Banks Face a Now-or-Never Moment on Real-Time Account Funding

Watch more: The Right Time for Real-Time Account Funding Is Now

Real-time account funding has shifted from a nice-to-have to a competitive necessity. For banks, FinTechs and payments platforms, it can help close the gap between intent and action at the very moment a customer signs up, reloads a balance or transfers cash. For customers, it’s the difference between waiting hours or days, and tapping a phone to pay for dinner five minutes after opening an account, with the actual funds available depending upon the U.S. receiving financial institution. But in a market where patience is measured in seconds, that difference shows up in conversion, retention and call center costs.

“I don’t think the real-time account funding is the future,” said Jakub Petri, VP, Global Sales and Partnerships, Visa Direct. “I think it’s the present.”

The comment landed during a PYMNTS panel featuring Petri of Visa Direct; Tim Astanov, chief product officer at TabaPay, a money‑movement processor connected directly to the major card networks; and Jim Slocum, SVP and CIO at OneUnited Bank, the nation’s largest Black‑owned bank. The trio explored what’s changing in consumer expectations, how account funding transactions (AFTs) actually work, and how to build a program that is fast without being reckless.

Evolving Consumer Expectations

Petri’s point about the present tense of “fast” isn’t just rhetoric. He cited Visa’s research, from Aite group and Visa Inc.’s “Banking and Brokerage Consumer Study 2020,” a survey of 1,957 U.S. consumers, showing a clear “cost of inaction,” with 74% of consumers say they would switch banks for real-time payments.

“Nobody wants to wait for their money anymore. In fact, nobody wants to wait for anything anymore,” he said.

Astanov sees that expectation play out in the form factor consumers actually reach for. “A debit card is … a preferred form factor,” he said, noting that TabaPay’s portfolio is split roughly 50/50 between pull and push transactions and that AFTs, which withdraw funds from an account to fund another account, comprise for a large share of its growth. The practical reason is simple: Most consumers already have a card in their pocket, and using it to fund an account is familiar and within minutes.

The expectation isn’t limited to the first funding event, according to Astanov. Consumers increasingly want real-time movement for “me-to-me” transfers (between their own accounts at different institutions), peer-to-peer payments, brokerage deposits and small business use cases such as tipping platforms and mass payouts. AFTs support all of these, and, in Astanov’s telling, adoption often spreads from one use case to the next.

For OneUnited’s customers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, immediacy can be foundational. “Cash flow and availability of funds is really important to them in their daily life,” Slocum said. That lens led OneUnited to prioritize real‑time account opening and funding, particularly for customers historically excluded from mainstream banking.

The ‘What’: AFTs and the Concrete Benefits

To demystify AFTs, Petri offered an analogy that resonated: Think of an AFT “like a purchase transaction on steroids.” A customer enters the debit card credentials of the account they’re drawing from; the bank (through an acquirer processor such as TabaPay and via Visa Direct) pings the issuing bank in real time to verify the account is open, in good standing and has sufficient funds.

If authorized, the funds are blocked so they can’t be spent elsewhere, an authorization code returns in seconds, and the receiving institution can update the customer’s balance immediately while avoiding common ACH pain points like returns for insufficient funds or closed accounts.

The practical upside is tangible. OneUnited began using card funding in 2017.

“It was kind of like someone threw a switch somewhere,” Slocum recalled. “All of a sudden 95% of our accounts were funding … through the card.” The bank saw fewer “Where’s my money?” calls and fewer operational dead ends — those costly scenarios where an application passes identity checks only to fail at funding.

Speed after funding matters, too. Because AFTs provide immediate certainty, OneUnited can credit funds to the new account as soon as the application is approved and deliver a digitally issued card that customers can add to their mobile wallet on the spot.

“We’re talking about a five‑ to 10‑minute process … a fully functioning account along with a card in wallet,” Slocum said. The by‑product: Call‑center volume around card arrival and “Why do you have my money?” complaints fell materially.

The ‘How’: Building a Successful Real-Time Account Funding Program

The technical choices behind a real-time account funding program experience are less about flash and more about sequencing and controls. The panel identified the following five factors for building a successful program.

Start with two steps, not one. Both Astanov and Slocum champion a “dual message” approach: authorize first, capture later. In plain English, that means the system checks and holds the money at the start of the application but doesn’t complete the transaction until all the knowyourcustomer and risk checks pass a few minutes later. “Dual message is like the secret sauce,” Slocum said, because it lets the bank personalize messaging, avoid wasted downstream work and still deliver immediate funding once the decision is made.

Use the card network value-added services, selectively. Visa’s Account Name Inquiry (ANI) can compare the name on the debit card used for funding to the name on the application, returning “match,” “no match” or “partial match.” That is especially useful the first time a card shows up. Combine that with address verification and 3D Secure, and you have layered defenses that don’t demand step up on every single transaction. “You don’t have to use a value-add service on every transaction … in some cases, you do,” Petri said. Astanov added that TabaPay pairs those tools with proprietary controls such as duplicate card checks and monitoring to flag anomalous patterns and proactively alert clients.

Design for optimal user experience. While the transaction authorization arrives instantly, settlement posts on a next day basis. Many banks effectively “front” funds to deliver an on-the-spot, real-time experience, then receive settlement the following day. Processors can help optimize those flows, including by pairing the initial account funding authorization with a next day credit push to tighten cash reconciliation. The goal: Keep the customer experience real-time without compromising treasury hygiene.

Reliability over rhetoric. Astanov stressed TabaPay’s direct connections to multiple networks and sponsor banks to maintain “five nines” uptime and manage the back office heavy lifting — settlement, reporting and exception handling — so client teams can keep their focus on the customer journey. That operational backbone is what makes “real-time” feel effortless to the end user.

Reduce onboarding. One promising step is a “tap-to-add card” that lets a customer tap a physical card on their phone to securely load the credentials, instead of typing a 16-digit number. Slocum called seeing the feature in the wild “so fast … so impressive … and so futuristic,” and said OneUnited wants in as it matures. Small moment, but in funding, as in checkout, micro frictions compound.

Under the hood, OneUnited’s workflow illustrates an end-to-end pattern others can follow. The bank collects application data, runs initial device and velocity checks, calls out to its processor for address/name validation and the AFT authorization, then completes comprehensive verification. Once approved, it captures the transaction and posts the funds immediately, triggering digital card provisioning. The lesson: String together proven steps; don’t try to reinvent them.

One Piece of Advice

If there was a single message from the panel, it was urgency.

“Don’t wait,” Petri said. “If you are customer-centric and you care about your consumers … turn on real-time account funding.”

In his experience, clients often start with new account funding and quickly expand to recurring deposits, real-time withdrawals and additional account types, from checking to CDs, 401(k)s and brokerage. The demand doesn’t stay in one lane.

Astanov’s counsel is to choose a partner that can grow with you. Many institutions begin with a single flow — say, me-to-me transfers — and then want to add use cases. The right processor should bring both network reach and a deep catalog of off-the-shelf risk controls so teams aren’t rebuilding the plane midflight.

“You want a partner to grow with,” he said.

Slocum’s advice is to keep the north star in view. “The reason you’re doing it is to get your customer a better experience,” he said.

In practice, that means leveraging the “secret sauce” of authorizing early and capturing later, then using the certainty that creates to provision funds and cards immediately. The result isn’t just speed; it’s fewer dead ends, fewer calls and a smoother first impression that sets the tone for the relationship.

Real-time account funding won’t win a customer by itself, but slow funding can lose one. The technology is ready, the consumer expectation is set, and the operational playbooks exist. In other words, the future Petri waved away has already arrived, and the clock on “real time” now starts at signup.