Faster payment systems are being adopted in countries all around the globe even though there is no compelling ROI argument for them, according to the fourth annual Flavors of Fast payments study from FIS.
“We encourage you to look beyond the two-dimensional business case to the third dimension: business value,” wrote Anthony Jabbour, chief operating officers for banking & payments at FIS. “We recognize that it is the relevant data that allows you to build new services, to drive loyalty and a unique instant and relevant customer experience, enabled by new API technologies. It is the only way forward and the research clearly indicates that the schemes with the higher innovation scores enjoy a faster adoption rate.”
In fact, many of the innovations accompanying faster payments are not about pure speed but other attributes such as 24x7x365 operating hours and standards like ISO 20022 that support data like invoices moving with payments or requests for payments.
One concrete example — a ship coming into port on a Friday could pay customs fees immediately rather than waiting until Monday. Again, though, the innovation here is the constant availability of the payment process, not the fact that it may be real-time.