Taking the pulse of the payments markets

I’m here at one of the largest jamborees of the payments year behind SIBOS, IPS2010.

The conference opened with a lengthy interactive voting session with the 400-strong audience.

Here are the results:

Question 1

What will have the biggest impact on transaction banking in 2010?

46.5% New regulations
16.0% New payments providers
12.3% Interest rates
12.3% Growth in the core G8 countries
8.0%   Technology change
2.1%   FX volatility
2.7%   None of the above

Question 2

What are the main constraints within your transaction banking business?

45.7% Regulations
37.8% Investment
9.2%   Costs
7.3%   Credit

Question 3

Are you increasing or decreasing your investments in transaction banking?

84.6% Increasing
15.4% Decreasing

Question 4

Are you investing for:

45.0% Lower operational costs
44.4% Long term growth
10.6% Short term revenue gains

Question 5

Where will growth come from this year?

45.3% Existing clients
33.2% Emerging markets
15.5% Acquiring weak competitor’s customers
6.1% No idea

Question 6

What is your strategy for emerging markets?

30.8% Grow organically
17.9% Grow through M&A
47.2% Grow through a mixture of both of the above
4.1%   No idea

Question 7

Will there be more banking M&A this year?

83.7% Yes
16.3% No

Question 8

Which business area makes your CEO smile the most?

36.5% Commercial Banking
26.0% Retail Banking
16.7% Trading
10.9% Corporate Finance

Question 9

Is lending a:

45.8% Part of a suite of banking products
44.9% Core banking product
9.4%   Necessary evil

Question 10

Where will interest rates in the Eurozone be, by the end of this year?

9.3% Lower
26.2% The same
43.7% 25 basis points higher (0.25%)
14.2% 50 basis points higher (0.5%)
6.6% More

Question 9 intrigued me the most.  One out of ten bankers think that lending is a 'necessary evil' ... no wonder access to loans is so hard right now!