Payments have quickly evolved—and banking customers’ needs have shifted to match. To grow and validate their payments strategy, a top-ten US bank needed tactical insights and research on current industry investments in payments capabilities.
After building a key partnership with our team on other payments projects, the bank turned to our experts to define their next steps in the market. With an analysis of their key competitors in hand, the bank knew they could better understand their peers’ payments initiatives and plan strategically for their own payments roadmap.
The bank’s objectives were twofold: They wanted to find opportunities for new revenue streams and maintain a competitive edge as a leader in the digital banking space. To gain a broader view of their competition, the bank needed research on areas like fintech investments, payment hubs, real-time payments, liquidity and cross-border payments.
The bank's key challenges included:
■ Maintaining market share in a highly competitive space
■ Discovering how their payments strategy compared to other banks’
■ Evolving their payments strategy to meet customer needs
■ Uncovering opportunities to increase market value and leverage new partnerships
“The opportunity to engage at this level with our clients truly showcased the expertise and strength of our relationships. This project gave the bank a full view of payment trends which strengthened their business justifications and payments strategy. Any time we can provide support for strategic decisions and play a part in the overall journey is a win for all.” – Amanda Estiverne-Colas, Delivery Partner
To start, we helped determine focus areas for the competitive research, which were based on two cohorts of banks provided by the client. Our extensive banking and payment product experts worked to research the payment technologies being used at the cohort banks. We then categorized the research, focusing on the client’s strategic needs and interests, with all research conducted and delivered confidentially.
Our research was categorized by:
■ Money movement strategies, for example, how our cohorts are servicing consumer vs. business payment needs
■ Payment technologies deployed, including payment hubs, mobile wallets, real-time payments, merchant service platforms, etc.
■ Specific payment verticals that tap into financial instruments and products within healthcare, government and public sector, travel, hospitality and restaurants
■ Deeper dives by client journey on topics ranging from open banking to banking as a service, distributed ledger and decentralized finance
Within those research categories, common themes included product development, data, open banking and technology trends. To identify growth areas for the bank, our team provided an analysis of the themes and key investments within the marketplace and anonymized all findings.
After delivering a comprehensive analysis of cohort banks’ investments and payments strategies, the bank is now better equipped to make key decisions on future payment technology investments to meet product and customer demand. This project also helped the bank broaden their viewpoint on trends in niche payments, alternative lending, money movement, modern technology, and merchant services, including credit card products.
Overall, the payments research analysis helped the bank:
■ Understand how they compare with peers
■ Identify key competitive payment trends and investments
■ Learn about tech partnerships vs. in-house solutions
■ Leverage market data to improve customer experience
■ Create knowledge transfer of payment products and cross-vertical innovation