How real-time payments are changing the lending game
Faster payments have penetrated a handful of market segments, particularly peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and the gig economy, but a lot of work still needs to be done in the funds disbursements space. In our digital economy where consumers are accustomed to on-demand services and experiences, businesses providing a better and faster payment experience is no longer a “nice to have”, but has become a necessity.
There is a huge opportunity to make real-time payments to consumers and small businesses more efficient. Recent research conducted by Aite Group found that 80% of merchants surveyed believe that real-time payments would increase available cash flow [see footnote 1] , which not coincidentally, over one-third of U.S. small businesses surveyed identify as a major challenge to running their business [see footnote 2]. Solving how small businesses access their money, on their schedule, is incredibly important to running a business the right way.
Most people think about real-time [see footnote 3] payments in a ‘send’ capacity, but there’s another side to that which is arguably more important to small businesses and consumers who need a loan, and that is to ‘receive’ a payment. 2017 US Digital Lending Landscape, a white paper by S&P Global Marketing Intelligence, projected that digital lenders will originate $62.84 billion in new loans in 2021 across personal, small and medium enterprise, and student-focused segments, representing a compound annual growth rate of 16.5%. This is a significant amount of money that will be disbursed to consumers and small businesses, and a way for lenders to capitalize on this growth will be to offer real-time disbursement options.
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