Faster payments

Wall Street trading arms benefited from first-quarter volatility, but it may not be enough to salvage future earnings; “unprecedented volume” of customers logging into their online bank accounts creates system overload at many banks.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, it was becoming clear that the work of the past decade to establish the Single Euro Payment Area was paying off with real-time payments networks and opening possibilities for another European payments scheme.

The “hold” period has shrunk considerably, from 10 business days to typically now three, one or zero, making it harder to spot suspicious activity, says FICO's Liz Lasher.

The Fed plans to make its National Settlement System (NSS) more available. This will help Nacha broaden its settlement capabilities to new regions, writes Icon Solutions' Gene Neyer.

New features and improvements often take a back seat to security, says Entersekt's Claudius van der Meulen.

All financial institutions are now in the decision mode of being a "fast follower" and joining the Clearing House scheme, or being a "patient follower" and waiting for the Fed, writes Icon Solutions Gene Neyer.

Former Walmart payments executive Reed Luhtanen has been named the new executive director of the U.S. Faster Payments Council, an organization created a year ago to guide American faster payments initiatives.

Bankers cannot say that real-time doesn’t matter or that the status quo is fine, according to Neocova's Sultan Meghji and Kelsey Weaver.

The Fed can take steps now to speed up existing networks.

Companies that give employees early access to earned pay don't want to be lumped in with payday lenders, so they are putting a new spin on their pitch: It's a tool to lure and retain valuable workers.