BPC urges banks to unlock greater value from payment transactions

Financial institutions need to look beyond approving or declining payments and focus on how each transaction can create additional value for customers, says BPC APAC Regional Solution Director Jonathan Bautista.

Speaking at the BPC Next Decade Conference in Cape Town on Wednesday, Bautista explained that payment processing involves several behind-the-scenes checks, including transaction limits, authorisation controls, fraud risk assessments and customer spending patterns.

While customers typically see only whether a payment has been approved or declined, he said, issuers have access to transaction information that can support additional services and more personalised banking experiences.

“Processing the payment is only the beginning,” Bautista said, highlighting opportunities to use transaction data to offer services such as instalment plans and targeted promotions.

He said modern payment platforms should combine customer profiles, spending policies, merchant information and risk assessments to make informed authorisation decisions.

For corporate customers, this could include setting different spending limits for employees and departments, restricting purchases to approved merchant categories and matching supplier payments to invoice amounts.

Bautista said financial institutions could use existing platform capabilities to introduce specialised card products for purposes such as business travel and supplier payments without necessarily creating separate programmes for each use case.

He also highlighted the role of integrated digital banking services in improving customer experience.

Using a personal example, Bautista described how a payment was declined while travelling overseas because international transactions had been disabled on his card.

In one instance, he had to contact customer support to identify and resolve the problem. In another, a notification explained the reason for the decline, allowing him to enable international transactions through a mobile application and complete the payment without speaking to an agent.

He said connected payment platforms could help banks provide clearer transaction notifications and self-service options, reducing the need for customers to contact support for routine issues.

Bautista explained how financial institutions can make better use of existing payment technology to improve operational efficiency, strengthen controls and deliver more convenient services.

He added that the value of a payment platform extends beyond processing transactions to the decisions, services and customer experiences that can be built around them.