The move to real-time payment systems is gaining momentum across the globe and raises the prospect of instant cross-border payments. New players are also helping to redefine the payments ecosystem, as Joy Macknight reports.

The potential of blockchain to transform traditional banking processes has generated much enthusiasm over the past year. Deutsche Bank’s Paula Roels, head of market infrastructure and industry initiatives, and Bradley Lonnen, market management, institutional cash management, look at the current state of play around adoption, and blockchain’s applicability to correspondent banking.

Cybercrime is not a new threat but the attacks and ‘precise targeting’ by fraudulent parties are becoming more sophisticated. Marcus Sehr, global head of client management and sales for institutional cash management at Deutsche Bank, highlights the seriousness of cyberfraud and the need to foster awareness, and outlines the steps the banking community should take to defend the financial system’s integrity.

Financial messaging provider Swift’s memorandum of understanding with China’s Cross-border Inter-Bank Payment System could greatly facilitate cross-border renminbi payments, as Stefania Palma discovers.

The retail payments space has witnessed a great deal of innovation over the past few years. To date, this has not been matched on the wholesale side. Christian Westerhaus, global head of product and strategy, institutional cash management, at Deutsche Bank looks at how developments on the domestic retail side are influencing client expectations in wholesale payments and assesses the steps the industry is taking to enhance the cross-border payments experience.

Adoption of real-time payments is accelerating rapidly, driven by regulatory pressures and the threat of non-bank competition. Joy Macknight looks at the different paths taken in the quest to future-proof domestic payments infrastructures.

The past year has seen Asia-Pacific banks attracting top transaction banking talent away from global institutions. What is triggering a reverse migration from global to regional? Joy Macknight investigates.

As China steps up its currency liberalisation programme, corporates are having an easier time managing their cash across Asia as a whole. But staying abreast of the changing regulatory regimes in different jurisdictions continues to be a challenge.

Bitcoin’s blockchain is being hailed as revolutionary. But will the likes of UBS, ING and Nasdaq, who are exploring the potential of the technology, be able to overcome the challenges that remain, not least security and regulatory issues?