Ivo Bozukov on Real-Time Payments: Why Batch Processing Is Becoming a Competitive Liability

Banks today are transitioning quickly from batch processing to real-time payment systems in order to meet the demands of modern customers and regulatory requirements. Traditional batch processing is becoming a liability as it introduces delays that frustrate both corporate clients and internal treasury teams. Ivo Bozukov argues that batch windows are relics of a bygone era of finance.

Instant payment networks are now the foundation of international money transfers. In Europe, new regulations require instant euro payments for payment service providers, reaching nearly all European accounts. In India, the Unified Payments Interface processed over 23 billion transactions in just a few months, showing that instant processing is now a baseline requirement.

To keep up, banks must adopt event-driven architectures that process payments the moment they arrive, giving treasury teams real-time visibility into cash positions and eliminating the guesswork of manual reconciliation. Modernizing legacy systems with ISO 20022 messaging standard provides a unified data structure that streamlines compliance checks and automates straight-through processing.

While the transition requires significant investment and restructuring, banks that modernize their core systems now will retain a competitive edge in the fast-paced world of global trade.