October 2005
The dash for cash
Sustained competition, falling margins and regulatory pressures mean that the world of cash management and payments is heading towards an inflection point. The EU's Single Euro Payments Area project is adding yet more fuel to the fire that will force banks to re-evaluate their strategies, writes Peter Koh.
Cash management poll results: The big two pull ahead of the field
THE CASH MANAGEMENT and payments business doesn't have to worry about adjusting to trends that reverse every six months, although it might well wish that was the challenge it had to face. Its own key trends are daunting: increasingly demanding clients, intense competition, the unravelling of the payments process, technological innovation and regulatory pressure. And these trends always point towards the same thing: lower margins.
The need for scale in the struggle against declining margins is set to intensify as the European Union's plans for a Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) bear down on the sector. The Sepa project aims to create a domestic payments market across the eurozone, eliminating the difference in price between domestic and cross-border payments and enabling companies and individuals to use one bank account to make payments anywhere in...
You must be a Level 2 subscriber to access this content.
If you are a level 2 subscriber, please log in now to view. Enter your username (email address) and password at the top right-hand side of euromoney.com.
To upgrade to level 2, please contact the hotline: +44 (0)207 779 8999.
If you have yet to subscribe, please do so now to access this content.
Subscribe online now and save up to 30% on your subscription. You may also subscribe by phoning our hotline on +44 (0)207 779 8999.
Learn more about the benefits of a subscription to euromoney.com.
If you are a trialist or subscriber, please enter your username and password at the top right-hand side of euromoney.com
Subscribers to Euromoney benefit from:
Level 1:
- Online access to the past 12 months content
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Level 2:
- Exclusive access to euromoney.com - Read the latest issue early online, search for specific developments by region or sector, interrogate the results of Euromoney's benchmark polls, and view the archive dating back to 2000
- 12 monthly issues of Euromoney magazine
- More than 30 specialist research guides free
- The results of Euromoney’s polls and surveys
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Click here to subscribe