Breaking Down Silos: A Unified Approach to Payments Processing 

Breaking Down Silos: A Unified Approach to Payments Processing  

The payments landscape is undergoing radical transformation across the Pacific region. At Temenos Connect 2025 Australia, Gus Quiroga, Head of Pacific at Temenos, led a discussion with Namby Srinivasan from Rabobank and Venkatesh SG from Tech Mahindra, tackling the technical realities of moving from batch processing to real-time payments, regulatory pressures, and the innovations reshaping how money moves through the financial system.  

Real-Time Payments: No Longer the Future  

Real-time payments have arrived, bringing both tremendous opportunity and significant complexity. Small businesses benefit from improved liquidity, while fintech innovation enables solutions targeting niche segments—from barbershops to hourly workers demanding immediate payment.  

“Banks should see this as an opportunity literally to either partner with a fintech or themselves morph into a fintech,” Venkatesh told attendees. “It opens up a plethora of opportunities for the industry.”  

Regulators are leveling the playing field through open banking initiatives while maintaining guardrails around data privacy and security as APIs proliferate.  

Rabobank’s Two-Decade Journey  

Rabobank’s relationship with Temenos spans over 20 years, starting with Globus in 2003. The bank decommissioned Globus only last year, having leaped from R15 to R23 in a record 11 months.  

Now focused on payment transformation to meet the 2030 BECS to NPP migration deadline, Rabobank is pioneering work with Temenos Payment Hub and preparing for Swift MT to MX migration in November. The bank views ISO 20022 as an opportunity to enrich data for cross-border financial crime detection.  

The Bite-Sized Approach  

Tech Mahindra’s 25-year partnership with Temenos has yielded clear lessons: consolidate multiple legacy systems onto a unified platform first, then transform incrementally.  

“If you start eating the entire elephant in one bite, it’s not going to work,” Venkatesh explained. “Focus on continuous value delivery. Do not wait for that big bang. Not going to happen. Happens in movies only.”  

Managing the Coexistence  

Batch and real-time payments will coexist for years. Business banking clients can’t immediately shift everything to real-time, so banks must accept bulk payments and route them intelligently while investing in fraud prevention.  

“Real-time introduces that the money moves within a second out of the country,” said Namby. “We need technologies to stop a payment while it’s still in real time.”  

Venkatesh shared a cautionary tale: a payment system failure disrupted 100 trucks, collapsing an entire supply chain—20,000 suspended transactions representing 20,000 disrupted businesses.  

AI and Intelligent Routing  

Artificial intelligence offers practical solutions for pseudo-integration across legacy systems and intelligent payment routing based on cost, time, network performance, and SLA commitments. TPH’s capabilities combined with AI help banks optimize between expensive guaranteed routes and cost pressures.  

The Future of Payments  

Discussion turned provocative when Quiroga raised alternative currencies—from Vanuatu’s pig tusk payments to potential Qantas points transactions. Namby grounded expectations in regulatory reality, while Venkatesh pointed to fintechs already moving money via Bitcoin compensating transactions.  

“Disruption is going to happen at a level that we can’t imagine as of today,” said Venkatesh. “Banks will only be one of the components.”  

“If you look at the customer, traditionally there’s friction in their journey. Payments should be seamless, instantaneous. We as banks need to remove that friction in the process.” 
Namby Srinivasan, General Manager Technology Region Australia and New Zealand, Rabobank  

“Have your roadmap, have your strategy in place. Focus on continuous value delivery and business delivery. Do not wait for that big bang. Happens in movies only.” 
Venkatesh SG, Senior Vice President and Vertical Business Unit Head – BFSI, Tech Mahindra  

Looking Forward  

The message from Temenos Connect 2025 Australia crystallized: modernize the core, take implementation in manageable increments, and invest in fraud prevention alongside innovation. The 2030 deadline looms, but with proper planning and partnerships, Pacific banks can navigate the transition successfully — recognizing that 20,000 suspended transactions aren’t just numbers, but 20,000 businesses counting on getting it right.