A new payments
survey of more than 1,100 executives representing leading banks,
retailers and billing organizations across the Americas, Asia-Pacific
and EMEA revealed that although 80 percent of them understand they are
at risk of customer attrition, only four in ten are focused on improving
the customer experience.
The four-part Global
Payments Insight study, conducted by ACI
Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW) and leading
market research firm Ovum, asked banks, retailers and billing
organizations about their experiences, perceptions and expectations of
payments and how payments are shaping their behaviors today.
Principle findings of the survey included:
-
Security Hindrances: more than 50 percent of respondents cite
security risks as the top issue preventing payments investment;
however, this will only increase the inefficiencies and risk in
payment systems.
-
Customer Experience is Key: Banks are viewed as the best
provider of payment technologies (more than 50%). However, if they
don’t deliver the customer experience, they are at risk of losing
market to third-party payment specialists (e.g. PayPal), telecom
providers and large software entities making inroads into mobile
wallets (e.g. Apple and Google).
-
Advantage—Banks: In many payment product categories such as
contactless cards and real-time clearing and settlement, banks hold an
advantage, with ratings of 68 percent and 66 percent, respectively.
However, even in less obvious banking-related fields, such as mobile
apps (46%) and mobile QR codes (48%), banks are still regarded as the
most capable providers of these payment services.
-
Retailers and Billing Organizations want to work directly with
Banks: Surprisingly, given the recent years of legislation across
the world, retailers and billing organizations want to work together
to provide a richer consumer experience and to slash costs by cutting
out intermediaries. 44 percent of organizations claim they are already
taking steps to, or would like to eventually, reduce the number of
intermediaries in the payments value chain. The feeling is mutual on
the other side of the often hostile payments table, with up to 90
percent of banks wanting to work directly with retailers and billing
organizations.
“The payments industry is in the midst of a rapid evolution. Where
payments were traditionally given little attention up until a few years
ago, the changes taking place just on a daily basis are significant, to
say the least—from new providers to new platforms to new payment tools,”
said Gilles Ubaghs, senior analyst, Financial Services Technology, Ovum.
“As payments become smarter, this evolution has the power to transform
the payments experience; and, as such, the needs, experiences and
expectations of all of the players in the payments value chain is more
critical than ever.”
“For banks, retailers and billing organizations, the key takeaway is
that the customer experience is the primary imperative and this will not
change. All of these players must satisfy shifting consumer demand and
enhance their payment capabilities,” said Paul Thomalla, senior vice
president, ACI Worldwide. “This means lowering payment costs, offering
new value enhancing services, and most importantly, ensuring that
security measures are being taken.”
ACI and Ovum will be hosting a webinar on the retailer findings April 29
at 3:00pm ET. Attendees will learn about takeaways critical for
retailers’ payment strategies and investment priorities. To register for
the webinar, please click here
or visit http://aciw.co/1HguW6y.
To receive a free copy of the Global Payments Insight Study, please
click here
or visit http://www.aciworldwide.com/paymentsinsight.
Survey Methodology
This digital survey was conducted online to key payment decision makers
globally in the fourth quarter of 2014, providing a snapshot of payment
perceptions among financial institutions, scheduled billing and payment
taking organizations such as higher education, consumer finance and
insurance, and merchant retailers.
Overall, this included a total 1,119 executive respondents across 15
industry sub verticals in 25 key global markets, resulting in over
144,000 separate data points on perceptions and expectations of payments
among critical payment enablers globally.
About ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide, the Universal
Payments company, powers electronic payments and banking for more
than 5,600 financial institutions, retailers, billers and processors
around the world. ACI software processes $13 trillion each day in
payments and securities transactions for more than 300 of the leading global
retailers, and 21 of the world’s 25 largest banks. Through our
comprehensive suite of software products and hosted services, we deliver
a broad range of solutions for payment processing; card and merchant
management; online
banking; mobile, branch and voice banking; fraud
detection; trade finance; and electronic
bill presentment and payment. To learn more about ACI, please visit www.aciworldwide.com.
You can also find us on Twitter @ACI_Worldwide.
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Copyright Business Wire 2015