Real-time payments (RTP) are a long time coming and still in very early days, but the wrangling of regulators, banks and other stakeholders is fast approaching a real-time singularity.
In the study Real-Time Payments: The Fast Track To The Future Of Corporate Payments, a PYMNTS and The Clearing House collaboration, we surveyed 100 executives at companies generating $50 million to $1 billion annually to discover what benefits that early adopters are realizing through RTP use — and what the remaining hurdles for instant payments are.
- 86% of businesses generating $500 million to $1 billion use real-time payments
Representing the majority of companies saying they are now sending and receiving payments in real time, our research found that nearly 9 in 10 large businesses in the lower end of enterprise show the greatest uptake.
For companies in the $250 million to $500 million revenue range, usage drops to 27%, and as the study states, “companies that use real-time payments are more evenly distributed when sorted by industry and not size,” with 19% of financial firms, 18% of wireless companies and roughly 11% of utilities and distribution companies now using of real-time payments.
- 53% of companies cite better cash flow management as benefit of real-time payments
No matter which way money is moving, RTP proves itself beneficial to cash flow.
According to the study findings, 53% of respondents said cash flow management improves when transmitting real-time payments — the largest share for any of the RTP benefits asked about, while fully “75% of these companies cite improved cash flow management as a benefit — also the highest score for any of the benefits of receiving payments in real time.”
- 20% say the high cost of technology is the biggest hinderance to real-time payments
Sending and receiving real-time payments requires some technical work, and 20% of companies surveyed said high costs associated with RTP tech upgrades are potentially holding them back.
However, 54% “expect to have lower costs once they introduce new features” made possible by RTP transfers, meaning these upgrades may very well pay for themselves in compressed time.
Get the study: Real-Time Payments: The Fast Track To The Future Of Corporate Payments
