The Washington Hospitality Association’s payments processing system is backed by U.S. Bank/Elavon. Elavon is already working on leveraging the RTP system and is dedicated to furthering funding at the speed of business. Click here to learn more about the program.

This article was originally published in Elavon’s Payment Smart newsletter

If you often wonder how to get paid instantly for all your transactions, you’re not alone. Research shows that 90 percent of businesses would agree with you, and also expect real-time payment for their batched transactions1.

Yet, the speed at which funds transfer between a merchant account and its U.S. funding institution still commonly lags between 24 hours to two business days – depriving many people like you of the economic benefits of funding to match the speed at which they do business.

Cash flow predictability and accurate payment reconciliation empowers merchants to better manage their day-to-day expenses, payroll, and operational needs. How? By knowing exactly when, and for what amount, their funding from a day’s batch will be available for use in their bank account. This helps merchants eliminate some of the juggling required when managing large drafts from their account, such as payday, versus the days waiting to receive funding.

Who is Driving Change?
In response to modern day expectations, a coalition of some of the country’s largest banks, called The Clearing House2, developed a real-time payments (RTP) network in late 2017 that is helping drive a transformation in the U.S. banking and financial services ecosystem.

This RTP network is the first new core payments infrastructure in the U.S. in more than 40 years. It is open to all federally insured U.S. depository institutions to immediately receive and access funds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, when sent over the RTP network. Already, that network reaches over 50 percent of U.S. transaction accounts and is on path to reach nearly all U.S. accounts by 20202.

Also recognizing the economic value that real-time, round-the-clock payments and settlement systems can bring to an economy, the Federal Reserve announced it is considering its own system to speed adoption and put real-time payments within the reach of all banks and communities.

Technology Innovators Aligning Resources
While our country is still in the early phases of building out a brand new payment rail, there is tremendous possibility for improving how businesses and consumers move money.

As payments technology innovators, we are already working on leveraging the RTP system and are dedicated to furthering funding at the speed of business. The Washington Hospitality Association’s payments processing system is backed by U.S. Bank/Elavon. Click here to learn more about the program.