Outlook 25: payments & change

Customers in the payments space expect a real-time experience as we move into a real-time economy. Businesses that can adapt to the rapid and transformative changes shaping that economy will be best placed to succeed in 2025.

All participants in the industry, whether they be a chief financial officer, treasurer, product manager or someone in a customer-facing role, need to be across these changes and understand how customer demands are evolving.

There’s a significant opportunity for business that can meet these shifting expectations and provide capability to meet the obligations a real-time economy demands.

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We're seeing a very clear trend in the consumer space around digital payment services, and expectations things are done in real time. That expectation is now converging into the wholesale and corporate space.

That doesn't mean all parts of a business needs to be done in real time. But it does mean businesses, particularly in the wholesale and corporate space, need to be taking steps now to ensure their infrastructure is real-time ready – allowing them, when the time comes, to take advantage of the faster payments, enhanced data and improved customer experiences the real-time economy will provide.

While real-time payments have been a part of the Australian financial landscape since 2018, global adoption is now moving at a rapid pace, with more than 80 countries embracing this technology.

Significant industry changes in Australia, such as the decommissioning on the existing bulk electronic clearing system and cheque transition plan, are expected to drive shifts in consumer demand. The impact of these changes will not be limited to the finance and treasury arms of businesses.

Another key theme in 2025 will be productivity. The year 2024 was one of huge flux and change, and there’s going to be more as we go into 2025. Inflation remains an issue for all organisations and therefore the need for increased productivity remains high.

The evolving real-time economy will genuinely allow for opportunities to improve productivity, particularly around legacy services with high costs, and new services that provide benefits such as zero reconciliation.

Finally, safety in the context of fraud and scams in the payments space will continue to be a major theme in 2025.

Businesses need to continue thinking about how they adapt processes to protect their customers and themselves from fraud and scams. There's already a lot of work the industry is doing to help, but the first line of defence starts with people, and ensuring they remain aware and educated.

Amid all these opportunities, I'm very optimistic about 2025, in what is shaping up as another year of change.

Lisa Vasic is MD, Transaction Banking at ANZ Institutional