Who Really Cares About Real-time Payments?

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Who Really Cares About Real-time Payments?
Jan 9, 2018 | Dilip Rao

Behind the daily shouts about the market value of cryptocurrencies, there are quiet murmurs about another revolution in the making — real-time, domestic payment systems.

Australia is set to launch their domestic New Payments Platform (NPP) in early 2018. Offering always-on, “near real-time” payments, consumer-friendly aliases (e.g. email, smartphone number) rather than bank account numbers and richer payment data, NPP holds great promise for consumers and businesses alike.

Driven by the Reserve Bank of Australia after a strategic review in 2012, this has been a multi-million dollar investment in industry infrastructure over five years.

Australia joins the ranks of the Korea (CD/ATM), UK (Faster Payments), Mexico (SPEI),Singapore (FAST/G3), the early adopters of so-called “Immediate Payments” domestic payment platforms. The US is not far behind: The US Federal Reserve established a “Faster Payments” Task Force in 2015 to engage with industry and drive adoption by 2020.