Australia-based Heritage Bank has launched an online international payment service through Convera , allowing clients to send and receive money from overseas. Heritage can offer its members quicker and more convenient international payments via internet banking or the mobile app through an integrated application programming interface (API) solution with Convera.

The new service allows Heritage Bank’s members to send and receive money internationally direct from their online and mobile banking system, in close to real time and around the clock no matter where they are. The launch builds on a relationship that stretches back more than 20 years, with Heritage Bank one of Convera’s, formerly Western Union Business Solutions, longest-standing financial institution partners in Australia. According to the official press release, Convera is designed to support the digital evolution of financial institutions, such as Heritage Bank, helping the services industry to remain competitive, attract and retain customers, and continue to improve.

Heritage Bank has been on a digital transformation in recent years, improving its capabilities to provide online services to its members. The new online international payment service takes this a step forward. Up until now, international payments could only be carried out in a branch and took up to 48 hours to complete.

Accelerating digitalisation in the banking industry Digitalisation in banking largely entails the shift to offering online and digital services, as well as the number of backend changes required to support this transformation. This is a big initial investment, but it promises to save money in the long run as it improves customer satisfaction, frees up staff for value-added activities such as relationship building, and eventually saves time by automating processes. The digitalisation process starts from within, fostering a digital culture that extends throughout the entire organisation and translates into meaningful change over time.

Banks can continue their digital transformation by changing approach, replacing legacy frameworks, and working to develop a digital culture internally before focusing on the development of single-use digital features. Once the digital culture is achieved, digital platforms and services can offer a great deal of value to consumers, especially when supported by automation, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and blockchain technologies. Are traditional banking institutions ready to go digital? According to the 2021 Financial Services Digital Transformation Survey, among 100 C-level executives across different financial institutions, only 30% were already implementing a digital transformation strategy.

But, as mentioned in the same survey, 77% were planning to increase their investment in digital technologies in 2022. However, transitioning from legacy systems and technologies requires huge investments and not every banking institution will agree on such terms, as there is no clear forecast of when those investments will pay off. The role of incumbent banks in this new setup will change, but if they are efficient, they can still play a central role in the future.

At the front end of the business, banks may cede substantial ground to technology companies if these newcomers prove that they are better at offering attractive client interfaces. .