CHERRY HILL, N.J., Aug. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology
continues to drive innovation in the commercial payments sector,
according to a recent survey of finance and treasury professionals
conducted by TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®.
Real-time payments is leading change, as nearly half of respondents
(42 percent) cited integration of these capabilities within online
banking as the technological innovation that will have the greatest
positive impact on the industry over the next three to five
years.
Payments professionals also predict artificial intelligence and
machine learning will create positive change (20 percent) in the
industry, while more advanced technologies such as blockchain (11
percent) or biometrics (4 percent) are not yet at the
forefront.
TD's survey collected responses from 390 finance professionals
on industry trends and outlook at the 2018 NACHA PAYMENTS
Conference in San Diego,
California, in May.
Innovation Forces Infrastructure Upgrades
With
improved technology comes the need to revamp outdated frameworks.
Respondents were not shy to call out the need to refresh internal
infrastructure systems as the main roadblock to success in
implementing digital payments strategies. When asked about their
greatest challenge in payments innovation, more than one-third (36
percent) of respondents stated the need for corporations and/or
smaller banks to update legacy infrastructure to support these
functions.
Payments professionals expect their financial institutions to
evolve as well. An overwhelming majority said that integrating a
mobile application for business banking would improve a company's
experience with its financial institution, according to 74 percent
of respondents.
"One of the largest impediments to today's payments industry is
that change is happening faster than organizations can
realistically accommodate it," said Rick
Burke, Head of Corporate Products and Services, TD Bank.
"Sending and receiving corporate payments is a complex process and
one that it is not yet as nimble as consumer payments. As more
CFOs and treasurers use immediate payment schemes in their personal
financial transactions, the demand for commercial availability will
also rise, and financial institutions and businesses need to be
prepared to accommodate that expectation."
Professionals Remains Vigilant; Wary of
Cryptocurrencies
Payments experts hold a strong view against
the validity of cryptocurrencies, despite the hype around the topic
in the media. In fact, the majority (64 percent) of survey
respondents noted that they do not view cryptocurrencies as a
legitimate form of digital payment. Despite this, just 4 percent
selected controversy around cryptocurrencies as the greatest
challenge facing payments innovation today.
Cybersecurity and payment fraud remain a top concern for
payments professionals but saw a slight decline in the survey
results. This year, 84 percent of respondents stated that payments
fraud will become a bigger threat in the next one to two years,
compared with 91 percent of respondents in 2017.
This drop could indicate that companies are gaining confidence
as they prioritize and invest greater resources in cybersecurity
prevention and preparedness. Further supporting this idea, 9
percent of respondents noted that cybersecurity software will have
the greatest positive impact on the payments industry over the next
three to five years, potentially indicating that payments
professionals may finally be seeing some positive developments in
the area of cybersecurity.
Survey Methodology
TD Bank polled finance
professionals at the 2018 NACHA–The Electronic Payments
Association® PAYMENTS Conference in San
Diego and via the organization's mobile app on April 30 and May 1,
2018. A total of 390 responses were collected from industry
professionals, including payments system stakeholders from business
end-users, and financial and technology services organizations.
About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®
TD
Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest
banks in the U.S., providing more than 9 million customers with a
full range of retail, small business and commercial banking
products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations
throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas
and Florida. In addition, TD Bank
and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth
management services through TD Wealth®, and vehicle
financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance.
TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill,
N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/TDBank_US.
TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank
Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services
company in North America. The
Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New
York and Toronto stock
exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit
www.td.com.
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SOURCE TD Bank