Transaction Banking in Europe: The Changing Landscape
Report Summary
Transaction Banking in Europe: The Changing Landscape
Market transformation is finally defining the transaction banking landscape in Europe.
London, 14 August 2012 – A new report from Aite Group reviews the transaction banking offerings of top European banks, identifies common denominators and strategies among them, and suggests a taxonomy for banks looking to clearly brand their transaction banking services. This report also discusses how specific market dynamics and business initiatives are likely to affect the different units of a bank’s transaction banking business and how banks should prepare for such significant changes.
Transaction banking—the set of instruments and services that a bank offers to trading partners to financially support trade, monetary flows, or commercial papers—tracks financial instruments through their entire lifecycle. In a stressed economy, this makes transaction banking a safe source of bank revenue. Nevertheless, transaction banking suffers from banks’ lack of a uniform definition of these products and services. Today, market transformation is shaping new scenarios for transaction banking. Subject to external factors tied to changes in corporate treasury policies, regulatory pressures, and technological advancement, a bank’s transaction banking business is likely to morph over time.
“Although the majority of the analyzed European banks declare transaction banking to be a significant portion of their business, banks strongly suspect that it is more marketing hype than real business strategy,” says Enrico Camerinelli, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “For many of those banks, the positive financial results that transaction banking units provide are completely nonexistent.”
The report provides an overview of the products offered and terminology used by Barclays, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole Group, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING Group, Intesa SanPaolo, Lloyds Bank, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander Group, Société Générale, UBS, and Unicredit Group.
This 42-page Impact Report contains 16 figures and three tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Wholesale Banking service can download the report.