Realtime Retail Payments (RTRP) systems are a global phenomenon. These systems exist or will soon in over 50 countries around the world. Some have been in operation for decades. The UK’s Faster Payments system, operated by Mastercard’s Vocalink unit, has been in operation for over ten years. Still others are still in the design stage.
These account-to-account systems (A2A) have gained in regulator popularity because:
Most Americans still have no idea there’s a new national payment system in operation. Or that a similar one will begin operation in a few years. Wallets like Venmo and the Cash App abound. But an entirely new set of payment rails? That happens once in a generation.
Some of those Americans, on the other hand, may have experienced what a system like this can do. Zelle is a fast push payment system that moves money between banks accounts. But Zelle is more of a directory-enabled messaging layer. The money movement between banks relies on older payment rails like ACH and wires. New Age messaging and user experience; old fashioned settlement.
Key RTP CharacteristicsPayments geeks, like Payments on Fire® listeners, know that the Real Time Payments Network takes a different approach. Operated by bank processor, The Clearing House, the RTP Network leaves management of the user experience and the use case up to the bank, the processor, or the provider serving a particular industry.
The RTP Network provides:
In short: the RTP Network provides the plumbing and pipes. What it looks like and how it’s used is up to another stakeholder.
Members of the network are financial institutions who either expose the RTP rails themselves or sponsor third party access so that those entities can make use of them. Nothing groundbreaking there.
An RTRP with RTGSOne of the impressive features of the RTP Network is that interbank settlement, the movement of funds between the sender and receiver banks, happens in realtime. The two banks settle their positions instantly. Settlement happens in realtime for every transaction. That’s what a realtime gross settlement (RTGS) does.
Contrast that with a system like Zelle that provides instant messaging among the stakeholders but typically leaves the final movement of monies between banks to an overnight batch process via ACH. And this is net, not gross, settlement. The amount includes all of the day’s transactions.
The RTP network achieves its RTGS capabilities using the following technique:
That’s a lot of background to help US contrast this system against the other four mostly digital systems in the U.S. (If you’re not clear on that, join us for the best in payments education at a Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp®)
The RTP Network is in its fifth year of operation. In this Payments on Fire® episode, Steve Ledford updates us on:
So, take a listen.
Here’s Steve talking about those new COVID-driven use cases.
For a snapshot of how the faster payments phenomenon is growing in the U.S. here is the 2020 Faster Payments Barometer.
Read the episode transcript
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Read our COVID-19 Payments Industry eBook
Episode 238 - Will Pay by Bank Really Compete with Cards? Trevor Nies, Adyen
Episode 237 - Is Orchestration the New Normal In Payment Operations? A conversation with John Lunn, Gr4vy
Episode 236 - How to Make Money in Payments with Russ Jones, Glenbrook Partners
Episode 235 - Taking Stock in Fast Payments with Gregor Dobbie, CEO of TFPA and former CEO of Vocalink
Episode 234 - Partnerships in the Payments Industry - Insights, Musings, and Hard-Won Wisdom with Steve Klebe
Episode 233 - How unexpected technology combinations can lead to practical payment solutions with Glendy Kam, Tassat
Episode 232 - Talking Payments and Fraud with Julie Fergerson, Merchant Risk Council
Episode 231 - Fanning the Flames: Payments Orchestration
Episode 230 - Talking Central Bank Digital Currencies with Jim Cunha, Former EVP, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Episode 229: What Glenbrook is Watching in Payments in 2024
Episode 228 - Fanning the Flames: 2023 Payments News in Review
Episode 227 - EMVCo: A Textbook Example of Collaboration with Oliver Manahan, EMVCo
Episode 226 - From the Vault: Talking EMV in the USA (Episode 16)
Episode 225 - Fanning the Flames: Money 20/20 Recap
Episode 224 - Creating Best-in-Class Payment Experiences at Scale with Luda Sokolov and Aarti Bharathan, Google
Episode 223 - Fanning the Flames: Merchant Fees and Surcharging
Episode 222 - Fanning the Flames: Involuntary Churn
Episode 221 - The Future of Fast Payments in the U.S. with Bernadette Ksepka, Federal Reserve Financial Services and Elena Whisler, The Clearing House
Episode 220 - Stay Ahead of the Game: Understanding and Countering Policy Abuse with Eyal Elazar, Riskified
Episode 219 - Smart Takes on Cross-border Payments - Ryan Zagone, Head of Americas, Wise for Banks, and Joanna Wisniecka, Glenbrook
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