Policymakers in the United States have finally prioritized the need for faster payments. After a decade of task forces and reports, the Federal Reserve is now moving forward with a substantive real-time payments proposal. Two congressional committees recently held payments hearings, including one where I testified, and there seemed to be widespread support.
The private sector has made progress in recent years to increase the speed of domestic payments. Card networks have developed offerings like Visa Direct and Mastercard Send, while large banks are adopting services like Zelle by clearXchange and The Clearing House Real-Time Payments system. While these developments offer promise, the reality is the market and customer access to real-time payment rails are still incredibly fragmented.