also be needed.

In a market-driven approach, we will not only consider what is available in the market today, but can also con-sider, proactively, what is needed for the future. Even more importantly, though, if we follow a market-driv-en path, we can more flexibly respond to changes in needs of users or changes in technology and adapt as we move forward. Two words were commonly used throughout the process of the task force — collabo-ration and inclusiveness — and those were common themes reiterated throughout the recommendations of the Task Force report. And, given our ecosystem, con-tinued collaboration and inclusiveness will be integral to our future success.”

Janet O. Estep

President & CEO NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association

WHAT WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TAKEAWAY FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE’S

FASTER PAYMENTS TASK FORCE REPORT RELEASED IN JULY?

Executive InsightThe wait is over.

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What’s Inside

ecute trade transactions. Meanwhile, in Asia, Siam Commercial Bank announced it is working with Ja-pan’s SBI Remit to enable real-time remittance pay-ments between Japan and Thailand.

Keeping faster payments safe is a key concern for financial institutions, payment processors and con-sumers alike. Fraud prevention solutions company GIACT released a report highlighting potential risks posed by Same Day ACH debits, which will become available in September 2017 during Phase 2 of the Same Day ACH rollout. In its findings, GIACT pointed out that Same Day ACH debits could lead to higher fraud losses for FIs — and, in turn, losses in consum-er confidence and relations.

A new report highlights the potential value of B2B payments. The Global Payments Innovation Jury, whose membership consists of 70 industry execu-tives from 37 countries, recently reported that B2B technologies investments were worth $12 billion, an increase of 40 percent between 2015 and 2016.

APIs are also being explored as a potentially valuable option to promote real-time payments. To further ex-amine the role of APIs in faster payments, an execu-tive from mobile and online banking solutions provid-er D3 Banking joined NACHA’s API Standardization Industry Group (ASIG), which was formed earlier this year to develop a standardized API “playbook” for FIs. D3 said it is considering open APIs to help banks better serve their customers through a more flexible infrastructure.

NACHA also took its annual trip to Capitol Hill, where it highlighted its work with API standardization and several other issues related to faster payments — in-cluding how APIs can address common headaches experienced by banks, businesses and consumers.

Check out the Tracker’s News section for the most significant recent developments across the Faster Payments landscape.

Community banks urged to ditch the ‘wait and see’ attitude on faster payments

Many millennials are deciding to start their own busi-nesses as they come of age, and they will need to work with banks to get those ventures started. For community banks, this development could open an opportunity to attract new, younger customers.

While recent research indicates that community banks largely cater to an older demographic — more than half of customers are 51 years of age or old-er — millennials and Gen X customers still represent upwards of one-third of their consumers. In the past, community banks have been less incentivized to in-vest in faster payment solutions, but taking the “wait and see” approach won’t work for these institutions anymore. They’ll risk alienating younger customers, according to ICBA Bancard president and CEO Tina Giorgio. In a recent conversation with PYMNTS, Gior-gio explained why community banks need to invest in faster payment solutions: to stay competitive and more effectively serve customers across all genera-tions.

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FIve Fast FActs

Average number of online payments delivered per month using ACH in 2015, up from 13.4 in 2000.

Expected portion of B2B pay-ment methods to use ACH transactions by 2020.

Amount of time it takes Same Day ACH to clear and settle in Holland.

105%

29.8

45%

0.2 Cents

90Minutes

What’s Inside

Fee per payment through the new European TARGET Instant Payments Settlement Service (TIPS) for the first two years of operation.

CAGR of instant payments as a result of the U.K.’s faster payments scheme.

6© 2017 PYMNTS.com all rights reserved

Are community banks missing the chance to climb aboard the faster payments train? In late July, the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force released its much-anticipated report on how to strengthen and operate the U.S. faster pay-ments system. The report included several recom-mendations for banks, FinTechs and other financial services players — guidelines to establish an indus-try-driven framework for governing the system and encourage further research and investment in emerg-ing financial technologies.

However, if recent developments in the financial ser-vices industry are any indication, innovation waits for no institution, company, agency or, for that mat-ter, Fed report. Many players in the financial services market were already launching innovative solutions without knowing which guidelines the Fed would rec-ommend for the U.S. faster payment system.

With various banks and FinTechs producing innova-tive solutions — like mobile banking and P2P tools

aimed at improving the speed of payments — the pressure is on for community banks to keep up. A recent report by financial services provider FIS found that while community banks have been successful in many areas of digital-first solutions, these insti-tutions are still “slow to adapt” to shifting consumer needs.

Getting community banks to adapt to the changes brought on by the availability of faster payments is a top priority of the Independent Community Bank-ers of America (ICBA), the trade organization repre-senting approximately 5,800 community banks of various sizes nationwide. In a recent conversation with PYMNTS, Tina Giorgio president and CEO of ICBA Bancard, the payment services division of the ICBA, said community banks have an opportunity to win over new users by getting on board with faster payments and digital solutions. Giorgio also empha-sized that innovation is not just an opportunity for community banks, but a necessity to staying com-petitive. Additionally, she noted, that innovation must address the needs of both baby boomer and millen-nial consumers alike, along with the needs of smaller businesses.

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Why Community Banks Can’t Afford To ‘Wait and See’

About Faster Payment Innovations

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When ‘Wait And See’ Won’t Cut It Anymore

According to data published in FIS’s most recent Per-formance Against Consumer Expectations (PACE) report, community bank customers are more likely to skew toward older age. The PACE report findings revealed that 57 percent of community banking cus-tomers are baby boomers over the age of 51, while old-er millennial and Gen X con-sumers account for just 37 percent of community banks’ customer base.

But, just because these insti-tutions cater to a mostly old-er customer base does not mean they can afford to fall behind on innovation, Gior-gio said. The PACE report also pointed out that older community bank customers are tech-savvy and are, in some cases, more likely to use online banking than younger bank customers.

In a recent blog post, Giorgio pointed out that baby boomers make an average of 9.1 interactions per month with their banks using digital channels, in-cluding through online and mobile banking. These findings should serve as a wakeup call to communi-ty banks that it is “absolutely necessary” to innovate to meet customer expectations, Giorgio explained to PYMNTS.

“It’s not just millennials using these services,” she said, noting that access to digital services is ap-pealing to most age groups. “Taking a wait and see approach isn’t going to work anymore. [Community banks] have to be more proactive.”

Millennials Moving Into And Up In The Business World

As more and more millennials are flexing their entre-preneurial muscles, Giorgio said, it’s time for commu-nity banks to take notice.

The millennial market, estimated at roughly 83 mil-lion, presents an opportunity for community banks to expand their reach and influence. Almost half of

millennials (49 percent) intend to start their own businesses within the next three years. According to ICBA findings, millennials have frustrations with Wall Street and bigger banks over issues like high fees and older banking mechanisms, making them more like-ly to turn to community banks for assistance when

starting those businesses.

Since small businesses employ close to half of all U.S. employees, Giorgio said it is important for com-munity banks to step up their efforts to address the needs of both small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their millennial owners.

“Speed and convenience certainly have become pri-orities for customers these days,” Giorgio said.

Faster Payment Options For Smbs

To help community banks address the needs of smaller businesses, ICBA Bancard recently part-nered with cloud-based payment solutions provid-er linked2pay to offer community banks access to the company’s Bank Centric Payments platform for smaller merchants. With the platform in place, ICBA members can easily access ACH solutions, remote deposit capture and card payment transactions. By offering these services to community banks, Gior-gio said, those banks are better prepared to begin helping smaller businesses gain quicker access to real-time payment solutions.

Giorgio shared a personal experience about hiring a contractor to add a new roof to her home. Once the work was complete, the contractor left a bill on her door. Giorgio said she mailed the contractor a check that did not clear for at least a week.

“That’s thousands of dollars that he’s paid out to em-ployees and [for] materials that he hasn’t put back into his cash flow,” Giorgio said.

Having a solution like the linked2pay platform in

Faster payments are no longer a thing of the future

– faster payments are here to stay

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place, she said, would have allowed the contractor to accept payment immediately using a card or Same Day ACH solutions. She also posited that the con-tractor could still have accepted the paper check and deposited it using remote capture from a smart-phone or a tablet.

Going forward, Giorgio said, the linked2pay platform will add Same Day ACH debits once the feature be-comes available in September, and is also working on a real-time payment solution.

“We are continuing to forge ahead and keep it rele-vant for community banks and their business cus-tomers,” Giorgio said.

‘Faster Payments Are Here To Stay’

With technology moving forward at rapid pace — and as the technology becomes more commonplace — community banks that have not yet adopted a faster payments solution risk being alienated by their cus-tomers, Giorgio said.

“Faster payments are no longer a thing of the future – faster payments are here to stay,” she noted.

For community banks, this means adopting faster payment solutions — and sooner rather than later. Looking ahead, Giorgio sees an opportunity for com-munity banks to leverage faster payment solutions in the lending space. Enabling borrowers to apply for, get approved and quickly gain access to loan funds is most likely going to be offered through faster pay-ment solutions, she said, and soon.

“The lending environment is changing so rapidly,” Giorgio said. “The faster payments piece isn’t nec-essarily there yet for funding in a lot of applications, but it’s the next logical extension of what’s going to be built there.”

Other areas where Giorgio sees potential for commu-nity banks to tap into faster payment solutions is in wealth management, such as stock and investment

portfolios. Eventually, she said, artificial intelligence and data analytics will also be poised to play a larger role in community banks’ operations.

“The use cases are going to keep growing,” Giorgio said.

“Our linked2pay relationship has been de-signed to be a completely open API, so I don’t need my core or anything else to utilize that system. Everything clears on the same day.

That’s literally a solution [in which] we can have someone on-boarded and up and running in a matter of a week or two. We have banks ready to go — and for their customers, it’s real-time enrollment.

Once a business customer is enrolled, they are ready to go, depending on what [a] bank is authorizing them to do from a payment’s per-spective, based on their credit and ISO spon-sorship and things like that. If the business just wants remote deposit, they can just do remote deposit. It’s pretty flexible and scalable to any type of business or any size of business.”

Tina Giorgio, president and CEO of ICBA Bancard

WHAT COMPONENTS NEED TO BE IN PLACE FOR A COMMUNITY BANK PLATFORM TO MEET SMB NEEDS?

UNDER THE HOOD

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News & TrendsWhat’s TrendingFederal Reserve releases its faster payments report

After years of discussions and deliberations, the wait is finally over. The 300-person Federal Reserve Fast-er Payments Task Force released its 64-page report outlining 10 key recommendations for the U.S. faster payments system.

Among the most significant recommendations pre-sented in the report were relying on a market- and industry-led framework for faster payments gover-nance, and working to establish rules and standards to support broad adoption. The report also advo-cated for greater education efforts to raise aware-ness of faster payments systems, address gaps in cross-border functionality, develop more effective fraud detection protocols and put further research into developing technologies.

The report also opened the door to a bigger role in faster payments for the U.S. Federal Reserve. Rec-ommendations include relying on the Fed and other regulators to address changes to the regulatory en-vironment and to design and implement a 24/7/365 settlement service to support faster payments.

Upon the report’s release, PYMNTS’ Karen Webster shared her insights on what the report gets right and why entertaining a larger role for the Fed is a step in the wrong direction.

GIACT report outlines Same Day ACH debit risks

The Fed report was not the only one to offer sugges-tions to keep faster payments protected. Fraud pre-vention solutions provider GIACT recently published its own findings on keeping faster payments secure.

The GIACT report, “Securing Faster Payments: Pro-tecting your Organization and Customers from the Risks of Same Day ACH Debits,” examines current risks organizations must consider before launching Same Day ACH debits. Although Same Day ACH deb-its do not create new fraud vectors, organizations must be vigilant to ensure that fraudsters do not exploit the shortened settlement window to bypass existing fraud prevention protocols.

The report claims that legacy account validation pro-tocols such as prenotes and trial deposits may not be quick enough to detect and prevent fraudulent debits if end-to-end processes aren’t updated. This could result in possible fines, penalties and higher fraud losses — and also erode customer confidence in financial institutions. GIACT recommends organi-zations planning to offer Same Day ACH debits up-date their existing systems to deliver real-time valida-tion of both account status and ownership to reduce the risk of fraudulent activity.

Same Day ACH debits are scheduled to roll out in September 2017.

B2B payments surpasses B2C in profit potential, experts say

Another recent report calls attention to ACH’s ability to improve the B2B payments space. The report, re-leased by the Global Payments Innovation Jury — a group comprised of 70 industry executives from 37 countries — found B2B payments are surpassing those in B2C, in terms of both innovation and poten-tial profits.

“The majority of the jurors believe that B2B payments firms tend to deliver a service for which it is easier to build a profit margin,” the report said. “This is be-cause business customers are more used to being

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charged for payment services and because, to date, there has been less intense competition in the B2B payments market.”

The report found investment in B2B technologies reached $12 billion in value, an increase of 40 per-cent between March 2015 and March 2016. On the other hand, the Jury noted B2C payments’ low-mar-gin, high-volume business model — with a continuing expectation among consumers that innovative ser-vices will be offered for free — is a significant growth barrier for the industry. Further, the report found that faster ACH capabilities across the globe have signifi-cantly impacted the market’s ability to innovate, and have particular potential in the B2B payments space. A lack of dispute mechanisms and continued lag in real-time ACH were listed among the top barriers to faster ACH capabilities gaining prominence among other payment rails.

Advancements in APIsNACHA adds D3 exec to API Standardization Group

In late June, Christina McGeorge, chief product offi-cer and vice president of product ownership at mobile and online banking solutions provider D3 Banking, announced she will join NACHA’s API Standardiza-tion Industry Group (ASIG). The Group was formed earlier this year with the goal of developing an API standardization “playbook” to help FinTechs, banks and other businesses and industry players with their development and use of APIs in the financial ser-vices sector. ASIG also works on security, transpar-ency and efficiency of solutions built and enhanced via APIs to promote real-time payments.

In a statement, McGeorge said open APIs can help banks serve their customers by offering a more flexi-

News & Trends

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News & Trends

ble infrastructure. “The very nature of digital banking is real-time communication, something the financial services industry is quickly embracing,” she noted.

In May, the ASIG released its summary report from its inaugural meeting. The report found that while APIs promote security and efficiency, adoption has been slow, especially in the U.S. There have been several reasons for the slower adoption: Some institutions feel they do not have enough information for proper cost-benefit analysis, while others lack understand-ing about the technology itself or do not have com-mitment from leadership.

NACHA goes to Washington

In early July, NACHA sent its Government Relations Advisory Group on its annual pilgrimage to Capitol Hill. Topics discussed include opportunities to use APIs to alleviate common pain points for businesses, banks and consumers, the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force and new banking rules.

NACHA´s senior director and group manager of gov-ernment and industry relations, Bill Sullivan, said the tradition of the association’s Capitol Hill Day is to build cooperative interplay between NACHA and the federal government. Sullivan said the day is an annu-

al opportunity for NACHA to “showcase boots on the ground across the country” and to act as a thought leader in the payment space.

Among other topics, NACHA’s Capitol Hill Day partic-ipants discussed faster payments, and one aspect stressed was the security and protections faster payments can provide. Receipt of Same Day ACH is mandatory, which provides for the ubiquity and value of this faster payment offering. Sullivan also report-ed that banks appear to have prepared for the Same Day ACH shift and are in compliance with the NACHA Operating Rules.

Building blockchainsTwenty-two banks join SWIFT’s blockchain proof of concept

Financial messaging services provider SWIFT recent-ly announced that 22 new global banks will partici-pate in the company’s blockchain proof of concept (PoC) for cross-border payments. The PoC is de-signed to validate in real-time whether the technolo-gy can help banks reconcile international nostro ac-counts, which are held by banks in foreign currencies at another bank. The blockchain trial enables banks to immediately reconcile international money trans-fers.

The banks will test and validate the PoC’s blockchain application, which is currently under development by SWIFT and a group of six PoC founding banks. Working independently, the 22 institutions will act as a validation group to further test the application and evaluate how the technology scales and performs.

Launched at the start of the year, SWIFT’s PoC aims to help banks overcome challenges in monitoring and managing international nostro accounts, which are crucial to the facilitation of cross-border pay-ments. Banks cannot currently monitor their account positions in real-time due to a lack of intraday report-ing coverage. The 22 new banks involved in the PoC include major financial institutions from Europe, Afri-ca, North America and Asia.

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Seven European banks choose IBM as block-chain partner

Another group of banks has picked IBM to build a blockchain platform. The seven European financial institutions — which include Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Société Générale, Natixis, Rabobank and Uni-credit — signed on with IBM as part of the “Digital Trade Chain Consortium.”

The consortium’s goal is to make trade finance trans-actions simpler and more streamlined for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The consortium’s solution, which is designed to connect the parties in-volved in a trade transaction, both online and via mo-bile devices, will run on IBM Cloud. IBM uses block-chain technology for the automatic generation of electronic record-keeping and transaction-process-ing systems on a third-party-free, secure network.

In a statement, IBM said the solution could help small merchants in Europe facilitate payments. “There are [more than] 20 million SMEs in Europe, and they pro-vide around 85 percent of the jobs as well, so it’s a critical part of the economy — and so anything that can facilitate growth in the SME community is going to help a lot,” said Keith Bear, vice president for finan-cial markets and head of blockchain at IBM.

Siam Commercial bank to use Ripple’s block-chain for remittance

Banks in Asia are also taking a look at what block-chain can offer. Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), in collaboration with Japan’s SBI Remit, re-cently announced that it will use Ripple’s blockchain enterprise solution to power real-time remittance payments between Japan and Thailand.

SCB noted there are roughly 40,000 Thai nationals liv-ing in Japan, and total remittance flows from Japan to Thailand at approximately $250 million per year. The service was rolled out in late June and supports individual funds transfers from Japanese accounts in yen (JPY) to SCB savings accounts in Thai Baht (THB). Once sent, the funds are credited to an SCB recipient’s account within two to five seconds, a sig-nificant improvement compared with the up to two

business days it currently takes for a payment to be made between the two countries. SCB has plans to roll the service out in other key markets across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Ripple’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) offering has seen an uptick in popularity lately. Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) announced plans to use Ripple to facilitate real-time money transfers between Europe and Mexico. In the U.K., the Bank of England announced that a DLT PoC with Ripple has strengthened the bank’s resolve to develop a new, real-time, gross settlement (RTGS) platform for the private sector.

New payment developmentsECB announces plans for new instant payment system

A new payment network appears to be headed for Europe. The European Central Bank (ECB) has an-nounced plans for a new instant payments and settlement system that will enable businesses and consumers to send money in real time across 19 countries. The TARGET Instant Payments Settlement Service (TIPS) is slated to go live in November 2018 and will take settlement and clearing houses out of the payments structure altogether.

While collaboration with banks is in the cards, partic-ipation will not be mandatory. The ECB stated TIPS will be run on a not-for-profit basis, but will require a fee of 0.2 cents per payment for the first two years of operation to cover costs.

In a document outlining the principals of the TIPS service, the ECB said, “TIPS shall be open to partici-pation from PSPs and ACHs.” While many Euro coun-tries have instant payments systems, such as the Is-tituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane in Italy and the Banco de España in Spain, the ECB intends to produce a bloc-wide operation in which responsi-bility for the development and running of the system would be shouldered entirely by the Eurosystem.

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The system is already seeing interested participants come forward. equensWorldline, a subsidiary of eP-ayment transactional services provider Worldline, re-cently announced it will connect to the new European faster payments service the first day TIPS is available. By offering the service, equensWorldline intends to of-fer its connected banks and PSPs a simpler, pan-Euro-pean reach through a single interface.

Starling eases access to Faster Payments with Vocalink

In the U.K., a new partnership could give banks easier access to the nation’s faster payments network. Voca-link and Starling Bank announced a joint effort that will enable Starling to become a direct agency sponsor for Vocalink’s PayPort Service. Starling will authorize and settle transactions for businesses and FIs interested in linking into the U.K. Faster Payments scheme.

The companies said their collaboration aims to re-duce barriers to Faster Payments access, which can include costs associated with in-house systems tra-ditionally used to access the scheme. The companies said challenger banks, traditional FIs and payment service providers will enjoy ease of access to the U.K. platform with Starling as a facilitator, potentially yield-ing “higher levels of innovation, increased competition

in the payments market and more choice for consum-ers.” Starling joined the Faster Payments scheme in June as part of a partnership with Form3.

Visa, Interswitch collaborate to speed up mobile payments

Another partnership could expand the way mobile payments serve consumers across Africa. Credit card giant Visa and Interswitch, Africa’s integrated pay-ments and transaction solutions company, recently announced they will partner to accelerate mobile pay-ments adoption across the region.

Visa’s mVisa is a mobile payments solution that allows consumers to pay for goods from any type of phone, by either scanning a QR code or entering a merchant number. Payment goes straight from the consumer’s account into the merchant’s account and provides real-time notification to both parties. Interswitch will work with Visa in select West and East African mar-kets to develop a Merchant Management Platform. The platform will receive Original Credit Transactions (OCT) from Visa, as well as app-based merchant en-rollment solutions which will enable minimum Static QR code functionality.

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