Faster payments are on the horizon, but not as fast as some were hoping. Proponents of faster-payment services will have to be patient for a bit longer. A new survey says it will take at least a year – if not longer – for larger-scale adoption of real-time or nearly real-time transfers technology to be implemented.
At the 2019 Nacha Payments, the companies involved in the technology shared that it would take at least that long for them to implement real-time payments. The survey that canvassed 498 payments professionals found that just 22 percent agreed to participate in real-time payments within the next year.
Among the options are same-day ACH credit and debit transactions via the Nacha network and real-time payments from The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC. (With ACH, funds move from one bank to another with the help of an intermediary that guides the funds to their final destination.) There are also a variety of other services from the private sector available as well. Another real-time payments service from the Federal Reserve will alsobe available as soon as 2023.
“The U.S. has been behind several other countries in implementing faster and real-time payments but is gaining momentum,” Rick Burke, TD Bank head of corporate products and services, said in a press release.”
“Dialogue about payments is increasing among banks, lawmakers, policymakers and practitioners, and this is likely to drive faster change. It will be interesting to see how faster payments evolve over the next few years, especially with the Federal Reserve’s announcement that they will develop a new real-time service called FedNow.”
Many businesses are impatient and unwilling to wait to see how the market develops. A new TD Bank survey found that 85 percent of business owners are bracing for payments fraud and cybersecurity to become an even larger issue over the next couple of years;so they are taking steps to protect their business and customers now.Business owners also shared that they were frustrated over efforts to update legacy payments systems (42 percent say it’s their greatest risk.)
If you’re worried about fraud and want to improve the speed of your payment processing, consider working with a provider like eMerchantbroker. The team at EMB have years of experience in helping businesses fight fraud and keep their customers payments secure – while also implementing the latest payments technology.
Rather than waiting for new technology to roll out, you can secure a merchant account in as little as 24 hours. You gain access to multiple payment options, charge back protection, a big selection of payment gateways and even business funding. You can quickly update your payments systems and improve your customers’ payment experience all at the same time.
