The future of payments: RTP & FedNow

by Kendra Erickson, CUSO Magazine

Humans are naturally impatient creatures, yet we are forced to wait before we can enjoy the majority of our worldly pleasures. Trips to amusement parks consist of hours upon hours of waiting in lines for thrilling rides that last less than a minute. Going out for dinner requires you to wait to be seated, wait to order, and then wait for your food to arrive before you can feast. You even have to wait a few days for your paycheck to process before it hits your account and gives you access to the funds.

But you aren’t forced to wait anymore. A world exists where payments can be processed immediately. The vision of being able to digitally transfer funds in real-time has finally been realized.

The Clearing House revolutionized the U.S. payment system in November 2017 when they launched the RTP® network, the first U.S. real-time payment rail. The network quickly gained popularity, with over 350 financial institutions currently participating. The Federal Reserve recently jumped on the real-time payments craze by launching their instant payment rail FedNow® in July 2023.

 

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