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Real Time Payments (RTP):
Revolutionizing Transactions

Real-time payments have held the attention of many countries to facilitate fast and efficient real-time payments to create or enhance digital services for customers. In this blog, you’ll Discover:

  • An overview of Real-Time Payments and their significance in today's digital economy. 
  • How ISO 20022 supports real-time payment infrastructures.
  • Case studies and real-world examples of successful RTP implementations.
  • Insights into the future of real-time payments and ISO 20022 messaging.
  • Can we call ACH payments as real-time payments?
  • How ECS helps to real-time payment network?
Since Japan introduced the Zengin system, other countries have also developed their own payment infrastructure to support real-time payments.

This includes Unified Payments Interface in India, the RTP® network from The Clearing House in the U.S., and Fednow, the Faster Payments Service in the U.K., PIX in Brazil, and DuitNow QR codes for Malaysia. Moreover, Latin America has exceeded the region’s critical mass of mobile wallets, with 65% of consumers owning and using a mobile wallet in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.

Optimistically speaking, ECS expects almost three-quarters of the world population to gain access to real-time payments by the end of 2023.

RTP and ISO 20022 Standards

RTP Overview and Sample Uses

ACH payments as real-time payments

Overcoming RTP challenges with ECS

Real-Time Payments (RTP) and ISO 20022 Standards 

As the new standard in the payment industry, ISO 20022 messaging implementation delivers several key benefits for real-time payments, including:
  • A baseline of implementation for new entrants or adopters.
  • Interoperability and harmonization to enhance security and resilience.
  • A consistent approach to deliver agility, speed, and cost efficiency to the market.
The Clearing House of almost every country has adopted the ISO 20022 standard for most RTP System messaging. Adopting ISO 20022 allows RTP Participants and TPSPs to develop, source, and introduce new products and innovations without requiring customized development to move in tandem with global markets.
Real-Time Payments (RTP) and ISO 20022 Standards 

Real-Time Payments (RTP) Overview and Sample Uses

The RTP System allows consumers and businesses to conveniently send and receive immediate funds transfers directly from Accounts at their financial institution anytime, anywhere. This system is going beyond unifying payment partners, including:
  • Addressing the needs of all customer groups.
  • Including richer data in the payment processing.
  • Signing up additional partners.
  • Moving beyond a country-to-country basis.
  • Moving to a more inclusive structure for mobile wallets and other non-banking institutions.
Below are some cases highlighting how the RTP system stands in the middle of these Transactions providing routing and settlement functions.

Business to consumer (B2C)

-A retail bank distributing personal loans to a dealership on behalf of a customer. -A utility company requesting payment for services from customer or business. -An insurance company reviewing a claim, explaining a settlement amount

Person to Person (P2P)

Colleagues splitting monthly rent and utility payments.

Consumer to Business (C2B)

A working individual pays for general house services such as cleaning, gardening, or childcare.

Government to Consumer (G2C)

Subsidies, tax refunds/rebates, government wages, pensions, loans, social benefits, and unemployment benefits.

Can we call ACH payments as real-time payments

Can we call ACH payments as real-time payments?

Automated Clearing House (ACH) settle payments in batches rather than in real time. The ACH payments can take a few minutes to a few hours to complete the settlement cycle. However, RTP is instantaneous, showing no interval between the transaction of the payments. Even same-day ACH transactions are completed in one business day to show complete transaction cycle.

ECS is committed to helping FI and non-banking institutions overcome real-time payment challenges:

Real-time payments represent a viable opportunity to meet the growing demand for modern payment products. Our IMS Payments platform processes Malaysia’s Real-time payments, US’s Real time Payments (RTP) and FedNow to make seamless transaction processing. ECS’ solutions are SWIFT Gold Certified, and ECS’ is among the first service provider to complete FedNow Certification for Real Time Payments.

IMS Solution Features:

  • End-to-end payment processing
  • ISO20022 adaptation
  • Dynamic, real-time dashboard
  • Operational reporting
  • Cloud-native and cloud-agnostic
  • multi-banking network connectivity

Take a look of our Blog

Mapping a path to ISO 20022 with IMS Swift CBPR+ Translator

Mapping a path to ISO 20022 with IMS Swift CBPR+ Translator

Multi-banking connectivity: A Guide to Seamless Integration

Multi-banking connectivity: A Guide to Seamless Integration

ISO 20022 in-flow translation: A new language for payments

ISO 20022 in-flow translation: A new language for payments