My last post mentioned that I was on a panel at International Payments Summit talking about real time payments. The topic is one that has cropped up many times recently in analyst inquiry calls in the last few months. With all the activity in the market, such as the decision in Australia to implement such [...]

In my recent report on Digital Wallets, I discussed a number of players which while still keeping their cards close to their chests, have a potential to significantly influence the payments market. One of them is Apple, which made headlines recently with their patent for cash distribution without ATMs – see Bob Meara’s excellent blog and my related [...]

Earlier this month Aptys Solutions announced the availability of same-day ACH support on its PayLogics platform primarily used by midsize banks. On about the same timing, Fiserv made known the availability later this year of a separately licensed module to its PEP+ product used by most large US banks. The enhancement is currently being pilot [...]

While attending Fiserv Analyst Day 2010 on Thursday last week, I unwarily volunteered to participate in a live demo as part of a presentation of Fiserv’s digital channels solutions. This was a bit risky since at the time, I had been an iPhone user all of twelve hours. Fiserv launched ZashPay in July 2010 and [...]

It’s certainly no news flash that US check volumes have been declining. Depending on whom you talk to 5% to 7% annual rates of decline (checks written) over the past few years seems likely. Another Federal Reserve check study is in the works this year to add precision since it has been since 2007 since [...]

NACHA and the ACH have been on a roll for most of the decade, posting impressive network transaction growth rates year after year. From 2000 through 2008, total ACH volume (network + off-network) has almost tripled from 6.9 billion to 18 billion transactions. But from our perspective, the Glory days are nearing an end. This [...]

Most everyone knows that the Federal Reserve announced recently that it would launch a same-day ACH settlement option to be available in the second quarter of 2010. The service enhancement would be offered optionally, would require opt-in, and would carry ostensibly higher pricing to the originating bank (ODFI) to compensate the RDFI for the accelerated [...]