Commercial Banking Services

The #instantpayments regulation (adopted last week) brings sweeping changes to the European payments landscape. Let’s take a look. The regulation is a big upgrade for the EU #payments infrastructure by standardizing instant payments across the EU. Key provisions: 1) Instant payments are becoming compulsory 2) Both consumers and businesses are addressed 3) Instant payments cannot be more expensive than normal credit transfers. Up to now there were huge variations with instant transfers costing even up to €12 in some cases! 4) Banks need to check that the account number matches the name of the payment beneficiary and alert in case of a possible mistake or fraud 5) Instead of screening transactions one by one, instant payment providers will be required to check their clients against EU sanctions lists at least daily 6) Payment and e-money institutions (PIEMIs) get direct access to payment systems, removing reliance on banks as sponsors. Banks are no longer the gatekeepers to EU payment systems and that’s a huge change. When will this be effective? — New rules enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal — A transition period is planned. It will be faster in the euro area and longer for non-euro countries (i.e. Poland, Sweden) — PSPs in the euro area need to be ready to receive Euro instant credit transfers in 9 months / send them in 18 months. Example use cases: — Immediate availability of funds (i.e. loan disbursements, payouts, etc) — Real-time re-conciliation — Instant top-ups (gaming apps, wallets, etc) — Instant insurance claim payments / charity payments — Cash-flow management / improved liquidity and treasury view Why was this necessary? — Catch-up with global frontrunners like India or Brazil — SEPA instant credit transfers (SCT Inst) account for ONLY 15% of all conventional SEPA credit transfers (SCT). Removing the barriers to adoption is key — The EU landscape is very fragmented. There are several instant local payment schemes across some EU countries (i.e. iDEAL in the Netherlands, Blik in Poland, Bizum in Spain, DIAS in Greece), but they are not interoperable What are the real drivers? This is a game long in the making: developing pan-European transaction solutions built on instant payment rails, has been an EU retail payments #strategy goal since 2020. But reading behind the headlines there are 2 main drivers: — Independence: Europe depends on US payments rails (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple, Google, Amazon) missing a domestic scheme. Instant payments are part of the effort to fix this with EPI and the digital Euro being the rest — Efficiency: The Commission estimates almost €200 bn are locked in transit in the financial system daily, a so-called “payment float” that could be freed up and be reinjected faster into the #economy Opinions: my own, Graphic sources: European Payments Council, TreasuryXL

🚨 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙄𝙉: EPI is in talks with Spain’s Bizum and Portugal’s Sibs about a potential partnership, as Europe pushes to reduce its reliance on U.S. tech giants in the payments sector. A few weeks ago, news broke that the European Union wants to reduce its reliance on Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Alipay, according to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde: https://lnkd.in/d36daRwY “Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Alipay are all controlled by American or Chinese companies. We should make sure there is a European offer,” she said. In an effort to reduce Europe’s dependency on American companies in the payments space, European payment providers are exploring opportunities for collaboration. The European Payments Initiative (EPI)—a consortium of 16 financial institutions from four countries—is currently in talks with Bizum in Spain and Sibs in Portugal about a potential partnership, according to EPI CEO Martina Weimert. “Both sides are fundamentally interested, but the technical details are complex,” Weimert told Handelsblatt: https://bit.ly/44o7Lb0 EPI, which aims to create a unified European payment system, launched its own payment service called Wero last year. Initially, Wero enables phone-to-phone payments in Germany, Belgium, and France: https://bit.ly/3RO2uC8 Its backers include German savings banks, cooperative banks, and Deutsche Bank, along with institutions from Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The move to seek cooperation marks a shift in EPI’s strategy. Previously, it had mainly focused on recruiting more banks across Europe to join its project. “The urgency for Europe to become more independent from U.S. firms in the payment space has increased due to the recent U.S. tariff disputes,” Weimert said. “We must leverage effective payment solutions within Europe—and partnerships should be part of that strategy.” Bizum, which supports real-time mobile payments in Spain and is already working with banks in Portugal and Italy to connect national systems, also expressed openness to working with EPI. “We are pleased to see that other European solutions like EPI are open to collaboration. This is the best way to create a pan-European instant payment solution that benefits both consumers and merchants,” the company said. Both Bizum and Wero are built on instant payments, meaning bank transfers completed within seconds. This and more FinTech news in my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e-tzDwh7 Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

Nubank achieved 100+ million customers.... through better customer service? But how? Most banks think customer service is about solving tickets. A pure cost center. But Nubank did the exact opposite. It treated it as an investment. About creating moments people never forget. 🐶 When a dog chewed on a customer’s credit card... Nubank not only sent a replacement card - but also a branded dog bone. 🎶 When a different customer got scammed on concert tickets, which never arrived. Nubank didn’t just refund him - they arranged VIP passes and a backstage meet-and-greet. These aren’t marketing stunts. They’re the result of a system. Nubank’s frontline team: The Xpeers. Each Xpeer gets a personal budget to create “WOW moments” for customers. To surprise customers with small, human gestures. From handwritten letters to thoughtful gifts - every touchpoint is a chance to create a story worth sharing. Typically it's a few hundred USD per month. That’s far more autonomy than clerks at any traditional bank - even though those banks still claim to put customers first. And the impact is measurable. No billboard, no TV ad and no influencer partnership has the same credibility as a friend saying: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.” The result? Customers talk about Nubank’s service more than they talk about its products. And newspapers and social media made it go viral. 👉 In a future shaped by AI, that’s what real differentiation looks like. What do you think? Did your bank customer service ever do something really outside of the box? #banking #fintech #nubank #growth

Open Banking Options For Financial Institutions 💡 Open banking helps create innovative business models. Using APIs, banks can transform themselves from a business to a platform, allowing the ability to multiply value creation by enabling business ecosystems within and outside the enterprise. While every bank chooses its own path, there are 4 broad options that banks can adopt which are common across B2C (bank > customer) and B2B (bank > corporate) scenarios: 1️⃣ Comply Businesses expose selected (often mandatory) services and data through APIs to help the ecosystem develop new service offerings. Normally relevant where Open Banking regulations exist (e.g., UK, Europe, Canada, Bahrain etc.) 2️⃣ Compete Turn the tables. Banks consume Open Banking data from other financial institutions, like a fintech would. Businesses can use APIs to access third-party services and data, empowering themselves to develop new offerings in their bouquet of services. 3️⃣ Collaborate As Open data sharing extends its footprint to other sectors, Open Banking changes to Open Economies, and offers joined-up propositions built on data-sharing across sectors. Examples include insurance, pensions, healthcare, and utilities. 4️⃣ Platform-Play In 2020, market capitalization of the top 4 payment companies overtook that of the big 6 banks on Wall Street. Banks can follow a platform approach built around unbundling and re-assembling products and services through Open Platforms. These platform plays can take the shape of: 🔹 API Marketplace 🔹 Financial services hubs 🔹 Aggregated data APIs 🔹 Banking as a Service 🔹 Embedded Banking / Finance Whichever route you choose, one indisputable fact is that APIs are the channel for all, are everywhere today, and without doubt have become omnipresent in financial services. APIs are the digital glue of modern banking. Source: Fiorano - https://bit.ly/4aZetEe #Innovation #Fintech #Banking #OpenBanking #EmbeddedFinance #BaaS #Marketplace #API #FinancialServices #Payments #Lending #OpenData #OpenEconomy 

Forget Competition. The Future of Private Credit is Collaboration. 🤝 The next massive frontier for private credit is investment-grade (IG) companies—a market Apollo Global estimates could swell the entire sector to $40 trillion. But there's a catch: IG companies are the traditional domain of big banks. So how does private credit break in? Not by displacing banks, but by partnering with them. Apollo is leading the charge with 12 origination partnerships with banks like Citi, BNP Paribas, and Standard Chartered. This isn't just about deal flow; it's a fundamental rethink of the capital structure. Here’s the powerful synergy at work: 1/ Banks get to offer clients holistic solutions, earn fees, and hold the senior, shorter-term debt they prefer (and are regulated for). 2/ Private Credit provides the large, flexible, and long-duration capital needed for ambitious projects, taking on other parts of the capital stack. 3/ It’s a win-win-win: for banks, for private lenders, and for companies needing certainty and scale of financing. The Proof is in the European Playbook: Germany is a prime example. Massive capital expenditure in energy transition and data centers is being delayed. Government budgets are stretched. This creates a perfect vacuum for private capital to step in. Apollo’s €3.2 billion equity joint venture with German power producer RWE is a textbook case of this model in action. This isn't a niche trend. It's the blueprint for funding the next decade of large-scale infrastructure and corporate transformation. The lines between private credit and syndicated loans are blurring, creating a new, hybrid ecosystem for capital. Krishank Parekh | LinkedIn #PrivateCredit #SyndicatedLoans #Apollo #DebtCapitalMarkets #Credit #Investing #Finance #LinkedInNewsEurope Sources: PitchBook data, Apollo Global Private Equity estimates

Digitalization has made banking functionally correct but emotionally devoid. As I write in Forbes, "most customers aren’t switching banks, but many are ‘cheating’—taking on products from multiple providers.” We believe the key to rebuilding loyalty is for banks to turn customers into advocates. That means getting closer to customers and seamlessly providing help, like a branch manager would have done 20 years ago.   Our new Banking Consumer Study found that banks with highest advocacy scores (top 20%) grow their revenues 1.7x faster. Plus, advocates hold on average, 17% more products with their primary bank and rely more on these banks for several financial products. But too many banks rely on lazy loyalty instead of building real relationships. Customers want trust and transparency, personalized experiences that remember their needs, and service that adds value instead of being treated as a cost. Rewards matter too, but advocacy comes from more than just competitive rates. It’s about delivering meaningful benefits that show appreciation.   With Gen AI poised to restore human-like interactions, banks have a chance to reignite loyalty. Let me know what you think in the comments. Read my full Forbes article here: https://lnkd.in/e9jansng   #Banking #CustomerAdvocacy #AI #FinancialServices #Accenture #Trust #Personalization #Forbes

What if rural farmers and traders in Africa could access payments, credit, health insurance, and pensions all from a single platform? Not just basic banking. But true financial empowerment. Abiola Jimoh, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of XCHANGEBOX, is working on making that future a reality through PayRep, and it's already transforming how underserved communities in Northern Nigeria trade, grow, and thrive. For episode #172 of the Unlocking Africa Podcast, I spoke with Abiola, who shared how firsthand fieldwork sparked a mission to bridge the financial access gap for SMEs, farmers, and traders across Nigeria. As Abiola noted… "You can't just dump technology on people. You need technology and people to work together if you want to build something sustainable." "We want to create an opportunity for people to invest in a system that unlocks the potential of Africa's SMEs and farmers." During our conversation we discussed: → Building financial inclusion from the ground up → Overcoming regulatory barriers to fintech innovation → Why in Africa, "you need people more than technology" to scale rural businesses → The dream of a synergised pan-African e-commerce framework Abiola also contributed a powerful chapter to the book Thrive: Mastering E-Commerce the African Way, published by Africa Retail Academy, Lagos Business School Nigeria, where he discusses the urgent need for regulatory reform to unlock Africa’s e-commerce potential. In his chapter, he makes one thing clear: Real financial inclusion isn’t just about technology. It’s about understanding people, solving real pain points, and building the infrastructure that empowers lasting growth. If you are interested in fintech, development, agriculture, or scaling impact in emerging markets, this episode is a must-listen. ⬇️ Link to this episode is in the comments below ⬇️ #Fintech #FinancialInclusion #SMEGrowth #UnlockingAfrica #Podcast #Ecommerce #PodcastHost

Generative AI and Inclusive Finance. Do you see them one eighty degree apart or see them walking towards each other with caution, optimism, and expectations? Have you heard of Edge AI? With 45% of rural areas lacking reliable internet and traditional banking infrastructure often inaccessible, how do we bridge this gap? The answer lies in Edge AI—the game-changer for inclusive finance. Edge AI processes data locally on devices (not in the cloud), making it ideal for low-connectivity regions. Pair this with Generative AI, and we unlock solutions that are both smart and adaptive. We can already see some of the success stories of Voice AI and Edge AI in the inclusive finance space, specially in India, South East Asia. See some examples below Indonesia’s Bank BRI uses Edge AI to analyze farmers’ crop yields via satellite data and mobile usage patterns, approving microloans in 48 hours with 92% accuracy. 2.5M+ unbanked reached, 68% being women entrepreneurs. Voice AI-powered apps (like India’s rural banking tools) enable transactions via basic phones in 12+ local languages, slashing costs by 78%. GCash (Philippines) uses Edge AI to flag suspicious transactions offline, cutting fraud by 35%. State Bank of India (SBI) implemented AI-powered fraud analytics, reducing fraudulent transactions by 50% and false positives by 60%. This increased trust in digital banking, especially in rural areas, and enabled SBI’s YONO platform to onboard over 10 million customers from underserved segments Edge AI + Generative AI shows some potential—it’s a lifeline for 250M+ unbanked in SEA. By marrying local data processing with context-aware intelligence, we can turn every village into a node of financial empowerment. Let’s build a future where finance has no borders—digital or geographic. Do share your experiences. #technology #leadership #generativeai

How a digital wallet helped Ugandan farmers triple their income. No offices. No banking history. No smartphones. Just feature phones and a deep understanding of user behavior. In rural Uganda, a fintech called Ensibuuko built a mobile wallet over USSD for smallholder farmers. It allowed them to: - Send money - Save securely - Access small loans No apps. No branches. No friction. The results? -> 3× increase in daily transactions -> 60%+ loan repayment rate -> 2.5× growth in women users in 6 months Now here’s the lesson for South Africa: If they pulled this off without apps, imagine what’s possible with better infrastructure, policy, and adoption. But it starts with understanding real user context: - Not fluent in banking terms? Speak their language. - Limited data? Use USSD + SMS. - No trust in banks? Partner with cooperatives or spaza networks. Execution > Innovation. Always. If we haven’t connected yet, Hi, I’m Dhruv! I don’t do fluff, just real, actionable strategies to take businesses from ‘stuck’ to ‘scaling.’ Whether it’s growth, execution, or breaking bottlenecks, I’ve got you covered. If you're building something big, let’s make sure you’re on the right path. #bitcoin #crypto #airdrop #forex #fintech #blockchain #finance #startup #payments #AfricaTech #MobileWallet #InclusiveFinance #ExecutionMatters #SouthAfrica

The founders of SkipTheDishes turned a $200 million exit into a banking startup now valued at over $1 billion. After selling their food delivery app startup, SkipTheDishes, for $200 million in 2016, Andrew Chau and Jeff Adamson could have retired. Instead, they noticed how frustrated Canadians were with their banking system, which felt stuck in the past, with high fees and a poor customer experience. At the time, 5 massive banks controlled 90% of the market, charging high fees while offering minimal personalization. So they applied their tech startup mindset to create better financial products that actually solved customer problems. They launched Neo Financial in 2019. Their headquarters were in Calgary, deliberately away from the traditional banking hub of Toronto. They transferred their learnings from their food delivery app to finance: 📍 At SkipTheDishes, they connected restaurants with hungry customers through a network of drivers. 📍 At Neo, they built a three-sided marketplace connecting consumers, merchants, and financial services. This customer-first approach fueled incredible growth: 👉 In just three years, they've reached over 1 million customers  👉 Achieved 38,431% revenue growth, making them Canada's fastest-growing company according to The Globe and Mail. The journey wasn't smooth. Early engagement posed challenges, with only 40% of cardholders making monthly transactions. Building trust without traditional banking credentials took time. But the approach worked: → They built AI systems that resolve 600,000+ customer issues annually  → They created real-time rewards with 5,000+ retail partners  → They eliminated branches entirely for a seamless mobile experience But by 2022, they'd secured $185 million in Series C funding at a unicorn valuation. Today, they power financial solutions for major brands like Tim Hortons and Hudson's Bay. This shows how you don't need to be an expert to shake up an industry.  Neo's founders just paid attention to what actually frustrated customers and built solutions around those pain points. Do you think outsiders make the best disruptors? #innovation #fintech #cx #entrepreneurship