88% of Banks Report Strong ROI With Instant Business Payments

Nearly nine in 10 institutions rate the ROI of instant business-to-business (B2B) payments as high or very high. This includes 82% of institutions that do not yet offer any instant rail. In other words, the business case is so widely accepted that even the holdouts believe in it before they’ve built it.

Adoption backs up the conviction. Three in four institutions already offer the RTP^® network to their business clients, and 40% offer FedNow^®. Among those that haven’t enabled these rails yet, most plan to do so within two years—a sign that near-universal B2B instant payment access is a matter of when, not if.

The returns are showing up in client relationships. Institutions offering at least one instant rail are more likely to report growth in the lifetime value of business clients. Real-time payments deepen those relationships in concrete ways. They improve payment visibility, speed up cash flow for commercial clients and reduce reliance on legacy instruments.

Download the report to see why instant B2B payments are becoming an increasingly effective growth tool for banks serving business clients.

In “The Bankers’ Playbook: The ROl Case for Instant B2B Payments,” learn how:

• Financial institutions are using instant B2B payments to strengthen their role as primary banking partners for business clients.
• Banks can frame the ROI case differently for boards, senior leaders and operational teams.
• The next stage of real-time payment competition depends on data, treasury workflows and services built on top of instant rails.

Inside the report

“The Bankers’ Playbook: The ROI Case for Instant B2B Payments,” part of Year of the Send, a PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive series produced in collaboration with The Clearing House, is based on a survey of 100 senior leaders in payments, product development and treasury management at U.S. financial institutions that serve business clients conducted March 18–31, 2026. This report examines how financial institutions evaluate the ROI of instant payment methods and real-time payment networks, and what drives adoption from the institution side.