Blog

Real-time payments expected to take hold by 2018

November 19, 2013 by Dan Kramer — Senior Vice President, Marketing & Merchant Servic, SHAZAM

A recent ACI Worldwide survey asked 200 executives from commercial and retail FIs, credit card companies and technology providers for their opinions regarding mobile services and real-time payments. Eighty-three percent of respondents said that real-time payments would become the standard for FIs by 2018.

"We've long anticipated the move toward real-time payments, and the response from both these survey participants and the community at large further validates our belief," said Paul Thomalla, SVP and managing director of EMEA at ACI Worldwide.

Along with forecasting future real-time payment use, the survey also highlighted some of the obstacles standing in the way of widespread acceptance of this payments innovation.

Study participants indicated that one of the major hindrances to real-time payment adoption is the "siloing" of bank data. According to the survey, 77 percent said that FIs operate in silos, and that this makes it difficult to create scalable, efficient, and responsive payment networks.

The survey concluded that moving to a receptive payments platform would ensure that FIs were better equipped for "introducing new concepts and implementing regulatory updates."

Sixty-five percent of respondents said that the greatest demand from corporate customers will be to create a better mobile and tablet banking experience. As mobile-device adoption continues to rise, so too will demand for user-friendly and feature-rich banking apps.

"The same desire for convenience and anywhere, anytime access that has made mobile banking and payments popular among consumers is also fueling the demand for a rich corporate mobile banking experience," said Thomalla. "Corporate mobile banking needs to be a seamless part of a larger online banking strategy. To drive the necessary innovation, successful companies will take a universal, enterprise-wide approach to payments infrastructure."

These statistics clearly indicate that some industry leaders strongly believe in the future of real-time payments as a widely accepted payment option. FIs that prepare now by offering the latest in online and mobile banking apps could find themselves at an advantage when more widespread adoption of real-time payments becomes a reality.

Read more about trends and statistics.

About Dan Kramer

---

None

Connect with Dan: