Cash Management: Digital innovations to look out for

“With their seamless integration of different financial systems, open APIs make our customers’ cash management more efficient. They automate data transfer and make financial information accessible in real time,” says Susanne Prager, Head of Cash Management at RBI. This interoperability improves decision-making and streamlines processes and is particularly interesting for large companies, financial institutions, fintech companies, and organizations with complex financial operations. 

“At RBI, we have expanded the open API offering over the last few years, for example in terms of country coverage, SAP integration, and on-time notifications,” says Susanne Prager. Almost all of RBI's network banks are now also connected via real-time APIs and are therefore available via the RBI Group APIs. “Treasurers can retrieve real-time cash management data from accounts in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, for example.”

RBI is an official member bank of SAP’s Multi-Bank Connectivity (MBC) network and has integrated with MBC via open APIs. This integration brings numerous benefits to joint customers of RBI and SAP, such as easier and faster integration processes. “RBI has become a standardized connection method for onboarding, streamlining, and accelerating the entire process,” the cash management expert explains. “Additionally, RBI is one of the few banks to have integrated the full range of core payment formats via APIs.” 

“Very soon we will also offer interbank payment formats for financial institution customers (pacs formats) in our APIs for bank accounts in Austria. This will enable a completely new customer segment to connect to us via APIs.”

“With RBI's on-time notifications for camt.052, customers can experience the convenience of real-time updates,” explains the specialist. The innovative feature keeps customers informed about their intraday account movements, including inflows and outflows. The system actively generates a standard intraday statement as camt.052 as soon as a transaction is made on the account (debit or credit). The detailed statement with comprehensive transaction and balance information is automatically made available via the open API connection immediately after each account movement.

“The most important digital innovations and trends in cash management include artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML),” says Susanne Prager. “We can use these tools to improve predictive analytics, fraud detection and automated decision-making.”

Cloud computing, which makes scalability, accessibility, and data storage much easier, and big data analytics are also important developments in cash management. “Big data provides us with insights for better cash flow management and better forecasts.”

These digital innovations and trends in cash management are particularly interesting for large companies that need to manage complex cash flows, liquidity, and financial operations efficiently in real-time, but also SMEs that are looking for scalable, cost-efficient solutions to optimize their cash management. "We are committed to making these technological potentials and benefits accessible to both our corporate and institutional clients," says Susanne Prager. “Through co-creation workshops, we invite our customers to collaborate with us in developing tangible use-cases and solutions, turning the latest market innovations into high-performance products.”

“Over recent years, we have taken a proactive and strategic approach to exploring the evolving landscape of digitized money like stablecoins, tokenized deposits, or central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), with a keen focus on their practical applications and potential to reshape the future financial ecosystem,” explains Susanne Prager. “While the USD market leads globally in transaction volumes and use cases, we are observing significant momentum across Europe and other jurisdictions, driven largely by enhanced regulatory clarity and increased involvement from public-sector entities.”

Recognizing the strategic importance of these developments, digitized money has also become part of RBI’s Cash Management strategy. “Particular emphasis is placed on critical areas such as cross-border payments and liquidity management, where improvements can yield substantial efficiency and cost benefits. At the same time, it will be essential for us to understand where exactly along the payment value chain these new forms of money can deliver tangible advantages compared to the status quo. Deepening this understanding will therefore be a key focus in the near future, helping us identify the most meaningful applications and integration points within our existing service landscape.”

The traditional correspondent banking model, though still robust and widely used, is undergoing a transformative phase. Industry stakeholders increasingly demand faster, more cost-effective and transparent alternatives. “Digitized money, with a higher potential for programmability and automation, offers promising avenues to streamline settlement processes, reduce reliance on intermediaries, and enhance overall operational efficiency. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the broader adoption of these technologies will be gradual and contingent on evolving regulatory frameworks and market readiness.” 

Another key question for the industry will be how the emerging world of digitized money will coexist with established financial infrastructures. Ensuring seamless integration into legacy banking systems, while maintaining stability, compliance, and operational resilience, will be critical for traditional banks. Identifying efficient operating models that bridge both environments is therefore expected to become a defining success factor in the years ahead.

In this context, RBI’s involvement together with other major European banks in the EUR Stablecoin consortium Qivalis reflects its commitment to actively shaping the next phase of market development. “As regulatory clarity increases and industry collaboration deepens, we anticipate a gradual acceleration of the euro-denominated stablecoin ecosystem, accompanied by growing transaction volumes and expanding real-world use cases across all client segments.”