Citizens Commercial Banking: Businesses Nearly Unanimous That Shift to Real-Time Payments Will Transform Commerce

Soon you’ll be able to forget about balancing your checkbook – or even
having a checkbook – according to new research by Citizens Commercial
Banking.

According to the bank’s Real-Time Payments Outlook, 90 percent of
businesses expect real-time payments, the super-fast, new standard in
U.S. billing and payment processing that is currently being deployed, to
dramatically transform the way business is done. Nearly two-thirds said
real-time payments, the biggest upgrade to the U.S. payments system
since the Automated Clearing House (ACH) in 1974, will likely mean the
end of cash and check payments and will usher in a new era of instant
transactions, while vastly improving business cash flow.

“Real-time payments is the most sweeping change to the U.S. payment
system since the 1970s and businesses see this as a crucial opportunity
to modernize their payment practices,” said Michael Cummins, Head of
Treasury Solutions at Citizens. “There are tremendous advantages in
terms of speed and certainty of payments. Cash flow predictability and
payment reconciliation will also be greatly improved. It will be
absolutely transformative.”

The Citizens survey found that more than 75 percent of businesses still
make or accept payments using paper checks and more than 45 percent
still make or accept some payments in cash, highlighting the scope of
the potential transformation.

Under the current payment model, it usually takes a day or more for
checks to clear and money to move from one account to another. In
contrast, payments can be made electronically by a customer through the
real-time payments network and the funds instantaneously move from one
account to another. Information about the transaction also travels with
the funds, so recipients know where the money is coming from and why.

Other key findings include:

• The real-time payments network is gaining momentum, with 41 percent of
  businesses saying they are currently discussing it with their banks or
  implementing it.
• In addition to replacing check and cash payments, 60 percent of
  businesses said the new network would improve collection activity and
  posting to clients’ accounts. Fifty-nine percent of businesses said
  real-time payments would help them manage cash flow more effectively.
• Eighty-two percent of businesses said real-time payments solves for
  many of the problems with the current payment options, such as the gap
  in time between making or receiving a payment and when the funds
  clear. They also noted the real-time payments network’s ability to
  reduce fraud, include payment data with the payment and automate
  payments more easily.

For more information about real-time payments or this survey, please go here.
The survey of decision-makers at more than 150 companies nationwide
sampled a range of businesses in different sectors with annual revenue
of $10 million to $100 million (37%); $100 million to $500 million
(25%); and more than $500 million (38%). It was conducted in March and
April of 2019.

Citizens is a trusted strategic and financial adviser, consistently
delivering clear and objective advice. The Citizens Commercial Banking
approach puts clients first by offering great ideas combined with
thorough market knowledge and excellent execution, to help our clients
enhance their business and reach their potential. For more information,
please visit the Citizens
Commercial Banking website.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens
Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest
financial institutions, with $161.3 billion in assets as of March 31,
2019. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad
range of retail and commercial banking products and services to
individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large
corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their
potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order
to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking,
Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and
online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of
approximately 2,900 ATMs and approximately 1,100 branches in 11 states
in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking
products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings,
wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking,
Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a
full range of wholesale banking products and services, including lending
and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and
interest rate products, and asset finance. More information is available
at www.citizensbank.com or
visit us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

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