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impactful to small merchants who may be used to waiting days for their Time constraints aren't the only thing
settlement, possibly creating a positive impact on their cash flow and daily holding back real-time payments,
sales outstanding (DSOs)." added Robb Gaynor, founder and
Chief Product Officer at Malauzai
The consumer appeal is especially acute. "[M]any consumers now expect Software Inc. There also are criti-
almost everything to be available in real time," the consultancy added. "The age cal differences in legal treatment of
of instant gratification is here to stay. Paying bills or friends should not be more checks and electronic payments.
than a few clicks or touches away, and the same expectations tend to apply to
accessing funds as soon as they are available." Under federal and state electronic
funds transfer laws, for example, con-
A 2016 survey by banking technology firm Fiserv Inc. drove home the point. sumers have 60 days from receipt of
"Life moves fast, and people and businesses want their money to move fast, a statement containing a question-
too," said Pat Korb, President, Financial and Risk Management Solutions at able ACH payment to dispute that
Fiserv. Fiserv markets a service that combines check guarantee and mobile transaction, which is substantially
deposit support; it allows banks to cash checks and accept check deposits with more time than consumers have to
immediate availability, for a fee. challenge checks or card payments.
Neither businesses nor banks want to
One question that often arises in discussions of faster payments is just how fast risk the financial implications of re-
is faster? Is there an expectation for immediacy, or is within hours an acceptable versible real-time payments, Gaynor
time frame for payment settlement? "For a transaction to be real time it needs noted. "Real-time payments are great,
to take less than three seconds to complete," said Mike Charles, President but the repudiation laws aren't going
and CEO of CONIX Systems Inc., a Vermont-based company specializing in to change," he said.
check processing software. That's less than three seconds for bank-to-bank
communications as well as intra-bank decision processes. Mobile drives digital
Nonetheless, interest in faster digi-
tal payments is exploding, espe-
cially among consumers. When the
consultancy Accenture PLC polled
North American consumers in 2016
on awareness of mobile payments,
58 percent indicated they were "ex-
tremely aware" while just 8 percent
were "not at all aware." In 2012, 27
percent said they were unaware they
could use their mobile phones to ini-
tiate payments.
In a report on its 2016 North America
Consumer Digital Payments Survey,
Accenture said mobile technology
is the driving force behind digital
payments and that 73 percent of con-
sumers trust traditional providers of
card services to offer them mobile
payments. Alternative payment pro-
viders (like PayPal Inc.) are popular,
too, with 63 percent of consumers
indicating trust; established retail
banks were close behind, garnering
the trust of 62 percent. Just 24 percent
of consumers polled said they trusted
technology startups to provide them
with secure mobile payment services.

Preference for mobile payments is
highest among millennials. Among
the 4,000 consumers Accenture sur-

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