News about faster payments on the RTP® network has been plentiful this week, with both HSBC and Wells Fargo announcing that corporate customers can send payments on the RTP network (both banks’ corporate customers have been able to receive real-time payments for some time), and speakers at the TCH + BPI Annual Conference focusing on the growth of the RTP network.

On Monday, HSBC announced business and institutional clients of all sizes will be able to pay and be paid immediately with enhanced convenience and security. The roll-out of capabilities for HSBC’s consumer customers to send payments via the RTP network is expected to be completed early in 2020.

Wells Fargo announced on Tuesday that its corporate customers can now send real-time payments through the RTP network via an application programming interface (API), enabling the immediate movement of money and expanding the bank’s faster payments offerings. Wells Fargo previously rolled out capabilities for both retail and wholesale customers to receive payments over the RTP network at the end of 2018.

On Wednesday at the TCH + BPI Annual Conference in New York, corporate customers of PNC Bank and BNY Mellon discussed how they are each leveraging real-time payments capabilities, areas of particularly-rapid adoption, and the additional use cases that are now emerging during the “User Perspectives on the Real-Time Payments Revolution” panel session.

The panel spent a lot of time on use cases for real-time payments and how there are many instances where faster payments can fill needed gaps in payment options. For instance, in the payroll space, there are many ways payments on the RTP network could help customers:

• Emergency Payments: All employers face emergency payroll situations, where an employee needs to be paid immediately on pay day, but the original payment didn’t go through;
• Daily Payroll: Some employers, such as gig economy companies or businesses in extremely tight labor markets, are looking to provide daily payroll as an incentive; and
• Employee Termination: Some states require employees to be paid in full immediately on the day they are terminated.