Real-time payments, or RTP, were commonly used in Asia-Pacific in 2023, with transactions in India being almost 10 times higher as in China. RTP is important in India due to its implementation in the country's Unified Payments Interface or UPI.An expanded ranking on the number of instant payments per country places India at the top with a figure that was higher than 43 other countries combined. India is expected to keep this position by 2028, although its predicted CAGR will be lower than Brazil, the United States, and Indonesia.
UPI (India) and Pix (Brazil) are the two main systems
Real-time payments generally have two main characteristics that make them appealing: One, as the name suggests, payments can be initiated and settled almost immediately, allowing consumers, businesses, bank to send and receive money across the world within minutes. Two, these schemes are not bound to the opening times of a bank, and are available "24/7" and 365 days in the year. These traits matter especially to countries with a complex payment market that need to be digitalized — such as in India with its UPI system, but also in Brazil (PIX). UPI in India and Pix in Brazil together reached nearly 100 billion transactions in 2022.
A2A payments: An enabler of real-time payment technology
UPI and Pix are both also examples of applications that allow for A2A payments. A2A or account-to-account payments refers to direct payments from one party to the other without the need for an intermediary. Such intermediaries are card rails from the likes of Visa and Mastercard, which are essentially bypassed in A2A. These typically domestically developed payment options come from banks. A2A apps were more common in Latin America than in other parts of the world in late 2022. It should be noted that sources sometimes interpret A2A in different ways, as bank transfers (push requests) and direct debit (pull requests) can technically be a part of A2A as well.
FAQs
An expanded ranking on the number of instant payments per country places India at the top with a figure that was higher than 43 other countries combined. India is expected to keep this position by 2028, although its predicted CAGR will be lower than Brazil, the United States, and Indonesia.
Who leads real-time payment transactions around the world? ›
India continues to dominate the global real-time payments market, with 129.3 billion transactions in 2023 – more than the rest of the world's top 10 real-time payments markets combined.
How many countries have RTP? ›
Discover the world's domestic real-time payment systems. Our map, based on the latest available data, gives the only at-a-glance view of the 80 countries with live RTP networks.
How big is the global real-time payments market? ›
Global Market Size, Forecast, and Trend Highlights Over 2024 - 2036. Real-Time Payments Market size was over USD 23.3 Billion in 2023 and is expected to exceed USD 1.1 Trillion by the end of 2036, growing at over 36% CAGR during the forecast period i.e., between 2024-2036.
Does the US have real-time payments? ›
Yes. TCH developed the RTP network to incorporate the 36 criteria identified by the Faster Payments Task Force as necessary for a successful U.S. real-time payment system. What rules govern use of the RTP network?
What is the most popular payment method worldwide? ›
Cards are still the most-used payment method, with American Express, Mastercard, Visa as large global card schemes. Even though they're recognized globally, other payment methods like online banking, direct debit, digital wallets, or Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) are more common elsewhere.
What is the largest payment system in the world? ›
UnionPay. UnionPay (also known as China UnionPay, CUP or UPI) is the world's biggest card network with more than 7 billion cards issued. It's a popular payment method in China, South is the world's biggest card network with more than 7 billion cards issued.
What is the global trend in real-time payments? ›
The global real-time payments market size was valued at USD 17.57 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.5% from 2023 to 2030.
Is Zelle a real-time payment? ›
Zelle appears to be an instant payment from the user perspective — and it actually is — when it uses RTP to settle transactions in real time.
What is the future of real-time payments? ›
The future success of real time payments will depend on how quickly and efficiently banks and financial institutions can bring about a global standardization of their RTP network ecosystem. It will also depend on the type of value added services and RTP-related benefits that customers can access.
India's fast payments systems have seen massive success - they are the biggest fast payments market with 46.8 billion fast payment transactions in 2021 alone. This success is inspiring to participants in the South African payment processing industry.
Does US Bank use RTP? ›
Grow your organization with a suite of U.S. Bank-backed payment services. As one of the first banks to initiate a real-time payment through the RTP network, we've built a highly scalable payments infrastructure from the ground up.
Which is the best real time payment system in the world? ›
UPI has made India the world's #1 real-time payments market.
How big is the US real-time payments volume? ›
The annual report, now in its fifth year, said that the U.S. had 3.5 billion real-time transactions in 2023, a 25% increase from 2.8 billion the previous year. Worldwide, there were about 266 billion such transactions globally last year, representing a 42% increase year-over-year, the report said.
How many countries does global payments operate in? ›
We have local sales and operational support on the ground in 41 countries. And work virtually in over 100.
Which country has the highest real wages? ›
Data and Key Takeaways
All figures are as of 2022. 🇺🇸 U.S. From this dataset we can see that Luxembourg, the U.S., and Switzerland offer the highest average annual salaries.
Which country has the most cash payments? ›
Where Cash is King (For Now)
| Country | Share of POS Transaction Value |
|---|
| Philippines | 44% |
| Japan | 41% |
| Mexico | 38% |
| Spain | 38% |
36 more rowsJun 26, 2024
China had the highest positive current account balance of the 19 countries that are members of the G20, reaching over 400 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.
Which is the largest payment system in the world? ›
UnionPay. UnionPay (also known as China UnionPay, CUP or UPI) is the world's biggest card network with more than 7 billion cards issued. It's a popular payment method in China, South is the world's biggest card network with more than 7 billion cards issued.
