Many of us are customers – or will be custom-
ers – of the x-border financial services indus-
try – that is – you. When you make annuity
payments or collect bills around the world, you
are, in effect, in the B2C payment business.
As an old HSBC ad campaign showed (re-
member the monkey stealing the wallet?) and
another cute recent ad by Emirates Airlines,
we are a growing segment – internationally
mobile middle class.
The markets are changing
People that are 10 years from retirement
are looking for different things than before.
Consumers are demanding folks and now
even more so. Companies such as Apple
and Google answer this demand by providing
solutions that put the consumer in control with
as many options as the consumer chooses to
make use of and they always try something
new. How can we follow the lead of Apple or
Google in the B2C space?
For example, if I were to retire tomorrow to
Argentina, I would probably like my annuity
paid in a foreign currency denominated
cheque and on pay day I would queue around
the corner of the local bank, waiting in line just
like everybody else.
Or maybe I choose to live in the Philippines
and would prefer the funds to be deposited
into my SMART mobile wallet account.
Or maybe, if I am an eBay junkie, I would
prefer my funds deposited into my PayPal
account?
I know that if I were to retire to the UK,
I would choose faster payment as the
method of payment to be used as it would be
free from charges and near real time. iDeal,
mPesa, mobile wallets in FaceBook credits,
AMEX virtual CCY, VISA.ME may also be on
the list.
Armichai Lichtenstein, HSBC, draws
up the wish-list of a cross-border
payment client like this: ‘I would like
the money (my money) with me in real
time, by any method of payment of my
choosing and with no fees, if possible,
while being fully updated on the status
the payment’.
I am a buyer of payments
and this is what I want
My name is Amichai. I was born in Israel, worked in the 90s in the UK
and have been living in the US for the past 13 years. I work for HSBC.
My wife is from Brum (Birmingham) and someday, sooner or later
depending on the health of our pension plan, we plan to retire either
to a sunny area such as Spain or a lush green area such as the north
island of New Zealand (or maybe the Big Apple).
You get the point
So, as a consumer, I would like to get my
funds as soon as possible. I do not want to be
charged any fees, at either end. Unless I can
see a clear value to me in paying that fee – for
example if I live in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and I’d rather get paid in cash over the
counter than into a bank account. I also do not
wish to pay the foreign exchange margin fee,
although I do understand that a minimal fee is
needed to cover the risk of foreign exchange
management. I would also like to be able to
manage all of my preferences and payment
details online. By myself.
So, to summarise, I would like the money
(my money) to be with me in real time, by any
method of payment of my choosing and with
no fees, if possible, while being fully updated
on the status the payment.
The banking industry is clearly not there yet.
This gives rise to nimble competition from
PayPal as an example, or to a regulatory
wave that has started and will only intensify
(SEPA end date, Dodd-Frank in the US are
just two examples). I see these developments
as excellent progress for the greater good.
How are you, the reader, reacting and pre-
paring for the need for choice and transpar-
ency?
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