There have been minimal changes in US payment infrastructure since the rollout of automated clearing house (ACH) in the 1960s and 1970s.
For decades, the banks and financial institutions (FIs) in the United States have avoided “fixing what is not broken”, and the financial services industry has been lagging in digital transformation compared to other major industry verticals. However, this trend is set to change. An entire range of market forces have made it essential for FIs to invest in advanced technology platforms to deliver innovative value-added services through digital and mobile channels in the country, thus staying relevant in what is rapidly shaping up to be an open financial services environment in the United States.

Real-time payments (RTP) have emerged as a strategic imperative to enable next-generation digital payments globally. RTP schemes have captured a share of payments previously managed through the established rails and have also proven to drive net new transactions by supporting new payment parties and facilitating machine-driven micro-transactions.

The US faster payments market will be served through multiple schemes and networks. Factors such as service availability and coverage, the service delivery experience, security and regulatory compliance, and cost for customers, financial institutions and financial intermediaries will determine which faster payment services emerge as the preferred option for money movement. Bank-owned providers will have to allay privacy and security concerns related to data sharing particularly when competitors use the faster payment networks for money transfers. Faster payments are also essential for banks to help compete against the faster solution providers, which have captured a significant share of the P2P money transfer space already.

Frost & Sullivan believes that faster payments will become “table stakes” in the North American markets and will be an important value-added feature essential to achieve the benefits of cost savings, improve customer satisfaction and enable enhanced digital experiences for consumers and businesses.

This Frost & Sullivan market insight presents an overview of the faster payments markets in the United States. Specifically, it lists the key market trends driving the adoption of faster payments in the country and highlights key initiatives driving faster payment solutions.

Author: Vikrant Gandhi