In these times of rapid advancement of new technologies, agility in operations has ceased to be a choice and has become an imperative for companies. After all, being fast and efficient in business can make a difference when creating a product or service, attend to a customer or manage one's own cash register. It is at this point that instant payment systems – like the Brazilian Pix – have a lot to offer to companies, transforming what was a slow and costly process into something immediate and cheap
And this evolution is just at the beginning. It is certain that, in the coming years, instant payments will become the norm, probably incorporating technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). Allowing transactions with different currencies and creating solutions that go beyond borders, these turbocharged payments with technological tools will offer – both for the payer and for the receiver – more convenience and efficiency. They are agile operations, secure and permanent: they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Various industries are impacted by instant payments: retail (physical and online), financial services, supply chain and logistics, public services, gaming and betting industry, just to name a few. Digital betting platforms, for example, the number of users has increased, the total amount processed and the revenues after the adoption of instant payment services
Technically, instant payments (also called immediate payments or real-time payments) are transfers of funds that leave one account and arrive at another within up to ten seconds after the operation is processed. This regardless of whether the transfer is from a business account to a personal account (B2C), from one legal account to another legal account (B2B), from one physical account to another physical account (C2C) or between accounts (A2A). Before that, bank transfers usually required at least one business day of waiting. The speed of instant payments comes from the fact that these operations are processed without intermediaries, such as clearing houses or correspondent banks
Apart from the issue of agility, instant payments also have the advantage of cost reduction. In this new system, there are no transaction fees and other costs associated with traditional payments, such as processing fees for checks and transfers between banks. Furthermore, real-time payments have a positive impact on cash flow management. Це тому що, once the transactions are completed instantly, the invalidation of a payment due to lack of funds is avoided
Instant payments are currently developing at full speed in various markets around the world, already consolidating as the most advanced in the payment methods industry. It is common for each country to create resource transfer models adapted to its own reality, delegating the operation of the system to central banks or private entities. Examples are already in operation and projects are not lacking, and the experience shows the enthusiasm of users in the adoption – just look at the numbers of thesuccessdo Pix in Brazil
In the United States, there is FedNow, released in 2023 and that, as the name itself suggests, is operated by the Central Bank of the country. In Canada, Real-Time Rail (RTR) is scheduled for launch in 2026, while in the euro area the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer has been operating since 2017. Other experiences include Faster Payments, released in 2018 in the United Kingdom; the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), in operation since 2016 in India and one of the most successful and popular examples of instant payments; the Faster Payment System (FPS), released in 2018 in Hong Kong; the New Payments Platform (NPP), operating in Australia for six years; the FAST (Fast and Secure Transfers), from Singapore, one of the first instant payment methods, released in 2014
It is a one-way street. The coming years will certainly witness the consolidation of this payment method around the world, and companies that do not want to be left behind definitely need to keep up with this evolution. That there is still a lot, very much advancing
