The centrality of banks in the payments system commits them to the pursuit of modernization, efficiency and reliability goals, with a view to offering the entire economic system (customers, businesses and public administration) the possibility of making payment transactions and arrangements at increasingly challenging costs and timelines.
Issues related to the internationalization process of Italian banks, territorial/dimensional extension and geographic distances, already largely impacted by the spread of electronic transactions, are now being further revolutionized by regulatory interventions in the international arena, particularly through the introduction of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). More stringent timeframes for the conclusion of payment instructions and the adoption of standards in the management of messages imposed by regulations are pushing the bank to seek new technological and process solutions, including through the evolution of its organizational structures and the rethinking of outsourcing policies. Reduced margins on individual operations, conditioned by, among other things, the change in the competitive balance in the industry, produce a rethinking of strategies and business models, stimulating the creation of new products and services to broaden the customer offering. The strategic and organizational issues mentioned above are accompanied by critical issues of great impact on technology, such as for example, integration tools between channels and system components, standardization of transactional message format, security and reliability of electronic transactions, and unique user identification.
In this systemic context, the progressive spread of credit and debit cards, prepaid cards and other instruments that imply the dematerialization of money and tend to replace cash, underlie the existence of a multiplicity of channels through which to access services of different types (purchase of a good, money transfer, payment for a health service or public service, etc.) and the pursuit of greater flexibility in their use. The interconnections between the different channels managed by the entities offering the information or device services also lead to increased complexity in the bank's management of transactions, especially from the point of view of internal efficiency in closing relationships and positions. The bank also has the not easy task of making different types of transactions possible, without favoring or disfavoring any particular type, including cash.