PNC Bank Taps Visa Direct for Access to Real-Time Payment Rails

PNC Bank and Visa have renewed their strategic collaboration and will further expand the immediate payments capabilities the bank offers its treasury management clients.

This collaboration enables PNC Bank’s Treasury Management Platform to access real-time payment rails through Visa Direct and offer PNC clients streamlined and efficient money-movement and payment processes, the companies said in a Wednesday (Oct. 29) press release.

“PNC’s enhanced collaboration with Visa meets a growing need among PNC’s corporate and commercial clients for faster, secure payments solutions,” Sarah Billings, head of global payments for PNC Treasury Management, said in the release.

When PNC announced on Oct. 21 that it had joined the Federal Reserve’s FedNow® Service, allowing the bank to send and receive instant payments around the clock, Billings said that PNC Treasury Management “has seen firsthand the transformative value immediate payments solutions can bring to organizations.”

Now, with faster payments capabilities enabled by Visa Direct, PNC offers solutions for both B2C and B2B use cases, including insurance disbursements, gig economy payouts, earned wage access and refund/rebate payments, according to the Wednesday press release.

“Businesses today operate in a 24/7 environment and they expect their payment capabilities to keep pace,” Vira Platonova, global head of Visa Direct at Visa, said in the release. “Our renewed collaboration with PNC is about empowering their clients with the modern tools they need to succeed.”

Visa Direct is Visa’s real-time money movement network that connects 3.4 billion card credentials worldwide in seconds. Visa Direct also offers value-added services like security measures that are essential for global money transfers.

Visa reported Tuesday (Oct. 28) that Visa Direct transactions were up 23% in its fiscal fourth quarter, reaching 3.4 billion transactions.

The PYMNTS Intelligence and Galileo collaboration “Pivotal Moment: Banks’ Real-Time Payments Opportunity in 2025” found that 93% of banks that enable instant payments report a positive impact on customer retention.

Corporate clients are driving financial institutions to adopt instant payments capabilities, as more than six in 10 commercial banks say businesses now view these capabilities as non-negotiable.

Consumers also demand instant payments. The report found that nearly four in five consumers say instant payments are the most important digital feature a bank can offer.