HSBC Bank has launched real-time payments capabilities on the RTP network that gives businesses the ability to pay and be paid immediately, the company said in a press release Monday (Nov. 18).
This is the latest enhancement of HSBC’s implementation of the RTP network. Since July 2019, businesses have been able to receive real-time payments. Now, they can also send real-time payments.
“As digital banking and eCommerce are embraced around the world, people expect to move money just as fast as they are able to check their account balance or buy a new app for their mobile phone,” said Drew Douglas, head of Global Liquidity and Cash Management for the United States and Canada, HSBC.
He noted the new implementation is for all U.S. business clients and will soon be offered to retail customers. The roll-out of capabilities for consumers to send payments via the RTP network is expected to be completed early in 2020.
The RTP network was developed by The Clearing House (TCH) and HSBC has been working with it and other banks to modernize the U.S. payments industry. The network moves money in real time between accounts at any U.S. depository institution on the RTP network.
Steve Ledford, TCH’s senior vice president of Product Strategy and Development said aside from real-time payments, HSBC clients also “benefit from other enhanced payments functionality, such as real-time cash management.”
There are 46 real-time payment networks live and 18 more in either discussions or development, according to the release. Launched in 2017, the RTP network reaches more than 51 percent of U.S. demand deposit accounts.
The adoption of real-time payments in the U.S. has been slow, particularly compared to other markets like the U.K. The assumption is that faster payment functionality only has a place in the peer-to-peer (P2P) payments arena.