The Clearing House’s Jim Colassano, SVP, RTP product management; FIS’s Meghan Oakes, VP head of products and services enterprise payments Americas; and FedNow’s Dan Baum, head of payments product, all agreed that the stars are aligning to move money faster across a variety of use cases, appealing to a broad range of users.
Banks and businesses are pledging to accept quick payments. The consumer’s reluctance to accept quick payments as a regular aspect of their financial lives will be temporary. Companies will abandon checks and wire transfers, and straight-through processing will change commercial payments, according to Oakes.
Ubiquity may take time, but it is on the way.
According to the panelists, there is a push to establish the framework and infrastructure for speedier payments. After all, our environment is getting more instantaneous. To allow immediate communication, we interact with text messages and real-time interactions. We also demand openness and real-time proof of where our money is, where it’s going, and that the individuals and businesses we pay have the dollars in hand.
“We want insurance claims paid out in an instant, and we want other things done in an instant,” Oakes said. “Consumers are taking their personal experience [with speedier payments] as they become company owners and are starting to adopt real-time payments,” Colassano added.
