Banks' payments revenues to dent by USD 9 billion by 2025: report

Mumbai: Indian banks are at risk of losing over USD 9 billion in revenues over the next six years because of the changes in the payments landscape, a consultancy firm said on Thursday.

Payments will become "more instant, invisible and free" in the next few years, which will put the revenues of the lenders at risk, despite an evident growth in the segment, the survey said.

It can be noted that the last few years have seen a massive surge in digital payments, which will be giving a convenient alternative to users has presented banks with an attractive revenue stream.

In its study, Accenture said payments revenues will grow by 10.7 per cent every year over the next six years to USD 70 billion by 2025.

However, banks may not be able to garner all the goods for themselves, as the non-bank players become more active in the segment, it warned.

"Only banks that change their business models to adopt the latest technologies and focus on providing value-added services to customers will capture a share of the USD 32 billion in incremental revenue growth," the study said.

The consultancy also conducted a survey of 240 bankers across 22 countries while arriving at its projections.

In India, banks will face the maximum pressure on income from card transactions and fees, with free payments putting 8.4 per cent of the payments revenue at risk, it said.

Competition from non-banks in invisible payments where payments are completed in a virtual wallet on a mobile app or device will put 3.6 per cent of bank revenues at risk, it said.

The free payments will lead to compression on the pricing front, in turn, putting 2 per cent of the overall revenues at risk, it said.

However, despite the potential difficulties, banks will still be able to garner USD 57 billion in revenues from the payments side, the study found.