Real-Time Payments Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Growing consumer need for instant transactions:  As e-commerce, mobile banking, and digital wallets become more prevalent, individuals are making financial transactions more frequently, and across multiple channels, thereby creating an increased expectation for real-time, immediate payment processing. Traditional payment transactions may take hours or even days to settle, while RTP payments allow funds to be transferred immediately while also creating a better consumer experience and providing trust in the payment process. Furthermore, in an era of being digitally connected, today's consumers are resistant to delays in transferring money and paying bills. Therefore, instant payments allow consumers more control of their personal finances.
• Rapid expansion of e-commerce and digital economies: Organizations and consumers who interact online are focusing on methods to exchange money that are fast, secure, and seamless. Traditional payment methods that have non-instantaneous delays or settlement times just do not work in the digital economy, where purchases, subscriptions, and services are instant. The instant transfer of funds afforded by real-time payments enhances the customer experience by decreasing cart abandonment rates and increasing satisfaction while shopping online.  Faster cash flow and liquidity also benefit e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and digital service providers using RTP systems since they do not have to wait days to settle payments.
• Growing cybersecurity concerns: Today's RTP systems typically have robust security capabilities like tokenization, encryption, biometric authentication, and real-time prevention of fraud, which makes them less vulnerable to cyberattacks than traditional systems that batch process transactions and verify their authenticity later. In an environment of increasing cyberattacks like data breaches, identity theft, and payment fraud, stakeholders want a system that can react quickly to detect fraud on the risk vulnerability. Additionally, financial institutions and payment service providers are required to adhere to high standards of data protection and fraud prevention prescribed by regulatory authorities.

U.S. Retail E-Commerce and Total Retail Sales – Q2 2025 (Census Bureau Estimate)

Source: The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce

Trends in Noncash Payments by Value in the U.S. (2000–2022, in Trillions of Dollars)

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Challenges

• Strict data protection guidelines: Strict data protection requirements are limiting the development and acceptance of the real-time payment sector. Payment providers must invest significant resources into regulatory and compliance mandates, surrounding GDPR and CCPA compliance-related security measures, data encryption, and the legal fees associated with compliance. The regulations also limit the instant sharing of sensitive financial information between banks, merchants, and payment processors. This acts as another complicating layer to the development of streamlined instant payment systems.
• Exorbitant cost of cybersecurity: The high price tag of cybersecurity is stifling the growth of the real-time payments sector. Real-time payment systems involve the immediate transfer of valuable financial information, making them veritable targets for cyber attackers. As a result, organizations have no choice but to invest in the latest technologies including but not limited to encryption, fraud detection, intrusion prevention, and continuous monitoring to secure their transactions. These extensive expenses may weigh particularly heavily on smaller providers and FinTech startups. This makes it difficult to enter or grow within this market.