Historically, the payment market infrastructure was a significant limiting condition, dictating the level of service offerings. However, following the global financial crisis, international banks invested in transaction banking. Celent believes that the following points are important actions and areas for financial institutions when it comes to transaction banking.

1. To enhance competitiveness, corporations should reorganize to establish an independent transaction banking business unit that should be a profit center.
2. In-house and intragroup payment services should be offered, operational capabilities should be heightened, and the capacity to accommodate cross-border transactions should be strengthened.
3. Banks should strive to enhance payment functions and cash management functions (in other words, make supplying customer value a priority).

In addition, the following three challenges are common to major financial institutions that offer payment and settlement services.

1. Global deployment.
2. Shift to STP and automated office processes.
3. Support for Asia and emerging markets.

Moreover, it is important not to overlook architectural constraints. Many financial institutions have adopted payment service hub architectures, and now is the optimal time to tackle settlement platform modernization. It is here that market players can and should embark on system improvements rooted not in a motivation to respond to system changes but rather a desire to improve customer service.