Real-time payments

Banco de Mexico (Banxico), Mexico's central bank, is developing a free mobile payment system to increase digital transactions — and while it is meant to target cash use, it may inadvertently cannibalize card payments as well.

The Federal Reserve has suggested it could join the market for instant interbank payments, but private-sector entrants would be better.

The use cases for faster payments are typically considered to be somewhat niche. But if any payment can be made in real time, why should full-time employees wait two weeks for every paycheck?

The Federal Reserve has suggested it could join the market for instant interbank payments, but private-sector entrants would be better.

Cross River Bank has formed a partnership with Stripe that will handle every debit push payment within its platform in near real time via Mastercard Send and Visa Direct.

Two trends — competition from challenger banks and the emergence of real-time payments — threaten to eat away at the fees banks collect on overdrafts and bounced checks.

Hungary’s commercial banks have started the initial testing phase of an instant payments scheme, with plans to go live on July 1 for domestic broadscale use.

By adopting faster payments, businesses have more flexibility to make last-minute payments and emergency payrolls, or gain a larger window for early-payment discounts.

The tech giants, along with Apple, PayPal and others, are calling on the Federal Reserve to build a backbone for real-time payments, rejecting large banks’ claims that the task is best left to the private sector.

As U.S. banks move toward faster payments, they should heed the lessons U.K. banks learned about criminals after launching their real-time transaction system, says Varo Money's fraud strategy leader.