July 2019
The future of transaction banking is fusion, collaboration and innovation, says Ideas and Action’s Pia Gonzalez-Nazareno as she shares an industry study on cash management expectations from treasurers and CFOs
The future of transaction banking is fusion, collaboration and innovation, says Ideas and Action’s Pia Gonzalez-Nazareno as she shares an industry study on cash management expectations from treasurers and CFOs
As emerging technologies transform the way financial institutions deliver and scale their services, so too are they shaping expectations of how banks could support and interact with corporate clients in the future.
An industry study involving more than 300 corporate CFOs and treasurers conducted by financial services consultancy firm Ideas and Action has found that 70% of respondents forecast that their expectations of their transaction banks will change in the next five years. Nearly half the respondents (46%) believe that a bank’s ability to innovate will determine whether they will partner with a bank in the future 1.
The problem is, so many firms talk about innovation that it has become one of the most overused buzzwords of late – not just in financial services, but across all industries. So how can banks demonstrate “true” innovation, rather than just be seen as jumping on the bandwagon?
Stanford Business School professor Stefanos Zenios once said that genuine innovation “happens when needs and new technology come together to create an experience that is better than the previous or current experience.” He further noted that the technology employed “does not even have to be new, just applied for the first time to solving that problem.” 2
Interviewees of the Ideas and Action research shared a similar sentiment, revealing that the actual underlying technology employed is of secondary importance. Rather, corporates place greater value on how bank innovation clearly addresses a business pain point or challenge.
This suggests that for new technology to be seen as innovative, it must deliver demonstrable business benefit – whether it is to create scale and efficiency within existing processes, or to develop new solutions to current and emerging challenges or evolving opportunities.

Pia Gonzalez-Nazareno
CEO & Managing Partner, Ideas and Action

Ole Matthiessen
Global Head of Cash Management
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