V. 21st-century customer experience in payments
PREPARING FOR THE INNOVATION Assessing the tasks to be completed during the project took more time and effort than we initially thought. Even planning siphoned off massive resources, because the depth, breadth and complexity of the identified tasks were like no other previous challenge in any of the earlier projects. Due to the 24/7 availability, the concept of our entire banking operation had to be revisited. Before the introduction of instant payments, most people knew exactly that any amount transferred in the evening would only arrive at the recipient the next morning. The same goes for weekend transfers. This old mindset was blown away by instant payments and the associated 5-second processing time at a stroke. Not only did the customers have to get used to the changes resulting from the new system, we also had to develop a whole new workflow. The planning showed early on that almost every element of the infrastructure would be affected by instant payments. From the digital channels available to our customers through our account management system to the treasury module. We should not forget either about the tasks laid down in PSD2 financial directive, effective from 14 September 2019 and completed (as in several other financial institutions) by more or less the same project team at Gránit Bank.
LET US TAKE A STEP BACK There was great pressure on the whole banking sector to successfully accomplish all planned developments by the originally planned deadline of 1 July 2019. Since the banks were in almost daily contact with the MNB, GIRO and the Hungarian Banking Association in connection with the instant payment project, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank was able to make the difficult, but in my opinion also responsible, decision to postpone the go-live of the system to 2 March 2020, since the advantages of the new system can only be enjoyed if all the players are prepared. This 8-month delay meant something different to everyone, but it soon turned out that the MNB and GIRO had very specific ideas for this period; they stipulated stringent pilot test requirements and it made the go-live of the banks in March conditional on the success of these tests. The testing showed that the MNB made the best possible decision by making the tests compulsory, and in retrospect I think that this decision facilitated the smooth go-live of the new service for all financial actors in March.
MAIN MILESTONES AND ACHIEVEMENTS As noted above, we strove during the whole project to be among the first, so I was very proud to learn from my colleagues that the first instant credit transfer in Hungary on the newly built infrastructure was sent between Gránit Bank and Erste Bank.
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