In Q1 2024, NEACH sat down with major third-party providers to gain insights into what’s happening with payments. Alex Campbell, Vice President, Client Services at COCC, shared thoughts on how payments are shifting and what to expect in the coming months. What follows is a summary of our conversation.
NEACH: What do you see as the next big shift in payments that banks and credit unions need to consider? Why?
Campbell: Emerging shifts in payments, such as real-time and instant-payment methods, will continue to gain prominence, adding new use cases. This necessitates critically evaluating dependency on traditional payment processes and associated fee revenue for financial institutions. The industry is transitioning towards the ISO 20022 network and adapting to the speed consumers expect for transactions. This shift demands an agile approach to payment processing, balancing immediacy (e.g., immediate payments or payroll processing) with traditional methods like wire transfers or ACH. A collaborative effort in fraud mitigation and utilizing real-time solutions is essential. Additionally, financial institutions should consider the potential impact of digital currencies on legacy payment systems as the landscape continues to evolve.
NEACH: With so much talk about data and AI, are/how these technologies playing into your plans for supporting banks and credit unions? Why?
Campbell: Generative AI offers multiple applications for enhancing financial services. It can revolutionize interactions with virtual agents and provide targeted, personalized advice to customers and members. Additionally, generative AI can significantly contribute to financial literacy by forecasting future trends, especially in underserved communities. This approach leads to more financially informed customers and members valuing their financial institutions for more than just safe money storage. Generative AI can guide account holders toward better financial decisions in attracting and retaining deposits, benefiting customers and institutions.
NEACH: FI’s customers/members have increasing expectations in today’s evolving industry. How are these expectations driving FI strategies?
Campbell: In today’s landscape, consumers do not always have a brand affinity with traditional banks and credit unions. As such, this is prompting a renewed focus on digital strategies to compete with FinTechs and the dominant digital wallet providers. Financial institutions are integrating multiple solutions to offer their customers and members comprehensive services. However, as institutions seek new innovative offerings, they must balance this with fraud mitigation, as consumers prefer seamless banking experiences without compromising security.
NEACH: As a core provider, how are you responding to those demands? How are your products and services changing to help FIs remain competitive?
Campbell: COCC continues to invest in digital banking product lines, which include digital and mobile banking, account opening, and loan onboarding solutions. At the same time, COCC offers flexibility for financial institutions to choose alternative solutions that meet their unique needs. Through a robust and innovative product suite, COCC’s goal is to support institutions in executing their strategic plans.
For fraud mitigation, COCC provides various solutions to their clients, such as multi-factor authentication, Check and ACH positive pay, ACH processing solution, which includes an automated return ratio report for all ACH transactions processed through COCC, the ability to share near real-time information associated with EFT transactions, digital banking activity, ACH, and wire transactions with the institutions FRAML provider. COCC continuously assesses new tools as new use cases emerge.
NEACH: FedNow® and RTP® are both live. How are you helping your customers become receiving institutions? Sending?
Campbell: COCC has streamlined the onboarding process for both FedNow and RTP, leveraging modern core technology to implement new functionality rapidly. COCC institutions can benefit from a two- to three-week turnaround when implementing these real-time payment networks.
NEACH: What use cases are you seeing for instant and faster payments today?
Campbell: COCC is seeing a wide range of use cases, including payments routed from gig employers to their workers, payroll, extraordinary activity from the leading digital wallets, and noticeable volumes of transactions from cryptocurrency companies. The diversity and volume of transactions across these networks continue to expand, introducing new use cases regularly.
NEACH: FI/FinTech partnerships are becoming table stakes. How do you support your banks and credit unions in engaging with FinTechs?
Campbell: COCC fosters a transparent and collaborative culture, supporting integrations on behalf of its clients. Integration projects are initiated by client requests or through COCC’s partnerships with FinTechs. Being client-owned, COCC will always remain true to what matters to their banks and credit unions. COCC continues to invest in its people, develop specialized teams that support API integrations, and implement new tools and portals to facilitate these crucial integrations that clients need to compete or differentiate themselves within the industry.
NEACH: What innovations should FIs expect from their core, and what innovations do you think your customers would be surprised by?
Campbell: COCC partners benefit from a comprehensive suite of solutions focused on advanced integration, faster payment technologies, and enhanced user experiences. Our approach is grounded on customer-driven innovation, emphasizing flexibility and adaptability through robust API frameworks for seamless third-party integrations. This enables tailored banking experiences with extensive customization. COCC leads in integrating instant payment systems like FedNow and RTP, improving transaction efficiency. Their proactive stance on innovation and future trends keeps clients ahead, ensuring no surprises with industry shifts.
NEACH: What recent or forthcoming product rollouts do you have that FIs should be exploring?
Campbell: COCC is at the forefront of financial technology, focusing on innovative solutions tailored to the evolving needs of financial institutions. COCC emphasizes the integration of advanced payment systems like FedNow and RTP, enabling clients to provide instant payment experiences. To combat check fraud, COCC offers cutting-edge detection and prevention tools, enhancing security for their clients and their customers. Additionally, COCC leverages AI to improve customer interactions, financial planning, and analytics, offering predictive and personalized financial advice. Further, financial institutions can now reach niche markets and sustain brand identity with an advanced multi-branding service offered by COCC. Its commitment to innovation and staying ahead of industry trends underscore their dedication to elevating banking standards through faster payment integration, advanced fraud detection, AI-driven services, and user-experience optimization.
Alex Campbell, Vice President, Client Services at COCC
Alex’s broad understanding of COCC’s platforms along with his expertise in the payments and API (application programming interface) space make him an asset to his organization. His strong operational, technical, and integration knowledge supports the growing complexity of COCC’s product suites, contributing to the company’s success as well as the future needs of its clients.