Analyst's Point of View

As some of you know, I recently published a series of reports on payment services hubs (PSH). It seems to be a really hot topic at the moment; these reports and my recent webinar have generated quite a bit of interest.

As described in Payment Services Hubs: The Bank's Perspective, over 40% of payment services hub projects are at large financial institutions with assets exceeding $100 billion, and nearly 56% are in Western and Northern Europe, according to data provided by nine leading PSH vendors (see Featured Celent Chart). However, banks of all sizes and from all geographies are starting to consider how to adopt PSH concepts in their payments businesses. In my research I found that, to understand why banks start payment services hub projects, it is helpful to distinguish between the true reasons and how the banks justify them. The fundamental drivers include the presence of a burning platform or a large related programme, while the benefits case is usually built around cost reduction, revenue retention and enhancement, risk and liquidity management, and increased agility.

I will continue to keep an eye on the PSH market developments, but I am returning my focus now to retail payments, in particular cards. I am starting to research the broad topic of how card issuers engage with their customers. As part of that, I am looking into the latest trends in customer loyalty and rewards programmes, and also conducting a benchmarking study on customer retention practices. If you would like to participate in the study, or if you have related success stories to tell, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Zilvinas Bareisis
Senior Analyst, London

Chart of the Month

From the Celent report Payment Services Hubs: The Bank’s Perspective

Celent Published Reports

Branch Banking in a Multichannel World, Part III: Case Studies in Branch Transformation

Innovative Payments Startups: Bank Friends or Foes?

Business Analysis Competencies: Mirror, Mirror: A Self-Assessment by Banks and Insurers

Payment Services Hubs: The Bank's Perspective

Branch Banking in a Multichannel World: Part II: The Many Faces of Change

Learning from the Approach of Smartphone Banking Pioneer Hana Bank