Whatever label you use, instant, immediate, faster or real-time payments have moved to the top of the agenda at every payments-related event so far this year and are sure to be high on the agenda when Swift’s annual Sibos event lands in Singapore in October. Nearing the halfway mark for 2015, here’s a roundup of the stories so far …
Global interoperability of real-time payments systems will require harmonisation of market practices and standards. A group of international clearing houses, banks, vendors, payments associations and other parties have proposed setting up an activity to look at how to deliver this under the aegis of the International Standards Organisation – and set an ambitious target of collating an initial variant of ISO 20022 usage guidelines for real-time payments before the summer.
The hypothesis that seems to be gaining ground is that banks have a wider responsibility in society. If we believe that, then part of their responsibility must clearly be to provide banking products and services that serve the financial needs of the less affulent.
The introduction of a seven-day account switching service in the autumn is meant to increase competition among UK High Street banks. Will it succeed?
The Payments Council’s latest report, The Way We Pay, shows rapid changes in use of payment methods over the past decade – but cash is still in the mix.
The UK Payments Council has announced that the introduction of its planned Mobile Payments Service has been pushed back until “spring 2014” – a year after its previously expected introduction, and two years after Barclays broke from the rest of the UK banks and launched its Pingit service. The delay comes despite commitments from financial […]
