Real-Time Payments Are Most Likely to Be Found at These Financial Institutions

Want or need a payment instantly? Whether you’re a consumer or a business, you’re more likely to get your funds in seconds if you — and the sender — are customers of certain types of banks.

Real-time payments between bank accounts that happen in seconds from start to finish are becoming a pillar of modern finance.

But far from all financial institutions have that building block in place. More than one-third of commercial banks and credit unions offer instant payment services to both consumers and businesses. That’s where size comes in: Half of small banks, with assets between $500 million and $2.5 billion, don’t offer any instant payment capability.

A forthcoming PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Real-Time Readiness: How Banks Are Innovating Instant Payment Access for Businesses and Consumers,” produced in collaboration with The Clearing House, highlights how instant payment technologies are rapidly altering how banks compete and deliver value, going beyond mere transaction speed to meet specific customer requirements.

Larger financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets are leading the charge. Nearly two-thirds support instant payments for both consumer and business clients. This contrasts sharply with smaller institutions, where only 37% of banks and credit unions with $2.5 billion to $10 billion in assets, and a skimpy 13% of those with $500 million to $2.5 billion in assets, offer this dual access.

Big banks may rule on real-time payments, but smaller digital-only banks are giving them a run for their money. Nearly four in 10 of those online institutions offer instant payments exclusively to individuals, the highest proportion among all institution types surveyed.

See also: Real-Time Payments World Map, May 2025

Instant payment technologies are important because today’s digital-first businesses, and consumers don’t want or have time to wait for their funds. Small businesses tend to rely on quick disbursements to manage their daily cash flow. Large business managing complex supply chains for everything from aluminum to running shoes need to be able lock in their payments for orders quickly.

Real-time disbursements also make it easier to shop online, allowing purchases on an eCommerce marketplace like Amazon to be directly debited from a shopper’s bank account. Apps for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments like PayPal and Venmo, where people reimburse a friend for, say, dinner, are integrated with the instant technologies, creating high expectations for speedy payments.

Financial institutions see P2P payments as a way to capture transaction flows that take place outside their ecosystems. Three in four banks that currently offer instant payments only to businesses are innovating to include P2P use cases. This is higher than consumer-only institutions, where 49% are expanding into P2P payments. Institutions not yet offering real-time payments are exploring value-added services such as instant bill pay and loan disbursement to encourage uptake.

Related: Consumer Willingness to Pay for Instant Payments Fuels New Revenue Streams for Banks

The instant technologies are displacing electronic banks transfers and check clearing, traditional methods that can take several days to initiate, process and clear, with weekends or holidays adding more time to the process.

The report, based on a survey of 400 executives at U.S.-based financial institutions conducted last November and December, emphasized that successful strategies require intentional, customer-specific planning rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

As the real-time economy accelerates, institutions that align their investments with distinct user needs will be best positioned to meet rising expectations, strengthen loyalty and unlock new revenue opportunities.

Read more: Businesses Embrace Real-Time Payments at the $10 Million Mark

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