ASEAN banks prioritise security in rolling out digital payments

They believe that the rise of realtime payments also allows for new types of fraud methods.

Almost half (44%) of banks in the ASEAN cite addressing security risks as amongst their priorities in modernising their payment infrastructure and developing real-time payment systems, according to a survey from ACI Worldwide.

Security risks include reducing the harmful impact of fraud and financial crime as well as data loss.

“The rise of e- and m-commerce in the region has led to an increase in card-not-present fraud, and new methods of payment create new types of fraud, such as with QR codes in China,” the report noted, adding that real-time payments would necessitate that new models to combat fraud be also set in place.

Regulatory compliance and customer protection requirements is also another top priority (27%) for banks when rolling out digital models.

Beyond these hygiene factors, other major drivers cited are reducing the total cost of ownership(38%), reducing friction in online and mobile payments (38%), and developing new services around immediate payments (30%) such as API-based open banking initiatives (17%).

Despite the seeming risks, 64% of banks in the ASEAN are expecting heightened digital investment over the coming months to improve their product and service offerings particularly in retail customer product and services, liquidity management and exception handling.