The time for real time is now. At ANZ, we’re expecting to see a significant increase in the uptake of real-time payments across the region in 2024, one that could create opportunities for improved customer experience, liquidity management and process efficiencies across the economy.
It’s been several years since the New Payments Platform’s real-time payments infrastructure launched in Australia, and we’re finally starting to see genuine propositions come to life. One of those propositions is PayTo Biller, a capability which ANZ is the first Australian bank to offer, to help a customer initiate a payment on in late 2023.
It will be interesting to see how institutional, corporate and commercial businesses increase their engagement in the real-time economy in 2024 as innovation of this type continues to develop.
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A key factor to watch in 2024 is how regulatory and industry bodies continue to support the digital transition. At ANZ, we’ve been working on a real-time plan to support our customers, and like many others in the sector are eager to align with the formal road map, particularly now policymakers have signalled we are in a transition phase.
Through this transition, businesses will need to think more about real-time data ingestion, real-time payment collection and real-time payment initiation.
They will also need to think about the impact of generative AI. Over the past 12 months, the use of tools like ChatGPT has moved from conversations about possibility to seeing exciting use cases where digital assistants are helping all kinds of industries.
ANZ sees a great opportunity to adopt this technology to support our teams in becoming more efficient and productive. We have identified a list of key opportunities we’ll pursue this year and this is a space moving quickly. Like all new technologies, Generative AI of course carries some risk, so we are being extremely prudent and operating within our standard risk processes.
After a transformative 2023 across markets and the economy, businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are facing in to the challenges and opportunities of 2024.
The ongoing speed of digitisation, shifting supply chains, and continued geopolitical uncertainty will all play a role in the macroeconomic environment.
Over the coming weeks, ANZ Institutional will bring you select insights from our broad range of subject-matter experts, helping your business better prepare for 2024 and beyond.
Finally, conditions in 2024 will put more importance on the basics of doing business; a greater focus on working capital and liquidity management. In a high-inflation environment, efficiency in these disciplines has never been so important.
At ANZ, we’re actively engaging with our customers to help them with the real-time transition, and are excited for the opportunities we think this will bring in 2024.
Lisa Vasic is Managing Director, Transaction Banking at ANZ
