Consumers and businesses are moving toward technologically advanced payment practices that better align with their constantly evolving wants and needs. In the smartphone era, companies and consumers have developed an expectation for immediacy and want everything as quickly as possible, including the ability to send and receive payments. The immediate, around-the-clock nature of immediate payments can bring countless benefits to all parties involved. There are many reasons why credit unions should develop new offerings to enable individual members and business members to use immediate payments.
For example, immediate payments:
Meet consumer and industry demand for faster payments. Recent Federal Reserve surveys reveal a growing interest in faster payments: About 70 percent of consumers say having access to enhanced, more immediate payment capabilities from their financial institution(s) is a vital satisfaction driver.
Address the gaps in current payment methods through speed, security, value-added messaging capabilities, and immediate availability of transaction status.
Support a variety of use cases, including consumer and business payments, to help credit unions remain competitive and be in the best position to support their members’ needs.
Offer flexible design with state-of-the-art capabilities and unique functionality not just constrained to payments. For example, immediate payments can also support additional capabilities beyond the transfer of funds, such as non-payment messages like request for payment and payment confirmation.
Improve liquidity management for billers and merchants, which allows companies to pay vendors, buy supplies, and better track payments due to the data-rich format of immediate payments.
Allow credit unions that offer immediate payment services to remain competitive, produce new products, decrease fraud risk, and meet the needs of their members.