TCH Reports RTP Network Has Topped Half a Billion Instant Payments

The Clearing House (TCH) has reported that its RTP instant payments network surpassed the 500 million payment milestone on Saturday (July 22). The RTP network has been providing instant payments to millions of consumers and businesses for more than five years, TCH noted.

The RTP network is available to all insured banks and credit unions in the United States and has seen steadily increasing volume, The Clearing House (TCH) said in a press release. Transactions on the RTP network in Q2 2023 came to 58 million for $29 billion, up from 41 million transactions for $18 billion in Q2 2022. TCH said more than 350 RTP Network Participating Financial Institutions are providing real-time payments on the RTP network to their customers and members.

Network growth among banks, credit unions and businesses has led to the increasing volume on the RTP network, according to the press release. The Clearing House reported that 150,000 businesses are now sending payments over the RTP network, a 50% increase since December 2022. More than 3 million consumers each month are sending account-to-account (A2A) payments and Zelle® payments that clear and settle over the RTP network.

The Clearing House notes that 90% of the financial institutions on the RTP network are community banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets and the RTP network currently reaches 65% of U.S. DDAs.

“As more banks and credit unions join the RTP network, their customers and members are experiencing the benefits of real-time payments,” Rusiru Gunasena, senior vice president of RTP Product Management at The Clearing House, said in the release. “Surpassing 500 million RTP payments signifies the accelerating growth and demand on the RTP network.”

In a recent column, PYMNTS’ Karen Webster commented on the competition in the real-time payments space introduced by last week’s launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow real-time payments service, analyzing the market with her triple clock theory to predict how these entrants will make moves in the future. As PYMNTS noted, generating demand for the service will continue to be essential for The Clearing House and FedNow.