The state of real-time payments: How to stay ahead of customer expectations

When’s the last time you rocked bellbottoms and a tie-dye shirt?

Been a while? Okay… been quite a while?

Those ‘70s trends may have come and gone, come back and gone again, but there are a few things from those times that are still around.

In the financial sector, the world’s first real-time payment (RTP) apparatus, called the Zengin System, was launched in Japan in 1973.

As technology has grown more advanced, and the world more connected, the ability to send and receive payments instantly is now the norm.

In many places, it’s not only possible, but expected.

That’s why 85% of businesses have either already implemented or plan to implement real-time payments by 2023.

Why? Because modern customers don’t have 2 business days to wait for a payment to process.

People want constant, instant access to their bank at all times. Half of banking customers use a website or mobile app at least once a week, and three quarters of them already use digital payment technology in some capacity.

It is essential to meet customers where they do business. And once you do that, you can really dazzle them.

Going beyond the one-case scenario

Showing your customers that you’re thinking 5 steps ahead of their needs is an easy way to earn long-term business. High retention rates indicate happy customers and can also save you money.

According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer can be as much as 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. And increasing your retention rate by just 5% can increase profits dramatically: as much as 95%.

With the digital payment space in a constant state of evolution, keeping those retention rates high can be tricky.

That’s why the future of banking doesn’t involve preparing for one specific feature that’s in demand, but being prepared to act and react quickly to a number of factors.

This includes customer demands and expectations as well as market trends, but it also means being prepared for unpredictable global events like Covid-19.

What enables that kind of flexibility?

An agile solution like Finastra’s Fusion Payments To Go allows for real-time global payments and transfers and so much more.

Real-time payments, when paired with open banking advances, create a scalable, cost-effective cloud solution that creates new revenue streams and provides clients with products and services they didn't realize they wanted.

With built-in microservices and open APIs that integrate into existing financial systems, Finastra can empower organizations to create a customized payment ecosystem that will extend customer relationships.

What’s more, Finastra adopts an agile deployment approach to implementation projects, allowing for quick adaptability and responsiveness to change in the fast-evolving RTP landscape.

Our clients are now using Fusion Payments To Go to remain ahead of market and consumer demands by deploying a choice of configurations that are customized to fit the needs of both their banking institutions and their customers.

In partnership with Microsoft, Finastra invites you to download our latest ebook and dive deeper into RTP and seven use cases of how businesses can transform their payment services with robust cloud capabilities to meet the various challenges of the digital age.

View ebook