The constantly developing technology around payments systems represents an opportunity for the financial services industry to develop its commercial offering to suit the specific needs of their customers.

There are numerous examples of how technology can benefit both consumers and banks, such as contactless payment, the use of social media, and mobile banking. Mobile banking, for instance, can bring very positive societal value and there are some exceptional examples of where this form of technology has been utilised, including M-PESA in Kenya. M-PESA offers a branchless banking service, meaning that it is designed to enable users to complete basic banking transactions without the need to visit a bank branch. This technology – and others similar to it – can help to reduce levels of financial exclusion and could even encourage greater competition in the banking sector as customers choose to use those providers with novel and innovative products.

The projected removal of the cheque from the UK payments system by the end of October 2018 presents both a challenge and an excellent opportunity for the financial services and technology industries to create a new infrastructure that not only provides a more convenient and inclusive means to conduct transactions, but to also reduce inefficiencies and bureaucracy (such as the time and resource required to clear cheques) in the banking institutions themselves. The UK currently lags behind other countries, both developed an less developed, in the integration of technology into the payments system. Consequently Intellect is working in partnership with the UK Payments Council, the organisation that sets the strategy for UK payments, to explore and evaluate the opportunities that technology offers for replacing the cheque.

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