Lloyds Bank has today announced investment into a new real-time cash management and payments platform that will allow it to enhance its payment capabilities, become market leading in its delivery to corporate and institutional clients alongside a Group-wide investment to transform its cross-border payments capability.

Consistent with the SIBOS 2017 conference theme of ‘Building for the Future’ this investment in new, API-first capabilities will allow Lloyds Bank to support its clients in embracing the opportunities emerging through open banking, with a digital infrastructure that provides advanced real-time data analytics as well as open architecture that will allow for greater collaboration with fintechs.

The new platform from the UK’s largest retail and commercial bank will completely redesign the client journey, making it quicker and easier for corporate and institutional clients to undertake complex transactions, manage their liquidity more effectively and identify operational efficiencies. 

Working with leading financial services solution providers Finastra and SAP the platform will include omni-channel banking features which will deliver seamless connectivity for clients across the core digital platform which until now has not been possible. Alongside this there will be an integrated self-service and data analytics portal which will allow clients to do all their business online, providing greater visibility, tracking and efficiency, if they prefer to work in this way.

Steve Everett, managing director of product and propositions for Lloyds Bank Global Transaction Banking, said: “This is a bold investment for us to enhance our payment and channel capabilities and leapfrog competitors in our delivery to customers. It sits alongside a series of investments we have made over the past 24 months to upgrade our trade finance, invoice finance and client monies platforms ensuring we can serve our clients across all of their current and future financing, payments and liquidity needs. 

“By working with two leading partners we will integrate their solutions into our award-winning client propositions, providing high quality transactional level data in real-time that will enable them to identify operational efficiencies in their businesses. This API-first platform will be unique in the marketplace, allowing us to deliver market leading propositions to all of our corporate and institutional clients.”

Russell Saunders, managing director of Global Payments at Lloyds Banking Group and board member of SWIFT, said: “We have worked collaboratively with our suppliers and partners to source best-in-class technology to handle our customers’ changing needs for safe, accessible, transparent and timely international payments, with the ability to address future change with agility. Transforming the cross-border payments capabilities of Lloyds Banking Group at this time, demonstrates the Bank’s commitment to helping Britain prosper.”

“The need for corporate banks to provide their clients with a seamless user experience as well as a high level of self-service becomes more and more imminent”, says Rob Hetherington, global head of Financial Services Industries at SAP. “Banks must not only provide first class product functionality, but also ease of consumption through open APIs as well as being flexible to meet customer expectations. By supplying real-time cash management, payments and analytics capabilities coupled with an API-based architecture, SAP is committed to helping corporate banks, like Lloyds, harness innovation to deliver unparalleled experiences.”

Nadeem Syed, CEO at Finastra, said: “The implementation of our payments solutions at Lloyds Bank signals an exciting extension of our longstanding relationship. The move enables us to support the bank’s ‘API-first’ strategy and drive for business growth. It is the first step towards a centralised payment hub at the bank, including international and domestic payments. As financial organisations increasingly embrace the move to open API and the agility benefits it can deliver, we are well placed to support the journey with our open platform approach to transformation.”