"Does regulation inhibit innovation in payments ?" was one of the question debated by around 100 bankers attending Omikron’s Payment Strategy Forum. At the outset, Sven Korschinowski and Bernd Schumacher of the chartered accountants KPMG had described in detail which new laws and formalities banks are now confronted with. Particularly when using cloud solutions, banks are expected to comply with ever more demanding requirements, and not just in terms of data security. How this can be done, and how at the same time substantial cost and service benefits can be achieved from outsourcing operation of software components was explained transparently by Thomas Zimmermann, Omikron’s Managing Director to the bank representatives.
Lively discussions also resulted from the statistics and upcoming dates for SEPA migration reported by Deutsche Bundesbank’s Dr. Heike Winter reported.
After externally necessitated changes (for example SEPA) have been implemented, one clear trend for electronic payments emerged : customer-related innovation. The opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and to boost commission income by additional services and propositions was therefore one main focus of the banker’s event in Cologne. As an established provider of Payment Factory solutions for corporates with high payments traffic, Omikron was in an ideal position to summarize the needs and requirements which corporate customers have of their banks. Whether global access to corporate payments by the MultiCash WebEdition, support for a worldwide core message in XML format on the bank and corporate side (“Common Global Implementation” (CGI) initiative) or Bank Account Management (BAM / eBAM), banks can build on their market position in a changing environment using the Omikron products presented at the Payments Strategy Forum.
After the event, the guests continued to discuss about successful payment strategies and other current topics in a relaxed atmosphere over a glass of beer or wine.