Payment systems that move money between bank accounts within seconds, at any time of day, every day of the year.
Real-time payment systems, also called instant payments, settle transfers immediately rather than in batches or on business days only. Examples include India's Unified Payments Interface, Brazil's Pix, the UK's Faster Payments, and in the United States, The Clearing House's RTP network, launched in 2017, and the Federal Reserve's FedNow Service, launched in July 2023. The term RTP is also used specifically for The Clearing House's network.
Instant payments support uses such as immediate payouts to gig workers, instant insurance claim payments, and paying contractors on completion of a job. For example, a delivery platform can pay drivers at the end of each shift instead of weekly. Because payments are fast and usually final, fraud can happen quickly too, so providers rely on real-time fraud checks and confirmation of payee name matching.
Financial services such as payments, accounts, cards, lending, or insurance built directly into non-financial apps and platforms.
FedNowAn instant payment service run by the US Federal Reserve that lets banks and credit unions send and receive payments in seconds, around the clock.
Unified Payments InterfaceIndia's real-time payment system that lets users instantly transfer money between bank accounts using a mobile phone.
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