WATCH: The impact of faster payments on the treasury function
As corporations and treasury teams move towards more efficient ways of conducting business, Standard Chartered and BAT discuss the benefits of adopting a faster payments model
As corporations and treasury teams move towards more efficient ways of conducting business, Standard Chartered and BAT discuss the benefits of adopting a faster payments model
The term faster payments might not be something new to many people as it has been around for many years in some parts of the world.
But as the global economy has shifted, and as the way day-to-day business is done has evolved, faster payments are well on their way to becoming essential to the success of many corporations.
Faster payments provide an alternative to cash and cheque transactions. They are more convenient and safer and facilitate efficient cash flow and liquidity management for businesses.
In the latest episode of The Global Treasurer’s Future in Focus series, produced in partnership with Standard Chartered, the benefits of adopting faster payments were unpacked.
“For treasury, just as a business partner within a further corporate context, if you think about trade, if you are able to receive and get instantaneous confirmation of a payment (within a payment cycle) then you are able to increase the flexibility you have,” says Mila Harger, Head of Digital Treasury and Banking at British American Tobacco.
Real-time transactions also allow for better efficiency for businesses.
“You could be waiting for confirmation off the back of a bank statement, depending on how you’ve structured this which also depends on the payment method,” says Harger.
“Your consumer or customer could tell you they’ve paid but you don’t have evidence of that until you get a bank statement. Whereas if I can get a notification that it is confirmed and non-challengeable, we can release the stock immediately.”
For businesses operating in multiple countries, banks making payments across borders, or consumers sending money abroad, faster payment solutions with globally interoperable standards help to facilitate faster, more transparent, and affordable cross-border payments.
Another benefit is liquidity control which works both ways.
Watch the full episode for more:
INDEX
00:00 Introductions
00:47 Defining faster payments
03:37 Stock take of the payment landscape
08:00 Importance of less fragmentation
12:35 Benefits of faster payments for treasury
23:05 The risk of being left behind
26:30 Embarking collaboratively
