The definitive source of global instant payments intelligence

Japan's  Zengin system carries out the online processing of domestic funds transfers executed between financial institutions handling high, medium and low value transactions.This was the first supposedly 'instant payment' system launched in the world, although in reality it is more a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) central bank mandated system, with added retail bank and payment functionality. The 6th generation system is  now operational, managed by Zengin-Net Corporation.

On 9 October 2018 a major renewal of Zengin will complete introducing 24/7/365 support, making it more truly an instant payment system rather than an RTGS as it extends its operating hours and moves to an 'always on' operational stance.

SIX Interbank Clearing (SIC) operates on behalf and under the supervision of the Swiss National Bank. SIC handles a combination of low, medium and high value transactions. Switzerland was one of the very earliest adopters of realtime payment systems.

In Taiwan the CBC Interbank Funds transfer System (CIFS) provides real time payments processing. This is a national payment service operated by the Central Bank. It supports low, medium and high value transactions.

The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute  (KFTC) is a payment institution, owned by the banks, with responsibility for setting efficient check clearing and giro systems and operating financial information network. This payment system handles low and medium value transactions. Korea was an early country to introduce instant payments.

Iceland was an early adopter of real time payments. They have a central infrastructure  system that can handle orders for payment in Icelandic krónur to be transferred between financial institutions in realtime - if the payment amount is at least 10 million krónur in value. For lower transaction values a netting settlement system handles low value transactions. In April 2017 the Central Bank of Iceland announced that SIA had been chosen to supply a next generation instant payments platform and RTGS system.

The Interbank Clearing House was created in 2001 to manage interbank payment systems within Brazil. SITRAF (the system of funds transfer) is the main system that process the TED (EFT) payment transactions between institutions. SITRAF handles low, medium and high value transactions.

In Mexico, the Sistema de pagos electronicos interbancarios  (SPEI) is the primary way banks settle transactions with their consumers. It is used for large and small value payment transfers. It is owned and operated by the central bank the Banco de Mexico (Banixco). An upgrade to near real time payment processing was introduced at the end of 2016.

Bankserv, a bank owned company, acts as the national clearing house in South Africa. Bankserv provides a range of payment processing platforms infrastructure and service. Intended for high value and retail payment services. This was the first real time payments system to go live in Africa.

Faster Payments is the only UK payment system available day and night, 365 days per year, supporting the demands of personal and business customers, ensuring the best choice for moving money at any time, simply, quickly and reliably. Faster Payments handles low and medium value transaction values.

Chile's Transferencias en Línea (TEF) has been one of the most successful realtime payment systems globally. It handles low and medium value transactions. It was established following a government mandate and has been operational for over 10 years already. It is used by both consumers and businesses to conduct real time funds transfers.

China's Internet Banking System forms part of the National Advanced Payment System. It has been designed to support both low and medium value transactions. There has been a very high growth in transaction volumes in recent years and this is expected to be maintained.

In India the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) manages central payment systems for the country. One of the key national payment systems is the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). This was introduced to improve access to banking services, it leverages the card and ATM network infrastructure and has been designed for low value transactions.

The Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) was the second realtime payment system to be launched in Africa. It was built with the co-operation of all major Nigerian banks and been designed for low and medium valued transactions. Nigerian Instant Payment (NIP) is the first and only point to point funds transfer service that guarantees instant value to the beneficiary.

Bankgirot is the clearing house for mass payments in Sweden. ThePayments in Realtime BIR system is currently used for low and medium value payments.

Turkey has two real time payment systems the RPS and EFT systems. The Retail Payment System (RPS) was introduced by the central bank to move low value transactions away from the Electronic Funds Transfer RTGS system in order for that to focus on high value transactions. AS the consequence the RPS carries the vast majority of transactions.

All banks in the UAE are required to accept and process transactions through the UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS) system which is designed for high value transactions with no transaction value limit specified. Currently low value transactions can not be handled in realtime.

Barclays Bank introduced the Pingit payment service to allow customers to send funds instantly from their smart phones. This service has been live for more than 5 years and was one of the first global P2P payment systems operating globally. The service has been enhanced regularly since launch and now offers many additional options and use cases.

Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa (KIR) the Polish clearing house developed its realtime payment processing service around their legacy ACH network. The system primarily focussed on low value payments initially. KIR operate three payment systems one of which Express Elixir focusses on instant payments. Instant Payments are positioned as a Premium product in Poland.

The Swedish banks have collaborated to introduce a mobile phone based instant payments service called Swish. This has proved to be very popular. Over half the population have the app and it is used to make payments to friends, families, merchants and at online stores.

The Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System (SLIPS) is an online interbank electronic fund transfer system catering mainly for low-value payments (up to Rs 5 million). Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is the movement of funds from one account to another without the corresponding piece of paper to authorise or prove that the transfer had occurred.

MobilePay is one of the most successful new real-time payment applications globally. It is the most popular app in Denmark sitting only behind Facebook. Originally developed for use in Denmark the service is now also available in Finland and Norway.

Colombia's Compensacion Electronica Nacional Interbancaria (CENIT) payment service supports both low and medium value payments. This payment system is managed by the Columbian ACH who are owned by the main Columbian banks. The Government use the system to make a variety of payments to citizens. Funds are available to be spent on a same day basis.

Singapore's G3 Fast and Secure Transfers is an electronic funds transfer service that enables customers to transfer Singapore dollars from one bank to another in Singapore almost instantly. G3 handles low and medium value transactions.

The UK banks have introduced Paym to allow customers to transfer money instantly. Paym operates within mobile payment and mobile banking apps. It is widely used by consumers to pay friends, family and small businesses. Paym users sent £226 million in 2016.

Instant Payments in Denmark is provided by the Nets Realtime payments system (NetsRT) and the Straksclearingen national clearing system. They are initially targeting mobile payment transactions due to the high consumer adoption of mobile and dislike for cash. Low and medium value transactions are supported and transaction volumes are increasing rapidly. There are 3 million users out of the 5.6 million inhabitants, meaning that they have close to 100% user adoption.

Jiffy is the safe, fast way to send and receive money in real time with your Smartphone. When you activate Jiffy, via your bank, you associate your mobile phone number with your bank account details. In this way you can send money by selecting a beneficiary from your contacts list - and receive money from people who have activated the service. This realtime payments service has been developed by SIA and operates throughout Italy.

Norges Bank has overall responsibility for payment systems in Norway. BITS has responsibility for payments infrastructure on behalf of the financial institutions. The country has invested in building modern payment systems and been successful in driving down cash usage thanks to establishing an efficient and advanced card payments infrastructure. Instant payments have been available since 2014 through the Straksbetalinger service, but uptake has been low partly because prefunding was not supported leading to settlement risk for the banks. The Norwegian have started planning for the introduction for an expanded instant payments service. They do not wish to be left behind their Scandinavian and European neighbours.

In Bahrain a near real time payment service is operational this is called Fawri +. It forms part of the broader Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFTS) that interconnects all retail banks in the country to enhance the efficiency of funds transfers and bill payments. The project was initiated at the request of the central bank.

Zelle (formerly known as ClearXchange) was set up by Early Warning. It is an early example of a  US real-time payments initiative. Multiple banks are offering this P2P realtime funds transfer service to their customers.

In Nicaragua payment systems are managed by the Banco Central de Nicaragua. Realtime payments were the latest addition and formed part of a continual modernisation program that has been running for the last decade.

In Ghana, the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) provides a national instant payments facility. Their Instant Pay service allows funds to be instant transferred between bank accounts at different institutions. Previously the shortest possible time for an interbank transfer was between 3-4 hours under an express services and the standard interbank transfers however took between 24-72 hours.

The Spanish banks came together to launch Bizum to enable the immediate sending and receiving of funds. This bank led P2P mobile phone payment solution works within a mobile banking app and associates a mobile phone number with a bank account. Bizum can be used to pay individuals or for the purchase at physical stores or e-commerce stores.Over €40 million has been sent using Bizum.

Belize introduced an instant funds transfer service as part of its launch of an Automated Payments and Securities Settlement System. This is seen as a key element of a modernisation plan for payment systems in the country.

The Bank of Thailand and the Commercial Banks have co-operated to create PromptPay. This is part of a national  program to modernise payment options. It operates in real-time and the service was launched in 2017.

PesaLink is a new realtime P2P money transfer service has been launched by the Kenyan Bankers Association to reclaim mobile money transfer business lost to the very successful M-PESA system that was set up by the telecoms provider Safaricom (Vodafone).

In Finland the Siirto instant payments scheme has been introduced. This allows funds to be transferred instantly between banks and are immediately available for use. Initial focus is on consumers using mobile phones to initiate their instant payment transactions.

The Instituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) are bringing instant payments capability to the market. The Italian system will be compatible with the European SCT Inst scheme.

The Latvian Central Bank has announced plans to offer instant payments in the country. This new system will be compatible with the European SCT Inst scheme. It has required the Latvijas Banka's electronic clearing system (EKS system) to be enhanced in order to support instant payments processing.

Spain's IberPay who operate the National Electronic Compensation System (SNCE) are upgrading its clearing systems to allow the realtime processing of transactions. IberPay will be an early connection partner to the pan European SCTInst realtime system and they plan to be ready before the EPC scheme launch.

The Clearing House (TCH) Real-Time Payments (RTP) platform started operations on 13 November 2017. The project will provide a national instant payment system that enables the  immediate clearing and settlement of credit transfers between customers of different US financial institutions. RTP will also provide immediate delivery of ancillary financial messages to support value-added services. It adheres to the objectives outlined by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Faster Payments Task Force.

European payment service providers (PSPs), which include banks and non-banks, may choose to work with a Clearing and Settlement Mechanism (CSM) in order to offer the new single euro payments area (SEPA) instant credit transfer (SCT Inst) scheme, which went live on 21 November 2017. The voluntary rulebook was developed by the European Payments Council (EPC).

The InstaPay Tracker provides all the key details of the SCT Inst service being offered by those CSMs who operate across multiple European countries, sometimes via partnerships. Nine Compliant CSMs self-declared their adherence to the new scheme on 21 Nov 2017, such as France’s Stet and Equens Worldline. Click on the highlighted text to see the full list. Remember, some domestic country-specific CSMs, such as Denmark's Nets, will be outside the Eurozone but have operations in other countries as well. Such countries are also housed inside the SEPA which covers 34 countries across the continent.

The European Payments Council (EPC) has created a regional Instant SEPA Credit Transfer scheme called SCT Inst. This went live on 21 November 2017 on a voluntary basis with 585 payment service providers (PSPs) initially offering SCT Inst-compliant payments, 15% of the total in Europe. More will migrate in the coming years. SCT Inst will have the same geographical scope spanning 34 countries as the existing single euro payments area (SEPA). It will operate in Euros and re-use many elements from the original SEPA credit transfer (SCT) rulebook and implementation guidelines, but with added speed, constant operation and so on. The EPC is taking an agnostic approach to infrastructure. Multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms (CSMs) plan to be compliant. This is presently an optional payment scheme.

The National Bank of Cambodia saw the need to upgrade its payment systems to allow payments to be made in realtime. This includes enhancements to both the ACH system and a new RTGS. These payment systems are managed by the Cambodian National Clearing House.

The Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation (MyClear), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia, is planning to enhance its RENTAS system to support realtime retail payments to serve both as a catalyst and enabler for innovate payment options in Malaysia.

The Australian New Payments Platform (NPP) went live in February 2018 as some banks migrated and it became open to the public. The new instant payment system has been created by the local banking industry under the auspices of the NPP Australia (NPPA), which is the backbone company formed in December 2014 to oversee the build and its operation. It offers a range of advanced payment services for low and medium value transactions.

NPPA is mutually owned by the initial 13 large participating banks such as ANZ, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), among others. The project was first brought into being as a concept in 2012 by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) central bank, a user of the system, after its Payment Systems Board Strategic Review deemed it necessary. SWIFT and its contractors, such as Fiserv, did the build from 2014 onwards.

The new infrastructure includes an RBA mandated Fast Settlement Service (FSS) to allow transactions to be settled individually on a 24×7x365 constant operational basis, in a matter of seconds, as close to real-time as it is possible to get. Line-by-line settlement is a differentiator for the system and means the country’s banks can move more easily away from a batch-based payment processing procedure.

Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Ltd are developing plans to introduce real-time payments to Hong Kong. This is the latest initiative they are working on to ensure modern, efficient and secure payment systems are available in the country. Non bank players will be encouraged to use the new infrastructure to promote competition.

The Belgium banks recognise the importance of offering instant payments to their customers and joining the European SCT Inst instant payments scheme that is being introduced by the European Payments Council. They have agreed to work together under the auspices of Febelfin The Belgium Financial Sector Federation to ensure compatibility and mass adoption.

The Romanian Banking Association is working in close co-operation with the National Bank of Romania and TRANSFOND the operator of the national payments infrastructure to introduce instant payments to Romania. These will support RON payments initially. Romania has already adopted the SEPA schemes for Credit Transfers and Direct Debit for RON payments.

The Dutch Payments Association have announced plans for instant payments in the Netherlands. These will be fully interoperable with the regional SCTInst scheme. It has become clear that Multiple CSMs will be offering instant payments services in the country.

The Hungarian Central Bank have announced plans to introduce a real time payment system that offers an electronic alternative to cash. The plan is for this system to be compatible with the European SCT Inst scheme, however it will support higher domestic credit transfers amounts up to a maximum limit of 10 million HUF (€32000).

Neither the Federal Reserve (FED) nor the US Federal Reserve Payments TaskForce (FPTF) is planning to operate their own real-time payments scheme or choose a single preferred solution.  The FED is merely acting as a catalyst, overseer and cheerleader. It is looking to the private sector to meet market needs. The FED Taskforce have established key effectiveness criteria against which 16 faster payment solutions have been assessed and produced guidelines and recommendations for private operators and bodies, such as NACHA, to pursue. The first out of the block was The Clearing House (TCH) with its real-time payments (RTP) platform go live on 13 November 2017. Others are expected to follow.

Payments Canada, formerly the Canadian Payments Association, has set out a number of payment initiatives to modernise the country's payments infrastructure. This is one of the largest payment modernisation programmes currently being planned globally. Instant (real time) payments is one of the drivers being addressed by Payments Canada and a key pillar of its modernisation program.

The Banco Sentral ng Philipinas is planning for the introduction of instant payments. They are working in conjunction with The Philippines Clearing House Corporation who are creating The Electronic Funds Transfer Network (EFTN) which will operate as a real-time batch processing and delivery hub for EPCS and PDDTS transactions. This will handle the distribution and settlement of electronic credits and debits among all participating banks.

Payments New Zealand have undertaken detailed global research into the modernisation of payment systems. This forms part of their Payments Direction plan. Several system enhancements have already been introduced to reduce the time for funds to be cleared. Now they are considering how to offer instant payments but few details have currently been disclosed publicly.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has oversight responsibility for payments in the Kingdom. They are planning that the Future Ready ACH system will extend the capabilities of the current SARIE interbank RTGS system which to date has focussed on high value transactions.

Bankart is establishing a national instant payments infrastructure on behalf of Slovenian banks for domestic transactions and cross-border reachability. It will be compatible with European SCT Inst scheme.