Faster payments

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication says its Global Payments Innovation service surpassed two million cross-border payments during September.

Same-day ACH debits rolled out last month, a year after same-day credits, cutting processing time for these payments from a couple of days to a few hours — but for many emerging use cases, that’s not fast enough. And debit is filling the void.

Most financial institutions use outdated legacy systems that are siloed by factors such as lines of business and geography, writes Suresh Ramamurthi, chairman and CTO of CBW Bank.

Following an antitrust review that lasted almost a year, the approval would appear to cement The Clearing House's status as the front-runner in a race to modernize the U.S. payments system.

International payments will only get more complex as faster payments take hold globally, steering banks and money movers to establish central hubs for handling cross-border transactions.

First Data Corp. is joining in the movement to provide speedy payments to participants in the gig economy of independent contractors by rolling out a debit-powered disbursement product.

As the U.S. continues to shape its faster payments options over the next few years, the connections for such systems have to be able to deliver more information and services with every payment.

International sourcing is stressing businesses that are already too reliant on paper-based payment methods, argues Hyperwallet's Tomas Likar.

The Federal Reserve task force and committees planning a faster payments system in the U.S. have had to juggle different viewpoints, philosophies and agendas, but they are laser-focused on a key aspect of the initiative: They don’t want to come back to the drawing board once a system is in place by the targeted year of 2020.

SourceMedia's PayThink conference is an annual gathering of key decision-makers in the financial services and payments industries. This year's event, which took place in Phoenix this September, brought several key ideas to light.

Faster processing can accommodate digital payment options in line with upcoming regulations and advancements in neighboring countries.

Same-day and real-time payment products are designed for basic transfers that don't meet the more complex needs of Lyft's ride-sharing service, contends Ashwin Raj, Lyft's vice president of payments.

A year after launching the same-day Automated Clearing House process for credit payments, Nacha says same-day ACH for debit payments began Friday.

Rather than waiting one to three days for funds through the Automated Clearing House system, merchants will be able to receive settlement payments straight to their debit cards within minutes through a partnership between Visa and the processor Vantiv.

The U.K.’s Payment Systems Regulator and the Bank of England have officially formed the New Payments Systems Operator (NPSO), a regulatory body that will soon replace three existing payment systems.

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As the next step of Nacha's faster payments initiative nears, technology and management adjustments may be required to handle increased overdraft risk.

The central bank said Wednesday that it will assess a range of options regarding its operational role in a modernized payment system, an issue that divides large and small banks.

New European standards require greater data sharing to accommodate faster transaction processing, mobile payments and other digital efforts — a trend that is also inspiring new collaborations across the pond.

The advancement that we are seeing in terms of API Banking in the payments domain makes it evident that the overall banking system is moving toward an open banking framework, writes Satya Swarup Das, a senior architect for the global banking practice at Virtusa.