For real-time payments, the infrastructure is there, and now comes the demand.
To that end, according to Craig Ramsey, head of real-time payments at ACI Worldwide, the real-time payments focus in the United States through the present day has been on consumer propositions — sending money instantly between parties for groceries, restaurant bills and other expenses.
And it is the consumer’s expectation of payments done with speed, account to account, that will create ripple effects for banks, merchants, corporates and corporate transactions.
Ramsey said the growth in Zelle and Venmo helps illustrate the emergence of a mindset that states, “as a consumer I can pay my bills when it suits me. I don’t have to think about the bank clearing and settlement cycle. I can decide I want to pay my credit card bill at a particular time — maybe at the last possible moment.”