US Real-Time Payments Transactions Seen Quadrupling to 8.9B in 2026

Digital payments have become table stakes around the world, with more than $6.6 trillion in digital transactions taking place last year and this sum expected to hit $10.5 trillion within the next four years. These payments are often much slower than other digital facets of customers’ lives, however: While an email can flow from sender to recipient in less than a second, digital payments can still take days to resolve. The introduction of the RTP® network in 2017 was intended to solve this problem, but the program only fully came into its own over the past couple of years amid the pandemic.

The future promises significant growth for real-time payments both in the U.S. and around the world. While just 1.8 billion real-time transactions took place in the U.S. in 2022, real-time transaction volume is expected to hit 8.9 billion in 2026. The RTP network could soon face a prominent competitor, however, when the Federal Reserve’s FedNow system launches in 2023.

This edition of the “Real-Time Payments Tracker®” examines the year in review for the RTP network and real-time payments across the globe. It also explores what the future holds for real-time payments and how banks, businesses and other firms can encourage real-time transactions in the coming years.

Around The Real-Time Payments Space

Companies generating between $20 million and $1 billion in sales have been relatively slow to adopt real-time payment technologies, according to a recent PYMNTS study, which found that these middle-market firms receive 4% and make 4% of their payments via RTP. This is in contrast with large-market firms, which use real-time payments in about 8% of the payments received and 9% of the payments made.

The North American Banking Company (NABC) recently announced a partnership with the Open Payment Network (OPN) to power its instant payments system, allowing customers to make real-time payments to any financial institution on The Clearing House’s RTP network. The solution is enabled via OPN’s application programming interface, which allowed NABC to integrate its instant payments system with OPN and, by extension, the RTP network.

For more on these and other stories, visit the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

Truist Financial On Real-Time Payments’ Present And Future

The future of real-time payments is looking no less sunny than its present: Banks and businesses are integrating the RTP network in record numbers, and the expanding payment volume is fostering a radical shift in the way businesses and consumers transact with each other. As real-time payments continue to grow more popular, consumers can have greater access to funds, less economic anxiety and faster payroll to avoid economic uncertainties.

In this month’s Insider POV, PYMNTS talked with Chris Ward, head of wholesale payments at Truist Financial, about some of the most exciting developments in real-time payments this past year and what to look forward to in the future.

The Year In Review For Real-Time Payments And A Look Into The Future

The RTP network has been a game-changer for the financial industry since its introduction in 2017, and today, 61% of direct deposit accounts can now access the RTP network, indicating widespread adoption among businesses and consumers. This uptick in adoption and implementation has carried over through this year as the pandemic continues, and it is likely to continue well into the future as consumers grow accustomed to the technology.

This month’s PYMNTS Intelligence explores the most significant RTP developments of the year thus far and projects what the coming years hold for this quickly maturing industry.

About The Tracker

This edition of the “Real-Time Payments Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and The Clearing House collaboration, examines the year in review for the RTP network and real-time payments across the globe. It also explores what the future holds for real-time payments and how banks, businesses and other firms can encourage real-time transactions in the coming years.