Emerging tech and the future of payments with Swift’s Head of Oceania, Suresh Rajalingam
IN BRIEF
- "We are completely reimagining how transactions flow around the world, making it possible for banks to seamlessly work together, so that every payment can flow faster and further. It is all powered by transaction manager, which provides a centralized view of transaction data so that all participants can access it simultaneously in real time."
- "We have developed a solution with the community to enable CBDCs to move between DLT-based and fiat-based systems using existing financial infrastructure. After successful POC, this solution is currently in beta testing and we are also running a number of POCs with community to explore tokenized assets, interoperability between traditional finance and public or private block chains."
- "We as a community need to come together to create an ecosystem which talks to each other in a standardized way. So, as innovation continues, it is important for financial institutions to consider the interoperability of how their platforms can collaborate with other markets."
In this VISION by Protiviti interview, Protiviti Director Ruby Chen and Protiviti Senior Director Rupesh Mahto sit down with Swift’s Suresh Rajalingam, who heads up the Oceania region and a team covering 20 countries across the region. Rajalingam is a seasoned senior payments professional with over 22 years of business development experience in both the domestic and cross-border payments space. Here, Rajalingam discusses the rapid pace of technology, open banking, the payment ecosystem, the future of payments in 2030 and beyond, and more.
In this interview:
1:13 - Swift’s business model in the context of new technologies
4:20 - Areas of opportunity
6:45 - Removing friction in payments
10:52 – Opportunities and concerns in the international payment space
13:19 – The world of payments 10 years from now: Interoperable, or marked by “digital islands”?
Suresh Rajalingam currently heads up the Oceania Swift team covering 20 countries in the Oceania region. Suresh is a seasoned senior payments professional, with over 22 years of business development experience in the domestic and cross-border payments space. His background includes both payments technology and sales and he enjoy working in environments which blend the two. Having worked throughout Australia and New Zealand, he has a broad, multicultural network of contacts within the banking industry; payments market practitioners, market infrastructures, fintech vendors and regulators.
Rupesh Mahto is a senior director specialising in strategy, technology assessment and enabled execution, digital transformation, cloud migration, and application of emerging technology to business demands. He successfully leads interactions with CXO, focusing on increasing operational efficiencies, growth, and cost reduction.
Ruby Chen is a Protiviti director with over 12 years of experience in the financial services industry, for 10 of which she worked within the Big Four banks before transitioning into consulting. She has a broad range of experience providing advisory services and secondments across all three lines of defense.
Did you enjoy this content? For more like this, subscribe to the VISION by Protiviti newsletter.
