Accenture to Help Introduce Real-Time Banking to the U.S.

Accenture is working with Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, to create real-time banking services to U.S. customers. The service would allow customers to make transactions which are recorded immediately between accounts, instead of being recorded in delayed batches, as is the current norm in the United States. The Spanish bank already offers the real-time service to its customers outside of the world’s largest economy.

BBVA said that it expects other banks in the U.S. to adopt the technology that is commonplace throughout much of the rest of the world, and it wants to be the first to implement to service to maintain a market advantage. “We realized that there is an opportunity in the banking industry here in the United States mainly because of technology. By the time these other banks will be ready to move, we will have leadership,” he told reporters at Bloomberg Businessweek.

BBVA operates retail banks in 716 branches across the southwest, including many states with growing Spanish-speaking populations. The bank said it will spend $362 million on implementing the system, and it will retain Accenture as its primary consultant on the project.

Accenture also believes that this might encourage American banks to make the shift to real-time banking. “A number of banks are looking at core replacement,” said Bruce Voelker, Senior Managing Director for Financial Services at Accenture. “It’s hopefully one that will start a trend.”