How are Variable Recurring Payments set to revolutionise the future of banking?

Sean Devaney, Vice President of Banking and Financial Markets at CGI UK

 

The adoption of Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) for Sweeping – ­the automatic transfer of money between a customer’s accounts – is set to take off in 2022. An evolution of Open Banking, VRP has the potential to move the uses of Open Banking beyond the gathering and aggregation of account information and delivery of one-off payments into a much broader set of use cases.

It’s something many of us in the industry have been working toward, but what can businesses and consumers expect from the VRP rollout ahead of its industry launch later this year? How can we encourage consumers and users to buy into it and what will it mean for the future?

 

The real-world benefits of VRPs for consumers

Following years of experience analysing and implementing tech solutions across the banking sector at CGI, to me, it feels evident that the long-term success of banking and financial technology depends on its relationship and acceptance by users and consumers. It can seem obvious, but often a lack of understanding can lead to mistrust which takes years to dispel, can lead to the prolonged use of legacy systems, which in turn puts data and customers at risk.

VRP has been purposefully developed with the consumers’ experience front of mind like no other industry technology has, by allowing an account holder to set up a repeating payment authority with a degree of control and flexibility that has not been seen before. It puts the power back into the hands of the consumer and opens an inclusive world of banking for those potentially excluded.

 

What sets it apart from direct debit?

One of the biggest questions we are asked about VRP is, how does it differ from alternative payment methods like direct debit? Well, several features of VRP set it apart. For example, while the destination of the payment remains fixed with VRP, there are clear parameters around the amount that can be paid out, either as an individual payment or during a given period. At CGI we believe that this will put consumers at the heart of the financial ecosystem, as VRPs are dedicated to creating a seamless and, importantly, frictionless experience for customers and businesses across the UK. This set-up will provide customers with more options to manage customer payments for a range of services like subscriptions and utility bills.

 

But is it as secure?

This is a critical question, and one that should be taken with care when answering, but it is in fact more secure than many alternatives.

VRP will offer users additional security benefits through automated payment processing by allowing the user to set limits on the amounts of any payment taken as well as on the duration of any instruction. As with all new technologies introduced across this industry, security is of the utmost importance. VRP is focused on protecting consumers as well as helping them to lead healthier financial lives. For example, if a person has insufficient funds in one account, VRP can transfer money over from another account without needing permission for each repeated payment. This could potentially save a person time and money by preventing them from unwillingly entering an unarranged overdraft and dealing with the associated costs.

 

How does it impact businesses exactly?

The benefits for individual businesses are much of the same. As VRPs provide them with the option to collect recurring payments from a customer without needing separate permissions for every payment. Businesses can also benefit from ‘sweeping’ possibilities too. Sweeping allows businesses with accounts with multiple providers to transfer money from one account to another. For businesses and consumers, there are many examples of when this could be used such as sweeping funds from a current account to a savings account automatically.

With added security, consumers and businesses can also benefit from more transparency and flexibility across their accounts and individual payments too. Set payment parameters, decided by the consumer, limit the amount of money that can be taken from an account and also allow an end date for the mandate to be set. There is hope that this might support more people with their everyday finances, as VRP is a more inclusive offering with easier access and more day-to-day uses. Also, enabling users to authorise a series of payments rather than having to authorise each individual transaction separately should encourage more people to use VRP. As we face the current cost of living crisis, consumers are demanding easy-to-use technology that automatically helps people manage their debts and build their savings. This is where VRP comes in.

 

What does the future hold for VRP?

Technology in banking has the potential to open efficient delivery channels as well as new products and services for the industry; providing the framework to meet evolving demands and challenges in the competitive market. We are already seeing this across the industry. For example, Artificial Intelligence is widely implemented across UK banks today to assess risks and improve processes within the digital banking space. At CGI, we predict that VRP will also become a wider-reaching and integral part of the banking industry later this year too.

VRP’s future is promising, with experts and consumers alike already looking toward broader use cases for the technology in the future. There is a conversation to be had on the ways VRP can go on to play a key role within the “cashless society”. To reduce types of financial crime as well as to support more consumers with their everyday banking. As banks have developed sweeping, they have also created the infrastructure needed to support first-party to third-party transactions. Meaning that in the future VRP could potentially be used for broader e-commerce purposes too.

Overall, the future of Variable Recurring Payments is an exciting one, with many big banks and businesses already sharing some of their plans for VRP in the future. The days of innovative technology solutions across more mainstream banks are on the horizon and I am excited to see the role VRPs will have in this development.

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