Transaction banks in Asia have been relatively slow to move away from manual processes. PwC’s 2023 digital banking survey stated that it was imperative for banks in southeast Asia to accelerate their digital transformation efforts by building robust integration capabilities – more than 80% of survey respondents acknowledged that they had not achieved their digitalization goals.
A digital transformation benchmarking study published in July by Coalition Greenwich noted that transaction banking in Asia has digitalized at a slower pace than other parts of corporate banking.
The problem for banks in the region is that digital capabilities are increasing in importance among Asia-based corporates looking for new transaction-banking providers. More than half of the corporates surveyed by Coalition cited digital as an important criterion when selecting a cash- management provider, and a similar trend was evident in trade finance, for which 39% stated that digital services were important.
“There is increasing pressure on banks in Asia to build deeper digital functionalities through transformation strategies specific to transaction banking,” says Parijat Banerjee, head of Asia Pacific at Coalition Greenwich and co-author of 'Winning through digital in Apac transaction banking'.
