As a small New England community bank, Cape Cod 5 is simply fulfilling the requests of its customers by providing faster real-time payments via The Clearing House’s RTP network.

Customer demand for real-time payments is growing and offering real-time payments capabilities is a must for banks, according to Christopher Richards, Chief Banking Services Officer at Cape Cod 5, based in Harwich Port, Mass.

“This is particularly critical for community banks waiting on the sidelines for the perfect entry point, as the Federal Reserve is considering a new real-time payments option,” he writes on American Banker’s BankThink section.

(Richards was recently appointed as a community bank representative to TCH’s RTP® Business Committee.)

“Access to real-time payments will likely become a deciding factor when consumers and businesses are seeking a new banking relationship. This is why Cape Cod 5 is moving forward to join The Clearing House’s RTP network now as opposed to waiting for alternative solutions that may or may not come to fruition,” he writes.

Richards says that Cape Cod 5 weighed the pros and cons of waiting for the Federal Reserve’s promised RTP option but opted for TCH’s RTP network instead. His reasons were clear:

• Cape Cod 5 carefully considered the pros and cons of joining a network started by larger institutions. We have concluded that the benefits of moving forward clearly outweigh the risks of waiting. While Cape Cod 5 will continue to monitor the Fed’s consideration of creating a real-time gross settlement system, we are working now to enable the private-sector RTP network at our institution.

• Banks cannot afford to wait for the Fed’s decision to play out. And the opportunity to partner with fellow banks carries far less risk than waiting for others to lead the industry into the future.

Richards says joining TCH’s RTP network was a vote for its business survival. When it comes to the RTP network, Richards says, “depository institutions will either ride the wave of innovation that is quickly emerging or wait and watch as this revolution passes them by.”

Read Cape Cod 5’s entire TCH RTP op-ed on American Banker.