The global financial crisis caused many corporates to review their treasury operations, with a large number reducing banking partners and signing up to shared technology platforms. Such changes, combined with the introduction of new regulations, such as the Single European Payments Area, have left many banks rethinking their global transaction services.

A decade-old political vision to create a harmonised payments scheme across Europe is finally nearing its deadline. But the prospect of a Single European Payments Area never seemed so threatened by economic volatility or so opaque in regulatory direction.

Market reforms are flooding the financial sector and banks are facing the challenge of managing their liquidity more efficiently. But the industry remains divided on best practice approaches to intraday liquidity management.

While transaction banking has lagged behind retail banking operations and the consumer world in the provision of mobile services, things are changing fast.

Ahead of Sibos 2012, Gottfried Leibbrandt, chief executive officer of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or Swift, sat down for an exclusive interview with The Banker to discuss the conference agenda and the company's position in a rapidly changing global landscape. 

The Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1073 is going to alter the practice of retail cross-border payments services – not just for US-based financial institutions but also for their correspondent banking relationships abroad. The deadline is near, but a practical solution to meet the requirements of the rule still seems far off. The Banker looks at some alternatives that have finally started to emerge.

As Qatar's mobile payments market has rapidly changed, Qatar National Bank's adaption to and roll-out of new technology has had to change with it. The bank's general manager of information technology explains how it has managed to stay ahead of the game.

The battle to persuade customers to ditch their traditional wallets in favour of a digitised version on their mobile phone has stepped up a notch in the past few months, with big technology and internet companies threatening the territory of the more familiar payment brands. Jane Cooper looks at who is making the early running in this war of the wallets. 

CME Group's senior managing director and chief information officer discusses the need for around the clock coverage and the technology that has allowed the company to provide this across asset classes and with microsecond-level performance.