Icon hosts instant payments roundtable in Amsterdam
Icon Solutions was delighted to host its first Payments Breakfast roundtable in Amsterdam, in association with EBA and Finextra on Tuesday 22nd November 2016.
The topic of this exclusive roundtable was ‘Instant payments – preparing for the transition’ and included guest speakers Gijs Schreuder (Head Marketing Infrastructures & Business Management, ABN AMRO), Inge van Dijk (Program Manager Instant Payments, Dutch Payments Association) and Tom Hay (Head of Payments, Icon Solutions).
The attendee list included representatives from banks such as Rabobank, BNP, ING, and Garanti Bank.
The Speakers
Tom Hay led the discussions by outlining some of the challenges and considerations organisations currently face when transitioning to instant payments and shared how recent research from Lipis Advisors helped dispel some of the common myths around implementation. Gijs Schreuder, ABN AMRO, provided insights into the drivers behind the demand for instant payments in the Netherlands whilst Inge van Dijk shared an update on the Dutch Payments Association’s plans for instant payments and the business case for implementation.
The Insights
Together the group discussed a range of issues around the implementation of immediate payments and increased access to the service. There was general agreement that instant payments will be the new normal, and that expectations have moved significantly over the past few years. The digital generation expect real-time banking, of which payments is just one part, and will not tolerate the delays inherent in older systems.
Discussions focused on the approach to be taken by banks in the Netherlands: whether to go for a strategy of extending or augmenting the legacy systems or for complete system modernisation. This was also reinforced by key findings from the “Instant Payments: Insights from early adopters” research shared by Tom Hay which highlighted that modular, highly configurable systems remove barriers to entry and offer cost savings.
It was also clear that although payments remain a two-sided market, technology developments (such as open-source technologies) mean that the scales needed for profitable operations has shrunk, which in turn also benefits the smaller players in the market.
Download the research here.
The Way Forward
Instant payments is becoming an ever-increasing priority for banks, payment service providers and corporates as well as individual consumers. The challenge now will be accelerating the transition and leveraging the benefits it offers organisations.
This roundtable was one in a series of planned payments events hosted by Icon. The next of which will be ‘Practical Implementations of Instant Payments technology’. If you would like to learn more about how Icon can help you with your particular payment challenges, or if you would be interested in attending our next event, please email info@iconsolutions.com.