Real-time payments

The Charlotte-based bank is hoping to bring request for payment technology into the mainstream. Early Warning sees bill pay as another use case to expand its payment network beyond its peer-to-peer roots.

The RTP rail joins FedNow and digital asset firms in the quest to add speed for cross-border settlement.

The government's real-time rail, which had a banner year in 2025, has proposed a way for its members to access settlements for payments that include a party that's outside of the U.S. Payment experts say it removes some of the mud from cross-border real-time payments, but lingering hurdles remain.

Across Latin America, central bank-led instant payment networks have seen enormous growth. The next breakout market is Mexico. If bankers in the U.S. want to see the future of consumer payments, they should look south.

Can banks win at agentic commerce? What's next for real-time payments? And where are mobile wallets headed? The industry's top experts will dive into these issues at American Banker's Payments Forum from May 4-6 in San Francisco.

As funding mechanisms for sovereign debt and large assets increasingly migrate toward real-time financial infrastructure, banks are at risk of being displaced as key intermediaries in global finance.

Minal Gupta has implemented new financial technology for years as an executive, and is taking the helm of her credit union as the entire industry ponders how to use real-time payments and new forms of AI.

Executives have more trust in the central bank's board than their smaller-bank brethren, according to American Banker's 2026 Predictions report.

Five years after the government struggled to disburse pandemic relief checks, the Fed is using improved processing for emergency funds as a reason for banks to get onboard with FedNow.

The government-powered network is allowing larger payments to settle instantly, a move The Clearing House has also made for its RTP network. Payment experts say more than higher limits are needed to make speedy processing ubiquitous.

Attackers used stolen vendor credentials to move $130M, underscoring vulnerabilities in real-time payment systems.

A2A, or pay by bank payments, are an alternative to card networks, a lower-cost option that is catching on with consumers and merchants.

Fedwire has migrated to ISO 20022, a messaging standard designed to make it easier for digital real-time processing rails to work together. It's a difficult lift for banks, but the agency promises it will be worth it.

The Dallas-based lender, which reported a year-over-year decline in earnings, is anticipating increased loan activity and deposit growth later in the year.

Comerica and U.S. Bank are applying new tools that attempt to take the worry out of real-time transactions made on behalf of third parties. Comerica payments exec Allysun Fleming spoke about the bank's plans.

Carvana and Plaid, with the help of Cross River Bank, have launched Request for Payment, which combines billing with The Clearing House's RTP Network. The option has been slow to gain traction, but the companies are betting large-ticket purchases, such as for an automobile, will be popular.

The government's instant processing rail hopes to enable new use cases, while Klarna adds to its network.

As real-time payments become more common, UBB's partnership with fintech Pidgin offers a roadmap for smaller banks to stay relevant.