In today’s fast-paced digital economy, the expectation for immediacy is commonplace in our day-to-day lives. And it’s directly impacting how businesses and individuals move money.
Faster payments are no longer something to consider; they’ve become indispensable, competitive tools. For businesses, they unlock faster receivables, smoother cash flow, and stronger supplier relations. For credit unions, they’re the key to retention, relevance, and resilience in a world increasingly dominated by fintech convenience. For members, they are expected tools that have quickly become commonplace.
“Credit unions are uniquely positioned to bring the power of faster payments directly to their members,” said Alex White, Assistant Vice President of Payments at Synergent. “When these real-time solutions are implemented thoughtfully and strategically, they do more than move money faster—they strengthen relationships, build trust, and deliver the seamless experiences members expect in today’s digital world.”
What are Faster Payments?
According to the U.S. Faster Payments Council, faster payments are “electronic payment services that provide funds to the payee within seconds or up to a few hours. Faster payments include instant/immediate/real-time, push-to-card, and same day ACH.”
Credit unions that partner with Synergent have access to numerous Faster Payments solutions through JHA PayCenter. Offered through our partnership with Jack Henry™, this umbrella program enables credit unions to offer services for members to send and receive real-time payments through programs including:
- Zelle® – A real-time, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments solution that fully integrates within a credit unions digital banking platform. Zelle® saw a 27% increase in annual transactions, with over $1 trillion in peer-to-peer payments processed in 2024.
- RTP® Network – A real-time payments platform through The Clearing House that allows credit unions to support solutions for account-to-account, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business, and business-to-business transactions, as well as the development of new services for payroll, insurance disbursements, and other quick payment cases. It saw 405.7% growth in payment value from Q1 to Q2 2025, processing over $2.70 billion daily.
- FedNow® Service – This flexible, neutral platform was built by the Federal Reserve to help make instant payment services through financial institutions available, fast, and convenient, to serve consumer and business customers. It provides interbank clearing and settlement that enables funds to be transferred from the account of a sender to the account of a receiver in near real-time and at any time, any day of the year. FedNow® is growing exponentially, with 2.13 million payments totaling $245.76 billion in Q2 2025.
A is for Accessible and Actionable
The adoption of Faster Payments is clear. Across the U.S., the RTP® network alone is now accessible to financial institutions holding almost 90% of U.S. demand deposit accounts. At the end of 2024, Zelle had 151 million enrolled user accounts and helped Americans send over $1 trillion, the most money ever sent P2P in a single year. This increase of 27% year-over-year also illustrates the accelerated growth of the platform.
FedNow® releases quarterly statistics that also reflect rapidly accelerating growth, with the overall value over 2.13 million settled payments growing 405.7% in value from Q1 2025 to Q2 2025 to an incredible $245.76 billion! The average daily value of settled payments in Q2 2025 is $2.70 billion.
Further illustrating the acceleration of these tools, in Q2 2025, The RTP® network averaged 1.18 million payments each day. Being actionable, in the same quarter, RTP network processed $481 billion in payments, a 195% leap in value from the previous quarter.
Being actionable, in Q2 2025, RTP hit $481 billion in processed payments—a staggering 195% increase over Q1—driven by high-value, business-centric use cases facilitated by a raised $10 million per-transaction limit. Average payment size soared from $842 in January to over $4,000 by June, a 376% spike.
B is for Benefits That Build Competitive Advantage
The value of faster payments goes beyond convenience. Institutions that have embraced real-time rails are unlocking new efficiencies, driving growth, and positioning themselves to compete more effectively in an increasingly digital marketplace.
- Stronger Business Performance
Over 285,000 businesses now leverage RTP monthly for real-time B2B functions like supply chain payments, invoicing, and merchant settlement. - B2B Payments Shifting Fast
Deloitte forecasts that by 2028, real-time payments could replace up to $18.9 trillion (conservative estimate) of check and ACH-based B2B payments—or climb as high as $37 trillion in an aggressive scenario. - Growing Enterprise Interest
In the U.S., real-time payments are now considered a “must have” by 80% of industry respondents—and a whopping 84% of financial institutions specifically. - Diverse Use Cases & Better Cash Flow
Businesses are focused on applying faster payments to e-commerce (54%), point-of-sale transactions (51%), and invoicing/supplier payments (41%). At the same time, financial institutions are focusing their efforts on P2P payments (51%), bill pay (38%), and payroll (38%). - Efficiency, Insight & Security
Faster payments eliminate reconciliation delays and batch-processing frustrations, while integrated dashboards and real-time reporting provide clarity and control. Risk and fraud controls evolve alongside higher value capabilities.
C is for Crafting Your Strategy with Confidence
- Clarify Objectives & Stakeholders
Goals can span from retention to revenue—faster payments may serve member acquisition, retention, and operational optimization. Define clear KPIs: transaction growth, adoption rate, retention, satisfaction, and cost efficiency. - Evaluate Your Infrastructure Landscape
Understand current systems and explore how RTP rails—RTP® Network, Zelle®, FedNow®, etc.—can complement or replace legacy ACH or checks. Partners like Synergent can help integrate faster rails. - Set Adoption Targets
With 70–80% of FIs expected to receive real-time payments by 2028, and 30–40% to send them, position your institution to lead rather than lag. - Track Value via Dashboard & Reporting
Leverage internal tools (PayCenter dashboards, reconciliation, fraud monitoring) to capture data—then segment, refine, and scale.
Don’t Get Left Behind—Faster Payments Are the New Normal
As faster payments become the new standard, the financial institutions that move first will not only stay relevant—they’ll thrive. Equip your credit union today with the tools, strategy, and partners to build trust, loyalty, and long-term success.
