United StatesTom Halpin, head of global payments solutions in North America, is focused on listening to customer needs as the bank prioritizes digital-first engagement.
The $167 billion bank, owned by $2.9 trillion, based in London HSBC holdingsis looking to fintechs, innovations from its global counterparts and emerging digital technologies for inspiration, Halpin said. Bank Automation News.
For example, in December the bank partnered with digital card fintech Extend to offer virtual card and integrated payment solutions to business customers, according to a previous statement from Extend.
Bank Automation News met with Halpin to discuss HSBC’s digital priorities for 2023, fintech partnerships and the benefits of being part of a global bank. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Bank Automation News: How is HSBC USA prioritizing its digitization strategy?
Tom Halpin: One of our strategic pillars is HSBC Instant ꟷ, which develops the real-time payment capabilities necessary to mediate digital flows. Our Extend partners, with mobile and instant virtual card issuance, directly support this pillar.
As such, we focus on digital-first customer engagement, making our customers’ lives easier and more efficient. This allows us to not only observe the payment transaction itself, but also the entire payment process that our customers go through. We identify key pain points for our clients and prioritize our efforts accordingly.
BAN: What is HSBC USA’s fintech partnership strategy?
TEA: As part of our focus on a digital first customer experience, we seek to future-proof the technology we implement for our customers. For example, increasing the use of data to enrich the customer proposition. Virtual cards, with plenty of custom data fields, meet both requirements. Our Extend partners will enable HSBC to deliver virtual cards to a broader segment of our customers with a simple, digital and intuitive experience. This allows our card business to minimize friction in our customers’ payment experience across a multitude of payment categories. We want to be present in our clients’ payment ecosystems to minimize or eliminate any disruption to their daily operations.
BAN: How does being part of HSBC Holdings help you stay up to date on new technologies and automations?
TEA: There are many benefits that we at HSBC USA get from being part of a global bank. We draw on capabilities and innovations from around the world, not just Europe. This allows us to identify new opportunities as well as share best practices across regions and thus bring new innovations to US customers. For example, in 2022 we signed a global agreement with coupa paymentwhich allows us to work together in each market through a simple participation agreement, greatly speeding up time to market.
In addition, our US card business has been able to bring new innovations and ideas to our global partners. Examples include the use of straight through processing (STP) to enhance the business experience with B2B commercial cards.
BAN: What technologies are you excited about in 2023?
TEA: Integrated Finance: The way customers interact with banks is changing, so we’re evolving and innovating at our own pace. We want to be present in the payment ecosystems of our clients. A key example of this is the embedded banking services we launched last year with Oracle NetSuite.
Continued acceleration and real-time API adoption – creating a more secure and insightful business model. This enables HSBC to support new segments, proposals and delivery models with APIs that enable automation of deployment and service. This is especially true of HSBCnet, which gives customers a clear picture of all their global banking in one place, where and when they want it. We offer a comprehensive suite of flexible online financial solutions, all designed to help clients increase productivity and manage cash flow.
Advancement of Virtual Card payment experiences, including a stronger acceptance ecosystem. Until then, HSBC has been an early adopter MasterCard Track, a payment ecosystem that connects all four parties (cardholder, issuer, merchant and merchant service provider) to the card transaction in a common ecosystem, automating both card payment and reconciliation processes for all the parts.
BAN: What is your favorite leadership tip?
TEA: For me, the best advice is to listen to your customers. Our clients’ needs are constantly evolving, requiring a high level of engagement and consultation to understand their business. Also, please understand that as a trusted advisor to our clients, we don’t have to do everything ourselves. The best way to meet the needs of our customers might best be through an industry association, such as our Extend association.
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