Take the Lead with Corporate Banking Real-Time Payments

Corporate and enterprise payments are a key and relatively stable revenue stream for banks. Traditionally, products include EFTs, card, and cash payments and these are expected as basic banking solutions. However, real-time payments are becoming essential as payments infrastructures are modernised and demand for speed and efficiency grows.

The success of real-time payments is evidenced by PayShap’s explosive growth. Over the last year, volumes grew by over 1000%. While the growth is driven by retail payments, banks are beginning to gradually expand PayShap instant payments to their corporate banking clients. Why is this important and how can banks accelerate speed to market to lead in corporate real-time payments? 

Corporate banking doesn’t exist in a bubble

Retail behaviour has a ripple effect on corporate clients. As everyday payments become faster and more secure, slow banking is akin to driving in peak traffic while the bullet train speeds past. 

As customers become more accustomed to real-time payments and settlements, corporates feel the pressure to keep up. Banks need to play an active role in providing payment solutions that help their clients stay competitive in their markets. 

At the same time, decision-makers are looking for opportunities to enhance internal processes and execute time-sensitive payments with the same ease and convenience they experience in their personal lives. If their current banking partner can’t offer that, they may start to question whether their provider is truly forward-thinking and innovative enough to support their future payment needs. 

Real-time payments strengthen your value proposition

While some banks may hesitate to push real-time payments, perhaps due to concerns about cannibalisation of income streams, there are compelling upsides that can be leveraged to propel their payments business further. Instant settlements, enhanced client experience, and new revenue channels all contribute to a stronger, future-ready value proposition.

Real-time payments solve real challenges across sectors

Corporate real-time payments have a use case across most industries, providing banks an opportunity to become strategic partners, expand their corporate portfolio, and grow revenue.  

Receipts

Enabling corporate accounts to support inbound PayShap payments is the first step to improving their receivables and cash flow. It ensures they adapt to changing consumer behaviour by reducing complexity - ensuring they are not turning payments away. Examples include:

• Instant payments can immediately settle outstanding accounts to avoid service disruptions.
• Businesses offering digital wallets and stored-value accounts can improve customer experience with immediate top-ups. 

Collections

Collections generally come with complexity as mandates and authorisation is involved. Real-time payments can simplify and improve collection rates with request-to-pay. Examples are:

• PayShap Request can be sent to customers to recover missed or failed collections ensuring services remain uninterrupted. 
• Clients with receivables can prompt debtors to make minimum payments towards their accounts through Payshap Request, reducing default rates. 

Disbursements

Instant withdrawals, redemptions, refunds and payouts improve customer service and loyalty, with some examples being:

• Industries such as healthcare and insurance benefit from instant payouts which are essential for time-sensitive services. 
• Asset managers typically pay out withdrawals through EFT which takes two to three days to reflect. Funds made available immediately can improve their value proposition. 
• Retailers and e-commerce merchants can expedite the refund process once a return is approved.
• Clients can support their staff with on-demand payroll - allowing staff to access their salaries earlier. 
• Travel reimbursements can be made to employees immediately once expenses are approved. 
  
  

Compete in the fast lane with Electrum’s Enterprise Payments Channel

Electrum’s Enterprise Payments Channel enables banks to expand low-value payments schemes at speed. Accelerate speed to market through a single integration channel, ensuring your clients get the best payments services available, including instant payments.

Chat with us to learn more about our market-proven, cloud-native payments channel solution.