Corporate payments: Opportunities for value-added services to be offered alongside payment products

Abstract

In a recent Aberdeen Group research report, 65 per cent of the 400 supply chain and finance professionals surveyed indicated that working capital optimisation was a high priority for their company. This paper looks at the corporate trends that are driving this focus, the opportunities for the creation of new supply chain financing products and explores the implications for banks with their traditional approach to payment and finance product development. Technological developments and industry trends in both the corporate and the banking world are driving a transformation in the way in which supply chains will be financed in the future. This transformation will influence the way in which supply chain financing solutions are deployed and offers an unprecedented opportunity for alternative players to enter a world which has been predominantly serviced by banks in the past. An opportunity or a threat? This paper explores the challenges for banks in addressing the needs of their corporate payment customers and the opportunities for value-added services to be offered alongside payment products which have essentially become a commodity business.