Payments at the Speed of Payees

While it’s true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; when it comes to payments using a digital wallet platform, speed is in the hands of the (account) holder.  

A recent report from FXC Intelligence about advances in payment technologies that have raised expectations of money transfer speeds, detailing how cross-border payments move in different parts of the world. They note that transfer speeds vary both by payment channel and by type of payment provider.  And it’s interesting to note how payment speeds vary regionally – largely due to preferences in payment methods.  

Bank transfers using legacy systems often necessitate longer transfer times, with many banks still needing to settee the next working day at best.  And areas where the banking infrastructure is not as well entrenched, alternate payment methods with faster speeds are often the norm. 

Unsurprising to us, but apparently surprising to many is that cash often isn’t a slow option for money transfers.  Why?  FXC attributes this to remittance providers that can often transfer cash payments through their own systems. And “that cash has become faster and ‘digitized’, allowing pay-outs to be provided instantly by many providers in many corridors.  The key is digitization.  

Digital payment platforms enjoy these same benefits of digitization.  Using APIs, developers can control the flow of direct payments bypassing the digital wallet to send  payment via one or more pre-selected channels: direct bank deposit, virtual prepaid card or digital gift card.  Direct deposits are made via ACH and generally take 1-3 days.  Better yet, is using digital wallets to handle the transfer. 

Digital wallets both improve speed and provide payee choice.  Wallet-to-wallet transfers are instantaneous for both domestic and cross-border payments, offering the ability to both transfer and exchange funds between accounts with multi-currency digital wallets.  Thus, they can operate in virtually any region while offering payees instant access to their funds in their local currency and the choice of how to receive payment.   

Thus the recipient now has control over the speed of final receipt:   

Deposit to Bank Account    Generally 1-3 days via ACH, IACH or wire transfer

Rapid Bank Transfer* Instant deposit to prepaid debit connected to bank account

Virtual Prepaid Immediately available for use on any e-commerce site 

Digital gift card   Immediately available for use online 

Plastic Prepaid  Same day/next day plus shipping time via USPS (3-10  days) 

Paper Check*   Same day/next day plus shipping time via USPS (3-10  days) 

With payment speed now largely within their control, perhaps that's a key reason why payees strongly prefer choice and are even willing to pay for it. 

For more information on payment choices and payment speed, please reach out and let us know how we can help you improve payment speed and choice for your partners and customers. 

*US only