World’s Best Bank for Transaction Banking: Societe Generale: Societe Generale excels as an instant payments innovator, offering rigorous testing and dedicated IT support, including client training. While clients expect similar functionalities for domestic and cross-border payments, Jean-François Mazure, head of cash clearing services, notes that customers struggle to differentiate. Converging both payment types, which hinges on interlinking financial market infrastructures, is critical, he stresses. To interconnect real-time payment systems, Mazure says, the most likely way forward is to adopt the “one leg out” (OLO) principle already in operation for transactions involving one bank inside the European Economic Area and one bank outside. But all parties will need to continue to align for interconnectivity to be achieved. OLO’s success hinges on compliance with ISO 20022 standards as well as resolving commercial and liability challenges across various schemes.
- World’s Best Bank for Cash Management | Bank of America. Bank of America saw the app version of its CashPro platform surpass $1 trillion in payment approvals in 2024. CashPro allows clients to manage treasury operations across multiple channels: online, app, APIs, and file-based interfaces. “One thing that distinguishes CashPro is its global consistency,” says Tom Durkin, head of CashPro in BofA’s Global Payments Solutions, “so that when a company’s finance team has team members in different countries, they’ll all have access to the same tools, views, and processes. The advantages are obvious: better visibility and control and no additional financial outlays.” The bank’s strategic vision for CashPro “will always be to provide a best-in-class platform that is personalized, predictive, and proactive,” Durkin says. “One recent demonstration is how we’ve embedded CashPro into our clients’ own systems through the CashPro Network, a collaboration with third-party providers allowing quick, easy connection to the bank with little to no investment.”
- World’s Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management | Citi. Citi, is leveraging its extensive network to provide sophisticated solutions. “The transition to a 24/7 real-time economy presents both challenges and opportunities,” says Debopama Sen, head of Payments at Citi Services. “Balancing speed with robust security is crucial. Firms need to adapt their liquidity management strategies for around-the-clock operations, which demands new approaches and capabilities.”
- World’s Best Bank for Payments, World’s Best White Label System Provider – Bank & World’s Best Bank for Financial Institutions | BNY. Recognizing the accelerating demand for 24/7 operations and instant payments, BNY is implementing a payments infrastructure modernization that enables all-hours multi-currency access delivery, automation, and scalable solutions through its Payments Enablement Platform. The service promises 24/7 US-dollar payments, real-time data delivery, and improved liquidity management. BNY also facilitates instant cross-border payments through global relationships, such as with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, for real-time cross-border transfers and is advancing domestic real-time payments by supporting high-value real-time payment transactions. Early last year, BNY completed the largest instant payment in US history on its RTP network, exceeding $1 million. The bank also offers trade outsourcing and its Trade Network Access Service, which helps banks with compliance and reducing KYC costs. And its collaborations with Mizuho Bank enhances international trade connectivity.
- World’s Best Bank for Collections | Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has enhanced its Integrated Receivables service with improved FXWire functionality and straight-through internal onboarding, cutting client implementation times. `xUsing AI, machine learning (ML), and robotic processing, Integrated Receivables replaces manual cash application, reassociating payments with remittances and matching them to open invoices, in turn reducing days sales outstanding (DSO) by up to 30%, automating electronic cash application, and freeing up staff time. The technology processes thousands of transactions in seconds, continuously learning and improving; one client has reported a 95% straight-through processing result.
- World’s Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution | Fides Treasury Services. For corporates grappling with the intricacies of global payment flow management, Fides Treasury Services launched its intuitive ONEHub platform early last year. Having achieved ISO 20022 readiness in 2024, ONEHub simplifies payments to both major and regional banks. Fides offers a dual-BIC “hybrid” service for banks outside the Swift CORE network, processing over $6 trillion annually. It connects over 4,000 clients to 13,000-plus banks globally with 3,000 direct connections and processes payments in over 200 countries. Fides provides tools for global payments, financial compliance, sanctions screening, fraud prevention, and security, and in March launched ONEPool, a cash pooling solution.