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So did extending debit card usage "Real-time payments are a key building block for delivering continuous im-
to the POS, which became viable provements in products and services for their customers."
once regional ATM networks began
merging, and Visa and Mastercard While several payment initiatives emulate real-time transaction processing by
launched their own national ATM posting payments near-instantaneously to recipients' bank accounts (for exam-
networks. By the turn of the century ple, the bank-owned Zelle network and PayPal's Venmo) final settlement actu-
POS debit became the norm and soon ally occurs later via the ACH. TCH, a bank-owned consortium that supports
surpassed POS credit card payments. ACH, check and wire transfer services, built the first truly real-time payment
system in the United States, called RTP, and designed for consumer and busi-
The Fed reported that in 2017 con- ness payments.
sumers made 82.6 billion debit card
payments worth a combined value At last count, 17 banks were clearing payments through RTP, primarily large
of $2.88 trillion, 13.1 billion prepaid banks, although TCH recently heralded the first community bank to join, Cross
debit card payments totaling $300 bil- River Bank in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The Fed is also building out a real-time
lion, and 37.7 billion general purpose clearing and settlement infrastructure, which it expects any bank or credit
credit card payments totaling $3.32 union can access beginning in about five years. In addition, the Fed plans to
trillion. support 24/7/365 inter-bank net settlement, a necessary component of any tru-
ly real-time payment offering. Today, the Fed's net settlement service is only
21st century advances: available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern, and not on weekends or national
online, mobile, real-time holidays.
The 21st century ushered in even Experts agree that real-time settlement is key to ensuring minimal risks and
more significant changes, including maximum security, which are a bedrock of payment systems.
online payments to support ecom-
merce and mobile payments. Mo-
roney isn't surprised. "Everyone who Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet and president of ProScribes Inc. Follow her on
was in the business back then [in the Twitter @GS_PayMaven.
1980s] saw this absolutely happen-
ing," he said. "The only differences
were between those with pie-in-the-
sky visions and those who saw it hap-
pening as a result of technology [ad-
vances] and deliberate growth."

Omnichannel – the ability to make
purchases with equal ease and the
same look and feel across online,
mobile and in-person environments
– also has become a watchword of
modern payments.

But perhaps the biggest change to
unfold over the past several years
has been in the direction of real-time
payments. Research recently pub-
lished by ACI Worldwide revealed
that globally nearly half of all banks
(47 percent) rank real-time payments
as one of their top three priorities for
product investments; 27 percent rank
it as their number one priority.

"The most innovative banks recog-
nize that investment in real-time pay-
ments infrastructure is a strong foun-
dation for sustainable innovation,"
said Craig Ramsey, head of real-time
payments at ACI.

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