APIs: SECURITY
Mission critical moves
When Tier 1 banks take the decision to move a core process such as payments to the Cloud, they want to know it’s secure. We asked Ciaran Chu of ACI Worldwide and Darren Busby of MYHSM how they go about convincing them
Cloud technology is helping banks to modernise and change their business models. At the same time, innovation must be matched by tighter security and rigorous standards. Technology partnerships can overcome the challenges of digital progress while maximising the benefits, and ACI Worldwide and MYHSM are two companies that are working together to smooth the way. ACI Worldwide provides real-time payment solutions to most of the world’s leading banks, and MYHSM is a global provider of Cloud-based payment hardware security modules (HSMs) as a service. It was recently acquired by Utimaco, which manufactures HSMs, underlining how collaboration is also becoming consolidation. Here, Darren Busby, who is responsible for global sales at MYHSM, and Ciaran Chu, head of ACI Worldwide’s public Cloud business, discuss how technology, partnerships and changes in the payments infrastructure are enabling Tier 1 banks to innovate like fintechs. www.fintechf.com
THE PAYTECH MAGAZINE: Banks are revising their view of the Cloud and technology partnerships. What’s driving this change? CIARAN CHU: If you think about how banks make money, it’s mainly been by charging transaction fees and using interest rates to boost income. Interest rates are now at an all-time low, with little sign of changing, so banks realise they must change their business models to achieve a better cost-to-income ratio.
The message is now clear that it pays to harness the Cloud and form partnerships to develop different revenue streams Ciaran Chu, ACI Worldwide
Public Cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, have shown that the Cloud is a viable way to lower costs and increase customer focus. The message is now clear that it pays to harness the
Cloud and form partnerships to develop different revenue streams. Startup banks and challengers have led the way by focussing on customer experience, rather than doing all the things that add time and cost without benefitting customers. DARREN BUSBY: Time and cost are certainly problems. For decades, banks have had no option but to run their own IT infrastructures and technology – and that was simply to maintain the status quo, with no scope to innovate and differentiate. Only a few years ago, it was unthinkable that a bank would take its mission-critical payment systems and put them in the Cloud. Now, however, we’re comfortable with the public Cloud, it’s trusted and tested, and banks can outsource with confidence. I think the whole infrastructure will eventually move into the Cloud. TPM: What’s the rate of change? Are banks following a phased approach? CC: About 15 months ago, we asked customers if they are ‘Cloud-first’. The answer was a resounding ‘yes’. Issue 8 | ThePaytechMagazine
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