First New Core Payments System in the U.S. in more than 40 Years Initiates First Live Payments

NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, The Clearing House (TCH) launched RTP®, its real-time payments system, the first new core payments infrastructure in the U.S. in more than 40 years.  The new RTP system was designed and built through the collaborative effort of TCH's 25 owner banks and meets the objectives of the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force. RTP is open to all U.S depository institutions with a goal of reaching ubiquity by 2020.

The first ever real-time payment on the system was initiated between BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank yesterday evening. They will be very shortly followed by Citi, J.P. Morgan, PNC and SunTrust, who together represent the Industry's earliest adopters of RTP.

"As an industry, RTP positions us like never before to meet the evolving needs of our customers and commercial clients," said William S. Demchak, PNC's chairman, president and chief executive officer and chairman of The Clearing House's Supervisory Board. "At a time when our clients are asking for the ability to conduct their business with greater speed, efficiency and security, RTP will make everyday financial tasks such as paying bills, issuing invoices, making payroll or settling insurance claims faster, safer and more satisfying for businesses and consumers across the country."

"We're excited to complete the first ever bank-to-bank payment using the new RTP system," said Andy Cecere, President and CEO of U.S. Bank.  "In a marketplace where banking services are changing dramatically, our clients trust us to provide them with faster, smarter payments solutions."

"RTP is one of the most important payment transformation efforts in our industry. It goes far beyond helping financial institutions address the legacy challenges of payment processing in the US (speed, transparency, cost) and improving the client experience. Bringing online a truly real time, two way, 24x7 payment and messaging system will create new scenarios and entire new markets in ways we have not even anticipated," said Ian Stewart, CEO of BNY Mellon Treasury Services.

"RTP has the potential to revolutionize the way payments are made in the U.S.," said Jim Aramanda, CEO of The Clearing House.  "Our RTP system was designed from the ground up to be fast, safe, and a platform for innovation that enables banks and credit unions to build products that are more responsive to their customers' needs."

RTP is open to all U.S depository institutions. Similar to Wires and ACH, RTP will become part of the core industry infrastructure with the potential to support many use cases and underpin financial institutions' client-facing services.  TCH is working with a wide array of industry stakeholders, including community banks, credit unions, and financial institution service providers, to drive RTP adoption.

As the first payments system to be built in the U.S. since the birth of the internet, RTP is designed to support not only the transfer of funds but also the ability to both request payments and provide critical information about a payment to efficiently deal with back office reconciliation issues. Through this design, developed using technology from Vocalink, a Mastercard company, RTP will support more seamless and efficient e-invoicing, bill pay, insurance claim payments, cash on delivery payments and more.  RTP also provides transparency and certainty with immediate confirmation notices that payments have been sent and received and instantaneously settled.  Confirmations provide businesses the ability to free up working capital by more precisely managing cash flow and make life less stressful for consumers on tight budgets. Recognizing the fact that it is impossible to predict future demands, RTP was built with a flexible design enabling it to support innovative solutions currently unimagined. 

About BNY Mellon Treasury Services.
With locations on six continents and an extensive network of correspondent financial institutions, BNY Mellon's Treasury Services group delivers high-quality performance in global payments, trade services and cash management. It helps clients optimize cash flow, manage liquidity and make payments more efficiently around the world in more than 100 countries. Processing payment transactions in over 120 currencies, the company is a top-five participant in both the CHIPS and overall funds transfer markets. The company is also a recognized leader in the delivery of private-label treasury services solutions for banks and other large institutional clients.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of Sept. 30, 2017, BNY Mellon had $32.2 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.8 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.

About Citi.
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

About J.P. Morgan's Corporate & Investment Bank
J.P. Morgan's Corporate & Investment Bank is a global leader across banking, markets and investor services. The world's most important corporations, governments and institutions entrust us with their business in more than 100 countries. With $22.7 trillion of assets under custody and $421.6 billion in deposits, the Corporate & Investment Bank provides strategic advice, raises capital, manages risk and extends liquidity in markets around the world.  Further information about J.P. Morgan is available at www.jpmorgan.com.

About PNC
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.

About SunTrust Banks, Inc.
SunTrust Banks, Inc. is a purpose-driven company dedicated to Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being for the people, businesses, and communities it serves. Headquartered in Atlanta, the Company has two business segments: Consumer and Wholesale. Its flagship subsidiary, SunTrust Bank, operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states, along with 24-hour digital access. Certain business lines serve consumer, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients nationally. As of September 30, 2017, SunTrust had total assets of $208 billion and total deposits of $163 billion. The Company provides deposit, credit, trust, investment, mortgage, asset management, securities brokerage, and capital market services. SunTrust leads onUp, a national movement inspiring Americans to build financial confidence. Join the movement at onUp.com.

About The Clearing House
The Clearing House is a banking association and payments company that is owned by the largest commercial banks and dates back to 1853.  The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. owns and operates core payments system infrastructure in the United States and is currently working to modernize that infrastructure by launching a new, ubiquitous, real-time payment system.  The Payments Company is the only private-sector ACH and wire operator in the United States, clearing and settling nearly $2 trillion in U.S. dollar payments each day, representing half of all commercial ACH and wire volume.  Its affiliate, The Clearing House Association L.L.C., is a nonpartisan organization that engages in research, analysis, advocacy and litigation focused on financial regulation that supports a safe, sound and competitive banking system. 

About U.S. Bank
Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $459 billion in assets as of September 30, 2017, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,072 banking offices in 25 states and 4,801 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.

About Vocalink
A Mastercard company, Vocalink designs, builds and operates industry-leading bank account-based payment systems. Our technologies power the UK's real-time payments, settlements and direct debit systems, as well as the UK's network of over 70,000 ATMs. In 2016, we processed over 90 percent of salaries, more than 70 percent of household bills and almost all state benefits in the UK. In addition, our proven real-time bank account-based payment solutions provide more payment choice to customers in Singapore, Thailand and, soon, the United States. For payment news and insight from Vocalink visit CONNECT - http://connect.Vocalink.com/

SOURCE The Clearing House