Beyond speed: How banks can build a resilient real-time payments ecosystem 

What does a world without batch processing look like? That’s the future many payments leaders are working toward, and it was a major topic in a recent Payments Valkyries podcast, where Miriam Sheril from Form3 and other industry experts explored how real-time payments are reshaping the banking landscape. Their conversation highlighted a key challenge: banks must go beyond simply enabling RTP or FedNow—they need to build a real-time payments ecosystem that’s seamless, scalable, and secure. 

Real-time payments (RTP) are no longer an emerging trend—they are an industry reality. With the growing adoption of The Clearing House’s RTP network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service, financial institutions are rapidly integrating real-time payments into their infrastructure. However, simply offering RTP and FedNow access is not enough. 

The challenge for banks today is not just about speed—it’s about building an interoperable payments ecosystem that is efficient, scalable, and secure. Without a cohesive strategy for interoperability, governance, and infrastructure modernization, banks risk falling behind fintechs and more agile competitors. So what does this mean for your institution? It means rethinking how payments are processed, routed, and governed to deliver the best possible customer experience while maintaining regulatory compliance and operational efficiency. 

One of the biggest challenges in scaling real-time payments in the U.S. is interoperability. Unlike Europe’s SEPA Instant, which provides a single, unified instant payments framework, the U.S. payments landscape is fragmented across RTP, FedNow, ACH, wires, and card networks. This fragmentation creates friction for businesses and consumers, limiting the seamless movement of funds. 

This lack of standardization means businesses and consumers often face uncertainty about which rail their payment will use, how long it will take, and the associated costs. As instant payments gain traction, financial institutions must take a proactive role in driving interoperability rather than waiting for regulatory mandates. 

One way to achieve this is through adopting ISO 20022, a global standard that enhances data quality and streamlines compliance across payment networks. Additionally, intelligent payment routing capabilities will be key. These systems can dynamically determine the most efficient and cost-effective route for a transaction—whether that’s RTP, FedNow, ACH, or wires—ensuring that payments move smoothly across networks. 

Looking beyond domestic payments, cross-border instant payments are on the horizon. Banks that invest early in scalable, interoperable payment architectures will be well-positioned to offer seamless global transaction capabilities, a key differentiator in the evolving payments ecosystem. 

Unlike ACH, which is governed by NACHA, there is no central governing body for real-time payments in the U.S. This regulatory gap creates inconsistencies in implementation, compliance, and fraud prevention. 

The absence of unified oversight means that risk management, fraud prevention, and network interoperability remain largely in the hands of individual financial institutions. As a result, banks need to take the lead in defining best practices for fraud detection, regulatory compliance, and transaction security. 

Fraud, in particular, poses a heightened challenge in an instant payments environment where transactions are irrevocable. To mitigate risks, institutions should invest in AI-driven fraud detection capable of identifying suspicious activity in real time. Additionally, implementing Confirmation of Payee (CoP) measures—which ensure the recipient’s name matches the account details before a payment is sent—can significantly reduce fraud and misdirected payments. 

Beyond individual risk management, the industry as a whole must move toward standardized regulatory frameworks similar to those governing ACH and card networks. Banks that actively participate in shaping these governance structures—whether through industry working groups or partnerships with regulatory bodies—will be better equipped to navigate the evolving compliance landscape and drive consistency across the payments ecosystem. 

Real-time payments require 24/7 operational readiness, yet many banks are still reliant on legacy batch processing systems. Rather than rebuilding infrastructure from the ground up, some institutions have attempted to “bolt on” real-time payments to outdated systems—a short-term solution that limits efficiency and scalability. 

This approach creates bottlenecks in reconciliation, liquidity management, and transaction processing, ultimately preventing banks from realizing the full benefits of real-time payments. Instead of merely adapting legacy systems, financial institutions must prioritize cloud-native, API-driven architectures designed for high-speed, high-volume payments. 

A key advantage of modern cloud-based payment infrastructure is multi-cloud resilience, ensuring uninterrupted processing even if one cloud provider experiences downtime. Additionally, integrating real-time reconciliation capabilities eliminates the inefficiencies of batch-based ledger updates, providing a continuous view of transaction flows and liquidity positions. 

As instant payments adoption scales, legacy-bound institutions will struggle to keep pace with increasing transaction volumes and customer expectations. Banks that invest in modern, flexible infrastructure today will gain long-term operational efficiencies, cost savings, and a significant competitive advantage over those that delay transformation. 

The real-time payments revolution is here—but scaling RTP successfully requires more than just enabling faster transactions. Banks must: 

Institutions that fail to adapt risk being left behind as fintechs, challenger banks, and forward-thinking institutions lead the charge. Now is the time to invest in the future of payments—because in a real-time world, there’s no time to wait.