News

    Celent Banking Newsletter, October 2012

    31 October 2012

    Analyst's Point of View

    From Senior Analyst Gareth Lodge

    Three Down, One to Go

    With just (just?) SIBOS to go, I've now done three different conferences (Commercial Cards & Payments, AFP, and BAI Retail Delivery) and three very different cities (London, Miami Beach, and Washington) in the last three weeks. But some similar themes seem to have run across all three events. These are, in no particular order:

    Data

    Data -- whether Big, customer-centric or lacking -- was part of every conversation. Only the Commercial Card people thought they had it both sorted and a unique selling point until one panelist (me) told them they hadn't, while the customers felt they had a distinct lack of data. My take-away and advice to clients has been data without purpose or context is just that -- data. Understanding how the data is or could be used and improving that process is going to be where people can make a difference.

    1073

    Not only is there growing concern that the deadline will be impossible to meet (one can only assume that a fair proportion of the people who asked about the penalties for missing the deadline are unlikely to meet it), there is a growing belief that the rules could touch on some commercial transactions, and may be extended to cover commercial transactions under a certain value.

    Changing competitive boundaries

    Whether it's vendors creating new payment networks, vendors merging or acquiring, or existing networks being perceived to be muscling in on their partners' business, there is plenty of potential game-changing action going on. I'd predicted some of this a few years ago with my crystal ball, but I hadn't figured so much change in such a short period of time.

    Regulation

    As a European, I had to resist the urge to say, "Welcome to our world." But the US people I spoke with believe they've entered a new era. Opinions varied far and wide, but all agreed on two words: more, soon.

    SIBOS is this week, and some if not all of these themes are already occurring in my pre-briefings.

    What was interesting about these last three events, and so far holds true about SIBOS, is that there have been no big announcements and far fewer announcements overall. Watch this space--after Sibos in Vienna in 2008, and what unfolded during that week, we certainly know anything is possible!

    Gareth Lodge
    Senior Analyst

    P.S. Celent is currently accepting nominations for our Sixth Annual Model Bank Awards. To nominate an individual or firm, fill out the entry form at http://celentmodelbank.com by November 30, 2012.

    Chart of the Month

    From the Celent report State of Consumer RDC 2012: The Death of Desktop.

    Celent Published Reports


    Research in Progress

    • Mobile Payments: A Year Later
    • Latin America Core Banking
    • Top Trends in Small Business Online Banking: Part III


    Events

    30 November 2012
    Nominations Close
    Model Bank Awards

    4 December 2012
    Webinar
    Launching a Merchant-Funded Rewards Program: Why and How

    13 December 2012
    Webinar
    State of Consumer Capture 2012: The Death of Desktop

    20 February 2013
    Conference
    2013 Innovation & Insight Day
    Boston, MA

    For more information about Celent presentations and speaking engagements, please see our Events page.