Latest news with #Finextra
Finextra
2 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Win-win banking: Unlocking value through advanced product, pricing, and billing
0 This content has been created by the Finextra editorial team with inputs from subject matter experts at the funding sponsor. In today's fast-moving and hyper-competitive retail banking ecosystem, product and pricing agility is no longer a luxury for financial institutions: it is now a necessity. Innovation-first challengers, evolving customer expectations, and regulatory pressures have forced banks to rethink how they design, price, and deliver products. Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities are crucial for modern retail banks to overcome complex product management challenges, rigid pricing, and fragmented billing. Optimised product management, dynamic pricing and centralised billing allows retail banks to rapidly design, price, and deliver innovative and hyper-personalised products at scale. The result is a win-win: banks gain agility, better revenue control, and growth opportunities, while customers receive relevant products at attractive prices, greater transparency, and better rewards. Evolving market demands Today's retail banking market demands agile, customer-centric solutions that prioritise personalisation, transparency, and flexibility. Looking to the future, these demands will intensify as digital-native customers expect seamless experiences, innovative offerings, and value-driven interactions. Hyper-personalisation and value: Today's customers expect financial products aligned with their unique financial goals and lifestyles - from low-fee student accounts to high-yield savings for young professionals. There is a strong demand for convenient, cost-saving bundled offerings such as mortgage and insurance packages or credit cards with travel rewards. Looking ahead, this trend will accelerate into hyper-personalised products, that leverage AI-driven insights to create bespoke solutions at a micro-segment or individual level. This could mean dynamic, usage-based bundles that adjust features or pricing in real-time based on customer behaviour. Dynamic and transparent pricing: Customers are increasingly demanding dynamic and transparent pricing with no hidden fees. They expect benefits like lower interest rates or waived fees that reward their overall relationship and loyalty. This push for relationship-based pricing considers factors such as account types, balances, relationship length, and activity. Looking ahead, AI will increasingly influence or drive pricing models making relationship-based pricing even more sophisticated by analysing predictive behaviours for hyper-personalised offers with real-time adjustments. Streamlined and flexible billing: There is a growing market demand for flexible billing options, including usage-based models and tiered services that reward customer engagement. Looking ahead, the expectation will evolve into seamless and transparent billing systems that integrate across all products, providing a single, real-time view of charges and rewards. Customers today and in the future value being rewarded for their loyalty. Banks are expected to deepen these relationships through effective cross-selling and bundling, tiered programmes offering premium services and attractive pricing, all aimed at encouraging customers to consolidate their financial services for better overall value. Why conventional capabilities fall short Banks today face a critical imperative: adapt to the demands of modern business needs. The reality is banks can no longer ignore critical capabilities that help them manage the intricate web of today's product management, dynamic pricing and offers, and diverse billing structures. The lack of these critical capabilities can create significant roadblocks. They cannot accommodate diverse contract structures and nuanced pricing models that are essential in a highly competitive market. This inflexibility directly impacts a bank's ability to innovate, respond to market shifts, and capitalise on evolving customer expectations. Rigid product management: Complex or hard-coded product definitions for loans or savings with distinct data structures pose significant challenges. Inconsistent product offerings can confuse customers and bank staff, while portfolio bloat from outdated or redundant products increases costs. Additionally, rigid systems with poor interoperability limit innovation by hindering experimentation with new features or integration with third-party partners or ecosystems. Complex or hard-coded product definitions for loans or savings with distinct data structures pose significant challenges. Inconsistent product offerings can confuse customers and bank staff, while portfolio bloat from outdated or redundant products increases costs. Additionally, rigid systems with poor interoperability limit innovation by hindering experimentation with new features or integration with third-party partners or ecosystems. Inflexible pricing structures: Inflexible pricing rules create rigid and inconsistent pricing models, making dynamic or personalised pricing challenging. Banks also struggle to tailor pricing to customer segments, behaviours, or overall lifetime value. Adjusting pricing to respond to market trends or competitor offerings is slow and complex. Inflexible pricing rules create rigid and inconsistent pricing models, making dynamic or personalised pricing challenging. Banks also struggle to tailor pricing to customer segments, behaviours, or overall lifetime value. Adjusting pricing to respond to market trends or competitor offerings is slow and complex. Inefficient and opaque billing processes: Siloed billing or applying inconsistent fee structures, complicated consolidated billing, and transparency. This leads to a negative customer experience or even attrition due to opaque or unexpected fees, eroding trust. Disparate systems also cause revenue leakage through difficulties in tracking and reconciling fees. The lack of a holistic view of customer activity prevents relationship-based billing. Reconciling billing data across systems is labour-intensive, increasing operational costs. Siloed billing or applying inconsistent fee structures, complicated consolidated billing, and transparency. This leads to a negative customer experience or even attrition due to opaque or unexpected fees, eroding trust. Disparate systems also cause revenue leakage through difficulties in tracking and reconciling fees. The lack of a holistic view of customer activity prevents relationship-based billing. Reconciling billing data across systems is labour-intensive, increasing operational costs. Scalability challenges: Traditional systems often lack the scalability to handle high transaction volumes or new product lines, leading to performance issues and downtime. Driving innovation with advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities can help power innovation and future-proof a bank. Banks can roll out new and innovative products, promotions, or pricing models more rapidly without the need for extensive and time-consuming overhauls of their existing systems. Banks can create dynamic and compelling bundled offerings, significantly aiding customer acquisition and retention. These bundles can take various forms, including cross-product packages (e.g., mortgage, insurance, and loyalty programme), lifestyle-based bundles tailored to demographics (e.g., student accounts with travel rewards), tiered services for premium customers, and dynamic usage-based bundles that adjust based on customer activity. With the right pricing capabilities, banks can quickly adapt to market changes, customer demands, or regulatory requirements. Dynamic pricing strategies based on various factors like customer segments, behavioural patterns, or lifetime value help offer new value to customers and establish competitive advantages. Relationship pricing can be elevated with tiered programmes, product bundling that incentivises multi-product usage, and personalised offers. Streamlined billing helps banks eliminate revenue leakage. Integration with existing CRM, ERP, and accounting systems, helps provide a unified view of customer data and sales processes. With quote creation, pricing calculations, and offer management being automated, sales teams can dedicate time to close deals and manage customer relationships. This improves customer experiences and allows banks to adapt and scale. The data and AI advantage Key considerations when evaluating solutions with advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities include seamless integration with existing bank systems through robust APIs and data synchronisation. A well-defined data migration strategy for accurate and complete data transfer, supported by strong governance and security is essential. Solutions must also be highly scalable and performant to handle the bank's full transaction volume with low latency, while strictly adhering to all relevant compliance regulations. AI can help banks identify profitable segments, understand customer needs, and predict future behaviour, leading to the creation of more relevant and personalised products. For pricing, AI can facilitate dynamic strategies by analysing demand, competition, and customer willingness to pay. A win-win: What is in it for banks and customers? Faster time-to-market: Banks can roll out new products, promotions, or pricing models more rapidly. Personalisation: Advanced capabilities make it easier to implement dynamic, customer-specific pricing, or tailored billing models, enhancing customer experience and competitiveness. Flexibility and agility: Banks can quickly adapt pricing and billing structures to market changes, customer demands, or regulatory requirements. Improved portfolio analysis: Banks can collect and analyse granular data on pricing, billing, and product performance. Dynamic product adjustments: Banks can experiment with pricing models, bundling strategies, or new product features. Customer-centric optimisation: Banks can better align their product portfolio with customer needs by leveraging data to design personalised or segmented offerings. Streamlined rationalisation: Banks can rationalise and optimise complex product portfolios by reconfiguring or discontinuing products reducing costs and risks. Scalability: Solutions that scale across the banking enterprise can more easily handle increased volumes or new product lines. Innovation enablement: Easier integration can power innovation in product offerings and enable partnerships with fintechs or other third parties. A strategic imperative for the future Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities help banks move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. Granular product definitions, flexible pricing, targeted offer creation, and precise billing help banks tailor offerings to specific customer segments' needs and preferences. In a digital-first world, where expectations are measured in milliseconds and loyalty is won through experience, such capabilities are not just an operational upgrade, it is a strategic imperative. Retail banks that embrace these capabilities are positioning themselves to thrive amid disruption. Those that do not risk being outpaced by nimble competitors who build with agility at their core. As customer expectations rise and the pace of innovation accelerates, banks must rethink what it means to be product-driven. The answer is data and dynamic personalisation. And advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities are how modern retail banks get there.
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
MyTu integrates Apple Pay
MyTU, a fully automated, AI-native and cloud-first digital bank, has introduced Apple Pay integration, a safer, more secure and private way to pay that helps customers avoid handing their payment card to someone else, touching physical buttons or exchanging cash — and uses the power of the iPhone to protect every transaction. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. This addition follows the earlier launch of Google Pay and becomes a part of a broader update to the myTU app, which also includes instant card issuance, token management, and improved digital wallet support. With this integration, customers simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near a payment terminal to make a contactless payment. Every Apple Pay purchase is secure because it is authenticated with Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode, as well as a one-time unique dynamic security code. Apple Pay is accepted in grocery stores, pharmacies, taxis, restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, and many more places. Customers can also use Apple Pay on iPhone, iPad, Apple Pay and Mac to make faster and more convenient purchases in apps or on the web in Safari without having to create accounts or repeatedly type in shipping and billing information. The updated myTU app supports instant issuance of virtual cards, allowing users to begin spending within minutes, without the need to wait for physical cards. Users can also replace cards without disrupting recurring payments by maintaining merchant tokens and block tokens to halt specific merchant transactions that are ideal for managing online subscriptions. Tomas Navickas, CTO and Co-founder of myTU, said: 'As an AI-native and cloud-first bank, we focus on building services that reflect how people actually live and work today. The integration of Apple Pay is part of our commitment to practical, customer-focused banking solutions. It simplifies everyday payments and complements our wider effort to give clients more control, faster access, and better security in managing their finances. This is a natural step in our evolution toward a more digital and efficient banking experience.' The upgraded myTU app also supports merchants that use tokenized billing, helping to maintain continuity even when card details change. For users, this means services such as streaming subscriptions or memberships can continue uninterrupted after a card update. For those who still prefer a plastic card, myTU app allows them to order one separately, only when needed. This separation of virtual and physical card issuance reflects a shift towards more flexible and digital first banking.
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
EBAday 2025: Managing the complex European regulatory ecosystem
How well-crafted regulation can act as an accelerator, not inhibitor, in becoming more resilient and successful in the future was answered by industry experts at EBAday 2025. 0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The panel was moderated by Thomas Egner, secretary general, Euro Banking Association, and consisted of Giorgio Andreoli, director general, European Payments Council; Heather Xiao, founder and CEO, Horizon Zero; Jenny Winther, head of payment schemes, Handelsbanken, and Nuno Epifânio, team leader payments policy, European Commission. Egner kicked off the session by asking panellists to reflect on what went well and what didn't go so well in the past year, and to provide recommendations for the future. Andreoli highlighted the success of the self-regulatory body in managing the complex European ecosystem. 'The starting point was a situation where every single country had different standards and rules, in some cases hardly conceivable rules, to what is now the point everybody is able to issue credit, credit transfer, or perform a direct link, cross border, across Europe, or more than Europe across the CEPA. I believe this approach paid off.' Xiao mentioned, 'we have gone quite a long way in open banking and SEPA, most of Europe has been leading the way because we have clear regulation. I felt that's something that was celebrated.' Adding to Xiao's point, Winther discussed the importance of market-driven initiatives in driving innovation and standardisation, 'even though we don't have a regulation like SEPA, we now realise standardisation and harmonisation is so important. Hence we created the Nordic payments Council, in order to make our countries with different currencies to the Euro also adapt. This was strung completely by a market driven initiative.' Epifânio highlighted the role of other EU legislations in governing payments, and the need for improved clarification. 'We have a number of other pieces of EU legislation that are relevant for payments, like the Digital Services Act, that might provide some legal answers we need for payments. Again, moving towards regulations, but also clarifying there are other sources of law out there that need to be considered. I assume that is something that we as legislators need to do better.' The conversation was directed by Egner to the importance of strategic guidance from regulators, and the need for clear and timely regulations to support innovation. Xiao commented on the role of regulators in guiding, rather than pressing the industry into a framework, giving the analogy 'like a gardener in the ecosystem, the gardener will be able to foster a very fertile, innovative environment, guiding off the pests and then allowing frogs or other animals to help the ecosystem. Basically, the regulators play this enabler role to help, that's how I see we help the ecosystem.' Winther highlighted 'I think one of the important enablers is to actually allow all the different actors in infrastructure to have sustainable business models. I think that's one of the key issues.' On the importance of collaboration and communication in driving innovation. Epifânio then discussed the challenges and responsibilities of creating effective regulation. 'Good regulation should encapsule vision for payments, but it also becomes complex because it needs to solve problems that are already in the market that need to be fixed, and that is being brought to our attention by credit institutions and third party providers. Every time we address a given problem, this generates a reaction, that's why people have mixed views about our role as legislators, someone is going to be upset with the fixes that we are coming up with in legislation. To get it right, we need to learn from the market.' Xiao added, 'what regulation needs to be is simple and clear, and then using principles to get everyone aligned so regulators can use the power of helping the market or helping ecosystems align to galvanize our efforts.' The panel concluded by Egner highlighting the need for clear and simple regulations, and effective collaboration and communication to support innovation.
Finextra
23-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Branches transformed: Scaling engagement into sales growth
0 This content has been created by the Finextra editorial team with inputs from subject matter experts at the funding sponsor. While the evolution of the bank branch as a powerful touchpoint for assisted service and seamless digital integration is not new, the true game-changer lies in transforming every branch into a point of engagement and sales. Scaling this reinvention, providing personalised guidance and complex problem-solving at every physical touchpoint is what will drive deeper engagement and significant revenue growth for a bank. Transforming branches into engagement hubs at scale demands overcoming outdated systems, data silos, and staff resistance via strategy, technology, and workforce empowerment. This means a clear vision for the branch's new role, phased system modernisation, and cloud adoption to address tech barriers and optimise costs. AI-powered insights, automation, and persona-driven tools are also crucial accelerators for transformation providing real-time customer insights, streamlining operations, and empowering bankers to be trusted advisors. This leads to increased revenue from cross-selling, improved customer retention through personalised engagement, and enhanced operational efficiency. By embracing a data-driven, consultative approach, banks can build stronger customer relationships and gain a competitive edge, positioning every branch as a powerful growth engine blending human expertise with digital innovation. The scalable shift: Every branch an engagement hub Over the past decade, the role of the bank branch has evolved – shifting from a high volume low-touch transaction centre into a specialised, customer-centric engagement hub. This evolution, fuelled by digital banking advancements and customer demand for personalised advice, positioning branches as critical touch points for complex advisory services. However, the strategy of defining a bank's physical presence with a few impressive flagship branches or specialised engagement centres is no longer viable. While investments in specialised hubs, advisory centres, and smart kiosks are valuable, they represent a piecemeal approach to a much larger opportunity. To truly drive significant revenue growth, banks must recognise a fundamental shift: every single branch must transform into an engagement hub, and this transformation must occur at scale. Navigating the shift: Overcoming challenges Transforming every branch into a dynamic engagement hub, at scale, hinges on a crucial blend of strategy, technology, and human empowerment. Before at scale branch transformation is rolled out, the bank must establish a clear rationale behind the change and articulate a clear vision for the branch's evolved role. Without this foundational clarity, any large-scale effort risks becoming a costly and ineffective endeavour. Outdated systems pose another critical challenge. Data silos prevent unified customer views, hindering real-time insights. Rigid architectures make innovation slow and costly. Furthermore, high maintenance costs and limited scalability hamper the ability to handle the new demands of branches. To modernise at scale, a multi-pronged approach with phased modernisation to incrementally update branch systems coupled with strategic cloud adoption for agility can optimise costs and speed transformation. Staff resistance is inevitable as the shift from transactional roles to advisory ones requires a fundamental change in both mindset and skill sets. There is a significant need for upskilling and reskilling the branch workforce in areas like financial advisory, technology and data utilisation, and customer engagement. Managing this change, addressing anxieties, and fostering a new culture of proactivity and expertise is crucial. Incentive structures should also align with this shift, rewarding relationship-building and sales outcomes over transaction volumes. Accelerating the shift: Insights, automation, and tools Transforming every bank branch into an engagement hub, scalable across an entire network, relies on key accelerators. These include real time, comprehensive understanding of each customer through a 360-degree view, AI-powered predictive analytics that anticipate customer needs and life events, and behavioural segmentation for tailored engagement. These capabilities empower bankers to offer personalised product recommendations and proactive advice, while AI-driven sentiment analysis helps identify customer pain points and risks. This deep understanding enables bankers to initiate relevant, timely conversations, identify emerging needs, personalise offers at the right moment, and build long-term relationships, rather than push products. Automation, critically enhanced by smart assistants, can streamline routine operations, freeing up bankers to focus on high-value interactions. Natural language processing use cases embedded within workflows can automate back-office tasks, boosting efficiency and accuracy. Crucially, AI-powered conversational smart assistants act as both customer-facing support for common inquiries and as banker-facing co-pilots, providing instant information and guiding next best actions, significantly improving both customer experience and banker productivity. Empowering bankers with the right tools is also crucial to driving transformation. Persona-driven tools and UIs with widgets and configurable workflows empower bankers with tailored capabilities. Dashboards and views present relevant customer insights and tasks, adapting to specific roles and customer journeys. Modular widgets embed insights and reminders directly into the workflow. Configurable workflows allow for dynamic and rapid adaptation of processes, ensuring seamless integration with core banking systems to enable real-time eligibility checks and automated document verification, thereby enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of every customer interaction. The consultative approach: Driving sales through engagement and solutions To truly engage customers and drive tangible sales and revenue growth, bankers must leverage and act on contextual data. This means progressing interactions to proactively identify and capitalise on opportunities. Everything from life events and transaction history to behavioural patterns and real-time engagement signals are critical. Top data inputs include: Life milestones (e.g., marriage, moving, career changes), Financial behaviour (savings patterns, spending triggers), Product usage trends (declining card usage, dormant accounts), and Real-time data (missed payment, salary increase, account alerts). Armed with these insights, a banker's role shifts to becoming a trusted advisor. Their primary objective is to understand the customer's deepest needs and wants and offer timely, relevant solutions that are helpful that naturally leads to product adoption. It is not about pushing products, it is about solving problems for customers and building lasting relationships. By embracing a data-driven consultative approach – offering relevant products tailored to needs and life events, personalising interactions with real-time data, and educating customers about tangible benefits, the bank can substantially enhance customer experience and real business impact. The business impact: Driving growth The shift to engagement hubs at scale is not just a customer-centric strategy—it is a proven driver of business impact. Banks that successfully transform their branches and assisted channels can expect: Increased revenue: Cross-selling and upselling can boost revenue per customer, Improved customer retention: Personalised, consultative interactions build trust and loyalty, reducing churn, Operational efficiency: Automation reduces costs associated with routine tasks, allowing banks to reallocate resources to high-value activities, and Competitive differentiation: In a crowded market, engagement hubs set banks apart by offering a human touch that complements digital convenience. Future-proofing banking The future of banking hinges on transforming every branch into a scalable engagement hub, blending digital innovation with human-centric advisory services. By leveraging real-time data, AI-driven insights, and automation, banks can empower staff to deliver personalised, consultative experiences that drive revenue, enhance customer loyalty, and improve operational efficiency. This strategic shift positions branches as powerful assets, fostering lasting relationships and sustainable growth and future-proofing the bank in a competitive and evolving landscape.
Finextra
21-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Juspay opens Brazil hub
Juspay, a global leader in next-generation payment solutions for enterprises and banks, has announced the opening of a new office in Brazil. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. This marks a significant milestone in the company's international expansion, since it is the first official effort to acquire a solid customer base in the country as well as in Latin America. Headquartered in 'India's Silicon Valley' of Bangalore, Juspay provides services like 1-click checkout experiences, full-stack orchestration, 3DS authentication, network tokenization, reconciliation, offers, fraud solutions, and much more for enterprises, and end-to-end white label new age payment gateway & real-time payments infrastructure for banks. Juspay was instrumental in building and scaling India's local PiX – called UPI (Unified Payments Interface) – to over 200 million transactions a day with 99.999% reliability. Now, the company brings their real-time payments expertise to Brazil, with cutting-edge PiX 2.0 experiences like Pix Biometrico, Pix Automático, and Pix by Proximity. Juspay will also extend their Open Source Payments Orchestration platform (Hyperswitch) for merchants who want to self-host, build & augment their own payments infrastructure. The company currently processes more than over $670 billion in annual total processed volume globally. Juspay is backed by top-tier investors such as SoftBank, Accel, and VEF, and serves 500+ global market leaders like Amazon, Google Pay, Flowbird, Zurich Insurance Group, IndiGo, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, and more. Sheetal Lalwani, Juspay's COO and Co-founder, highlighted the importance of Brazil for the company and the strategy behind the move. 'We are very excited to establish our presence in Latin America, starting with Brazil. Our expansion comes at a pivotal moment in Brazil's digital payments landscape, which is experiencing tremendous innovation and diversification. We intend to scale our team in the country to help companies manage global payments and deliver industry-first solutions like 1-click PiX (PiX Biometrico), drawing from our experience of building similar seamless payment experiences worldwide.' The new Brazil office will strengthen Juspay's global network of 1200+ payment experts operating out of India, USA, UK, Singapore, and Dubai. Shakthidhar Bhaskar, Director of LATAM Expansion added that 'Brazil is at the forefront of a payments revolution, with PiX, digital wallets, and embedded finance reshaping how consumers and businesses transact. As we expand into this dynamic market, we aim to empower merchants with world-class infrastructure and enterprise-grade performance & reliability that simplifies complexity—optimizing approval rates, reducing costs, and unlocking new experiences through deeply integrated, seamless payment flows.
