Why Centralization Is Redefining Payments and Treasury in CEE

From a treasury perspective, Central and Eastern Europe remains a highly diverse region in terms of currencies, cut-off times, and regulatory requirements. “This makes standardized, centralized payment processes more challenging, but also significantly more valuable,” says Michael Heinzl, Product Manager Cash Management & Payments Expert at RBI. On the other hand, the CEE region sees a steady, high growth driven by a young population increasingly moving money to cards and mobile payments. “Local payment methods in CEE are frequently shaped by national regulations or government‑backed initiatives, such as domestic prepaid schemes or locally developed card programs, which often influence both consumer habits and merchant acceptance,” knows Thomas Grabner, Head of Sales & Growth for Raiffeisen Payment Solutions at RBI. This fragmentation can complicate scale and cost efficiency, which are critical in payment acceptance, where scale drives down unit costs.

“At RBI, our strength is to effectively handle complex regulatory requirements, providing clients with seamless banking services through locally held accounts on one centralized platform,” Michael Heinzl says. Despite the ongoing expansion of the SEPA geographical scope and the gradual adoption of the Euro in parts of the region, many corporates still maintain multiple banking relationships per country, often for historical or practical reasons, which increases the need for unified connectivity and consistent controls.

Fragmented models where each country requires separate reconciliation can be complicating operations. “Merchants benefit tremendously from a unified solution across multiple countries, enabling them to integrate once and receive standardized reporting and settlement files compatible with systems like SAP or Oracle,” adds Thomas Grabner.

Unlike e-commerce, where cross-border transactions are easier to manage with a single license, physical point-of-sale (POS) business requires local licenses and infrastructure, making local presence essential. Payment Service Providers, that offer their services as a pure player, often focus on large markets like the US or China and neglect smaller Eastern European countries. “Our ability to sign up merchants locally, even in smaller markets like Croatia or Slovenia, is a key benefit, as many competitors lack the compliance and risk assessment capabilities to operate there,” says Thomas Grabner. With the acquiring business run out of Vienna, RBI supports 18+ countries with a unified platform, offering consistent service levels, pricing, and reconciliation files across borders.

“The combination of multi-currency operations and differing local market practices creates further complexity for treasurers in FX handling, reconciliation, and liquidity visibility – areas where stronger integration and centralization can deliver clear efficiency gains,” Michael Heinzl adds. With its new cash management platform CMIplus, RBI offers the largest country coverage in the CEE region, providing a one-stop shop to clients. This includes a wide range of modern cash management services offered through a single centralized platform that is available across the entire RBI network.

“Real-time visibility is quickly moving from a nice to have feature to a basic expectation, especially for large corporates running shared service centers or payment factories,” explains Michael Heinzl. From a payments perspective, faster processing and extended operating hours are increasingly becoming the norm across many markets, including the CEE area, which is also supported by the ongoing geographical expansion of the SEPA scope. “These real-time requirements can be more easily managed from a centralized setup,” Michael Heinzl states.

“Treasury and payment functions can no longer rely on traditional cut-off-driven routines or end-of-day visibility,” he says. “Instead, they require processes, governance, and system connectivity that enable timely decisions and effective risk management throughout the entire day.” Centralized treasury architecture allows for more efficient connections than many local setups, enabling corporate clients to respond flexibly and quickly. The most efficient approach is to integrate centralized treasury services seamlessly into the client’s infrastructure. “Many corporates appreciate being able to use treasury functions directly in their familiar ERP or TMS systems without additional bank-specific applications.” With its membership status in SAP’s Multi-Bank Connectivity (MBC), RBI is a pioneer in the CEE area.

While payment acceptance and treasury address different needs, the shift toward centralization reflects a broader rethink of how the payment value chain is designed. “Clients benefit from a combination of payment acceptance with traditional banking services such as loans, accounts, and cash collection,” Thomas Grabner notes. “At RBI we are offering a more comprehensive package to merchants, and they benefit from our local market knowledge, regulatory licenses, and unified platform that balances the complexity of fragmented payment methods and currencies.”

“With centralized offerings, we can significantly simplify our customers’ treasury operations,” Michael Heinzl adds. “In an increasingly digital and complex work environment, centralization helps companies gain greater transparency and efficiency. End-to-end processes and 24/7 availability can be best managed from a centralized setup – like the one we offer with our comprehensive solutions."