Boosting The Value Of Existing Payment Infrastructure

While there is growing excitement over the application of blockchain as a payment rail, financial service providers and FinTech innovators continue to find value in taking advantage of existing payments infrastructure to develop new services and improve payment experiences.

This week’s Payment Rail Innovation roundup explores the latest advancements in CHIPS, SEPA Instant and Bacs, among other existing networks.

BNP Paribas Debuts Instant Payment Service

BNP Paribas is using the infrastructure from existing payment scheme SEPA Instant to introduce a new, real-time online payment service, the financial institution (FI) announced this week. BNP Paribas is collaborating with open banking payments platform Token to debut its solution that uses SEPA Instant as well as PSD2 application programming interfaces (APIs) offered by the European Payments Council to enable account-to-account (A2A) payment capabilities using the SEPA Instant rails. Dubbed Instanea, the new service can integrate with payment gateways and shopping cards to enable real-time payment settlement without compromising security, the bank noted.

In a statement, BNP Paribas Global Head of Cards and Innovative Payments Carlo Bovero said, “BNP Paribas Instanea empowers merchants to leverage open banking APIs to manage cash flow in real time and deliver better checkout experiences.”

CHIPS Expands Operating Hours

One of the largest benefits of some of the newest payment rails emerging today are their support for always-on processing. Real-time networks tout the value of a 24/7 operation, which can be especially valuable for corporates and businesses that may wish to facilitate transactions outside of normal operating hours. The Clearing House’s CHIPS network revealed it will extend its operating hours, broadening the timeframe within which it can accept new payment messages. Rather than the cutoff time being 5 p.m. Eastern time, it will now close at 6 p.m. The initiative is part of a broader push to eventually facilitate 24/7 operations.

“This extension in operating hours will allow CHIPS to support more late-day payment activity, including West Coast volume, and will allow CHIPS participants to experience the benefits of liquidity savings deeper in the operating day,” The Clearing House Senior Vice President Richard Dzina said.

ClearBank Loops Partners Into Payment Rails

ClearBank has secured a new partnership with U.K.-based payments and foreign exchange (FX) company RationalFX to facilitate more efficient transactions on RationalFX’s platform. In an announcement, ClearBank said it will loop RationalFX into the Faster Payments, BACS and CHAPS payment rails, and will connect RationalFX customers to IBAN accounts to facilitate cross-border funds transfers. The companies noted that by looping into a variety of payment rails, the enhanced RationalFX functionality can be applied to a wider set of use cases.

Nacha Certifies Bill.com For ACH

B2B payments technology firm Bill.com has secured Nacha Certified status, meaning the company has met Nacha’s standards for participating in the ACH Network, according to a press release. Bill.com’s ACH processing adheres to Nacha’s corporate governance, compliance and risk management criteria, Nacha noted, marking the second time that Bill.com has secured this certification.

“We are thrilled to be formally recognized by Nacha for the robust compliance and risk management program on our leading cloud-based platform that automates and streamlines cash flow processes for small and midsize businesses,” said Dan Lind, senior vice president of Risk Strategy and Operations at Bill.com, in the release.