Ranking the US Vendors of Cash Management Solutions 2003: Survival of the Fittest

It's "Survival of the Fittest" for US Cash Management Vendors

Celent predicts US spending on cash management solutions will exceed US$1.7 billion over the next three years.

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"This change is driven by bottom-line pressures and the necessity for financial institutions to more closely scrutinize ROI from technology initiatives," says Christine Barry, banking analyst at Celent and author of the report. "Investments in cash management technologies result not only in cost savings, but also, and more importantly, in increased potential for cross-selling, more fee-based income, and the ability for banks to further diversify their portfolios at a time when business borrowing has stalled."

The report compares the solutions of 10 leading vendors and ranks them against 5 major criteria including depth of features/functionalities, financial viability, number of successful deployments/experience in the space, client support/services offered, and solution usability. Adoption, IT spending, and marketplace trends are also examined. Table 1 summarizes the results of the study.

The increased attention and investment in corporate customers is causing greater activity in the cash management space as vendors engage in fierce competition for their business. Gone are the days when cash management services were limited to large banks. Vendors have begun to move down-market to target even small financial institutions whose customers have become more demanding. Today痴 solutions also offer more advanced capabilities than they have in the past. Many are beginning to offer functionalities beyond traditional cash management transactions such as trade finance and loan origination.

"Fierce competition is likely to keep the vendors on their toes as banks increasingly look to improve the lagging technologies often found on the corporate side of the bank. With more eyes on this space than ever before, cash management promises to be exciting over the next few years," adds Barry.

Vendors included in this study are: BANKLINK, Bottomline Technologies, Digital Insight, Enterprise Cash Management, Financial Fusion, FUNDtech, Magnet Communications, Metavante, Politzer & Haney, and S1.

A is available online.

of Celent Communications' Wholesale Banking research service can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information.