How Real Are Real-Time Payments?

Real-Time Payments in the US

It was pretty clear that the US was lagging in this quest for a new faster and smarter payment rail. The US Financial system was in dire need of something equivalent to faster payments.

So the Federal Reserve took what the world had in their systems, and got the inputs from the advisory and working groups, and created the Faster Payments Task Force to identify effective approaches for implementing a safe, ubiquitous, faster payment capability in the United States. It consisted of over 350 members. As part of the Task Force’s effort, it solicited proposals from the private sector for end-to-end solutions that meet certain criteria. The Task Force contracted McKinsey & Company to conduct independent, objective assessments of all the proposals submitted to the task force. It was the proposal by The Clearing House (TCH) that ultimately got the Task Force’s approval. And it was in November 2017, TCH went live with the Real-Time Payments Network, the first new payment system in the US in 4 decades.

RTP was designed to expedite payments across all payments categories including business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B) and peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions.

What would be the motivation for the corporates to move onto this platform?

Corporates are pushing for better payment services from their banks. They want payments cleared in smaller periods. Certainly, what is behind this motivation is better visibility on cash flow, inventory management, and the credit component. And the biggest push would be the rich data that can go beyond what any other platform type has

The value proposition it holds for the corporates

• Built on message format ISO 20022 which is supported by most ERPs
• Immediate funds availability with instant confirmation for incoming/outgoing transactions
• High opportunity for value-added B2C disbursements for healthcare or insurance verticals
• Ability to send requests for information, send additional remittance advice, and send acknowledgments over secure RTP rails
• Request for payment that takes the place of the debit. It sends you the message or reminds you to pay if you owe any money
• Availability, which is 24/7 allows quicker settlement times to achieve order fruition

What will be the impact on Receivables Management?

RTP RFP has initiated a new way to control your receivables-payment and information flow altogether. It guarantees:

• Improved Cash Forecasting
• Real-time view of cash positions
• Immediate liquidity is driven by instant availability of funds and irrevocability
• Accelerated DSO
• Instant acknowledgment, linked data, and two-way communication capabilities
• Auto-posting using integrated data

Why should you move to Real-Time Payments?

All the Right Reasons:

• Instantaneous Settlement – It is usually cleared within 5 seconds and you can send and receive payments around the clock, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Rich Data – It is encapsulated with rich data that is easily available, making it able to achieve straight-through cash processing and reconciliation ergo making the cash flow effortless.
• Irrevocable – It’s like wire payments, it’s irrevocable that means once it’s settled you will not be able to pull it back thus eliminating the risk of returns, reversals or chargebacks.
• Security – Limits the reach of cyber-attacks and frauds.
• Customer Experience – It provides a seamless and frictionless client experience.

The Journey Ahead

It is the trend that cannot be defied as it has extensive benefits for all. The Real-Time Payments ubiquity must be the ultimate goal. Organizations need to build a flexible technical infrastructure and be ready for a world where payments will be truly instant. For now, real-time payment models will continue to exist next to the other payment systems but will be a more reliable choice.