There is almost too much happening today in the world of payments, not only in direct money transfer between banks and changes to payments gateways, but also in card transactions, in migration to SWIFTNet Phase 2, in new corporate-bank relationships, and in developments within the regulatory frameworks themselves.

Regulation
- New faster payments regime in the UK replacing the current 3-day clearing process
- Sepa introduction in Europe in 07/08, alongside other current international standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley, IAS and Basel II
- Pressure to reduce bank, merchant and interchange fees
- Faster payments
- Transparency of fee structure
Change in customer preferences and increase in transaction volumes
- 20% - 30% pa through traditional card based transactions
- Shift from paper to card transactions
- Impact of new electronic and wireless channels
- Not-for-value transactions e.g. loyalty schemes
- Ever more traffic over SWIFTNet
Increased competition
- Inter-bank competition growing with impact of globalisation/consolidation etc
- Growth of 3rd party processors e.g. FDC, EDS
- Large merchants self-acquiring
- Non-traditional processors emerging: eg telcos, utilities, oil and gas companies
Cost reduction and profitability drivers
- The constant need to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs
- Utilising information better to further streamline the back office while improving customer service - without additional expenditure
- Enhancing liquidity and reducing the requirement for regulatory capital

These often conflicting business challenges confront clearers, all other banks and corporates in different ways but with equal importance to their businesses. To address them it is essential that payment systems are developed offer the flexibility to adapt rules and processing capabilities to allow for a more agile business, while delivering the necessary high levels of performance and service availability that both the banks internally and the corporate customers demand.

The Oracle Payments Architecture provides a powerful route to integrating a modernised payment system within an overall core banking capability which is fit for purpose both now and looking to the future.

Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft, Mantas, Siebel and i-flex means we have the all round information technology portfolio required to support all stakeholders and drivers within the payments environments - from the high-volume retail customer at an ATM or POS device to the institutional or corporate party seeking high-value settlement, from the clearing system itself to the individual bank, whatever its size or global presence

Moreover, together with our specialist partners we are able to implement a comprehensive payment hub, providing all the latest payment functionality - from meeting Sepa and Faster Payments requirements, to implementing POS and ATM replacement; from assuring real-time business analytics, to supporting cost and efficiency advances in bank-to-corporate and corporate-to-bank transactions, whilst providing the flexibility to ensure that solutions are futureproofed against the ever changing payments landscape.