Many financial institutions are turning toward funding agents to manage their position within The Clearing House (TCH) RTP® network funding account. This funding account allows TCH to clear and settle the transaction at the same time that the actual transaction is being made from member to member. Funding agents provide financial institutions with the liquidity needed on weekends and holidays, ensuring their account has an adequate balance.

In this Callahan hosted webinar, Toby Thomas, VP, Product Marketing Strategist at Corporate One FCU, and Mark Majeske, Senior Vice President Faster Payments at Alacriti, cover what credit unions should know about using funding agents to connect to real-time payment rails.

Credit unions will learn:

As real-time payments gain popularity in the market, fraud prevention is a top consideration for financial institutions. Systems used for ACH or wire payments have time to consider the transaction before decisioning, while real-time payments allow only seconds. However, real-time payments can sometimes be a financial institution’s first foray into 24/7 transactions. A question of utmost importance is, does the current enterprise fraud system effectively handle real-time payments, or is it leaving these transactions unprotected?

In this PaymentsJournal hosted webinar, Brian Riley, Director, Credit Advisory Service at Mercator and Mark Majeske, Senior Vice President, Faster Payments at Alacriti discuss how fraud prevention measures need to be augmented to handle instant payments with a focus on:

• The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Best practices for consumer education
• Leveraging data
• What financial institutions can do to prevent fraud before it gets to their system
• How it’s possible to respond in real-time

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Real-time payments are here. So what are the next steps? It’s time to strategize how to maximize revenue and provide accountholders with the best experience possible. In addition, as financial institutions adopt real-time payments, there are a few elements to consider as they move forward.

In this Bank Automation News hosted webinar, Gareth Lodge, Senior Analyst, Global Payments at Celent, and Mark Majeske, Senior Vice President, Faster Payments at Alacriti discuss:

• How to unlock multiple revenue opportunities leveraging use cases
• Where real-time payments are in the U.S.—and why banks and credit unions need to move quickly
• The lessons learned from around the world and the early movers in the U.S. to ensure success
• And how three things often perceived as barriers—fraud, funding, and the user experience—are both easy to fix and potentially differentiators if you get it right

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As financial institutions continue to connect to the RTP® network, The Clearing House continues to make strides toward modernization and innovation. In the first half of 2022 alone, they launched a pilot for immediate cross-border payments, added a new tokenization capability, and raised the RTP limit to $1m.

In this Credit Union Times hosted webinar, Keith Gray, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at The Clearing House, and Mark Majeske, SVP of Faster Payments at Alacriti discussed what’s to come with the RTP network, including:

• What new features and functionality will be available on the TCH RTP network
• Insight into the cross-border real-time payments pilot
• How to integrate real-time payments into your current interface
• Moving to Send and productization—fraud prevention, Document Exchange, funding agents, Request for Payment, tokenization, etc.

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The FedNow Service is a new instant payment service that the Federal Reserve Banks are developing to enable financial institutions of every size and in every community across the U.S., to provide safe and efficient instant payment services in real-time, 24/7/365. Many credit unions have opted to wait on the FedNow Service before embracing real-time payments. With the upcoming launch in 2023, there are certainly a lot of questions surrounding the FedNow Service.

In this CUInsight hosted webinar, credit unions had the opportunity to hear directly from FedNow and ask any questions they had. Joni Hopkins, Vice President, Product and Relationship Management Group at Federal Reserve Financial Services, and Mark Majeske, SVP Faster Payments at Alacriti, discussed:

• An overall update from the Federal Reserve
• Features and functionality of the FedNow Service
• Details on anticipated FedNow Service pricing
• Results of the pilot program
• The lifecycle of a payment over the FedNow Service from start to finish
• How to prepare your credit union for faster payments
• How to connect based on payment solutions your credit union plans to offer

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Consumers and businesses want instant gratification and the ability to move money in just minutes. From payroll to P2P to insurance benefits, demand is rising for instant disbursement. However, there are pain points in the current money movement ecosystem, and to address them, financial institutions need a payments strategy that addresses the dramatic rise in faster payments. Visa Direct is an option that extends the reach of the availability of faster payments—both geographically and in volume—filling in the gaps for those who need it most.

In this Banking Exchange hosted webinar, Jaspreet Singh, Head of A2A/P2P Commercialization, Visa Direct at Visa Direct, and Al Griffin, Product Manager at Alacriti, discussed:

• Market insights and trends around money movement
• Consumer preferences and expectations
• Visa Direct platform and its adoption in marketplace
• Domestic and cross-border use cases
• What’s coming next

The payments ecosystem is in a state of evolution, with the U.S. moving to adopt faster and real-time payments en masse. To compete with challenger banks and neobanks, banks and credit unions need to deliver tomorrow’s experiences, today with faster payment solutions delivered by scalable RTP technology. But how can financial institutions constrained by inflexible legacy platforms compete?

In this webinar, Jim Marous, Co-Publisher, at The Financial Brand and Al Griffin, Principal Solutions Consultant at Alacriti tackle the tough questions surrounding payments modernization and orchestration, why some financial institutions are lagging behind challenger banks and neobanks, and how they can position themselves to compete in the payments landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• What ‘payments modernization’ really means today
• What challenger banks and neobanks are doing right
• What do legacy financial institutions need to do today to deliver modern payment solutions

Since its launch over four years ago, The Clearing House’s RTP® network has been changing the landscape of faster payments here in the U.S. More banks and credit unions join the network on a weekly basis, with new applications and use cases launching and driving increasing transaction volume. The Request for Payment (RfP) capability is enabling a range of new use cases and opportunities for financial institutions to provide expanding services to their customers.

In an American Banker hosted webinar, speakers from The Clearing House, and Alacriti, discussed the new application possibilities, how your institution can take advantage of it, and more:

• The growth of RTP
• The value of RfP to consumers, billers, and financial institutions
• What financial institutions need to do to ready themselves for the origination of an RfP
• What to expect when moving to receive only to origination with support of RfP
• The potential implications of the launch of RfP across the participants across the RTP network

Credit unions have had to make the difficult decision of offering the benefits of real-time payments right away with either the TCH RTP® network—or waiting for the FedNow^SM Service. With the FedNow Service on track to go live in 2023, much of the wait is over. So which one is better? Or should credit unions embrace both networks?

In this NACUSO hosted webinar, Erika Baumann, Sr. Analyst for Aite-Novarica, and Al Griffin, Product Manager at Alacriti, discuss how the FedNow Service and the RTP network should fit into your payments strategy, focusing on:

• Which path credit unions should take, the FedNow Service or RTP
• What real-time payments mean for member satisfaction
• What processes need to change for those going beyond receive-only
• How the payments rail you choose affects your members
• Use cases for RfP and what it does for your small businesses
• What it takes to connect to the RTP network or the FedNow Service

Generation Z, born between 1997-2012, is the generation after millennials. If financial institutions want to sustain their success to the end of this decade, they need this generation to be a sizable part of their consumer base. But Zoomers are just getting started—many are still in college, and most are new to the banking industry—all amid the chaos of the pandemic. This is the time to start reaching out to them, but how can traditional institutions stand out from challenger banks with this critical generation?

In this Banking Exchange hosted webinar, Paul Letgutko, Senior Principal at Aite-Novarica, Katerin Gomez, Marketing Associate at Alacriti (and also a Zoomer), and Kristen Jason, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Alacriti discuss:

• How the role of the branch, call center, and the app are different for Zoomers
• The value of financial advice and expertise for Zoomers
• The importance of communicating the brand message to Zoomers
• The pandemic’s effect on Zoomer attitudes and trends
• What cancel culture means for your relationship with Zoomers

In this webinar, Celent and Alacriti discuss what 2022 has in store for payments – and it’s a lot! Financial institutions have plenty to focus on, from changes in consumers’ payment habits to addressing the issues they had prior to the beginning of the pandemic, and not least the need to modernize their payment solutions to support new payment methods and rails. Two themes, in particular, are being discussed at every bank – cloud and real-time payments. With FedNow round the corner, the move to ISO20022 for wires getting ever closer, and Zelle well and truly here, the presentation will focus on how banks should approach this once in a lifetime opportunity to be at the forefront of change.

• How Covid-19 has impacted payments in U.S. banks
• What happened in 2021, and what it means for 2022 and 2023
• How real-time payments and RfP will come of age in 2022
• How with the impending FedWire cut-over, payments modernization is now no longer a nice to have, but a critical business risk
• What actions banks should be taking today to ensure they meet the deadlines

Businesses are becoming more aware of how to use payments as a market differentiator and subsequently recognizing when their financial institution is not able to help them keep up with the industry, particularly direct competitors. As part of this, payments are shifting not only from checks to electronic payments but from electronic payments to MORE electronic payments.

In this Credit Union Times hosted webinar, Aite-Novarica Group and Alacriti discuss:

• • Recent Aite-Novarica corporate research on small business adoption of electronic and faster payments
  • How credit unions can gain market share by educating small business clients on how to use payments technology
  • The potential opportunity cost of not modernizing to keep up with market demand
  • Recommendations on what credit unions can do to optimize their electronic payments

As 2021 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the year and what we can expect in 2022 for payments. COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation and impacted (and still is) the payments industry tremendously. This, alongside the rise of real-time payments, means that consumers and businesses continue to experience a great deal of change in how they pay and are paid.

In this webinar playback, speakers from Mercator Advisory Group and Alacriti discussed what payment trends are anticipated in 2022. The webinar also covered:

• A review of the changes caused by COVID-19 and what we can expect to continue in 2022
• What a modern payments experience looks like in other countries, and what we can expect to make it to the U.S.
• What transaction volumes for real-time payments and faster payments overall will look like
• The significance of API-driven architecture, microservices, and ISO 20022 standards
• More on digital wallets, digital banks, and frictionless payments
• Recommendations on preparing for next year

The loan payment experience for your credit union is often the first impression. When it’s done right, indirect members love the experience—leading to opening new accounts or loans as direct members. However, when it’s inefficient and cumbersome, it can lead members to look elsewhere to meet their financial service needs.

In this webinar, hosted by CUInsight, Alabama Credit Union and Alacriti will walk you through maximizing the member experience through payments transformation and discuss the benefits on the other side, including:

We are at the forefront of a major shift in how money moves within the banking and financial sectors, driven by consumer demand and technological capability. Based on recent consumer research from American Banker (Arizent), we know that consumers are looking for: faster payouts and financial transactions, low-cost/no-cost money transfers or bill payment services, and secure but easy-to-use identity authentication.

In this webinar, American Banker and Alacriti discuss results of the research report, Money Movement and the Future of Financial Services, and what financial institutions should be thinking about now, including:

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn what your customers are doing and thinking when it comes to their money, as financial institutions that fail to heed the call for speed may open the door for a rival.

The ongoing low-interest rate environment has continued to drive both interest and volume in most credit union loan portfolios. Getting the loan on your books is just the first step, but what happens once the ink dries is just as important to your institution. It’s important to ensure that your credit union’s loan portfolio is successful, and focusing on the entire lifecycle of the loan from open to payoff is key.

In this webinar hosted by CUInsight, Granite Credit Union and Alacriti talk through the entire lifecycle from opening to disbursement all the way to the final payoff and share how fintech providers can help you improve the performance of your portfolio and give you the keys to improve member experience at the same time. Speakers also covered:

Consistent, modern digital banking and payments experiences are now table stakes. Digital wallet providers, fintechs, and challenger banks can deliver intuitive, customer-centric banking experiences like embedded lending, real-time payments, and direct payroll deposit—and they are entering the market at an alarming rate. In today’s landscape, what are customers really expecting for next-level service in payments?

In this ICBA hosted webinar, Alacriti and Glia discuss payments modernization that covers:

• Market divergence in digital financial services
• What disintermediation means today
• What payments modernization means when it comes to money movement
• How RTP can better serve customers when it comes to payroll, P2P and A2A transfers, disbursements, and business
• What customers expect for true digital customer service

COVID-19 hit every corner of the world, forcing people to alter their everyday behavior. With limited day-to-day in-person interactions, the on-demand mentality of everyday consumers grew stronger. This way of thinking reached the world of payments, with apps such as Venmo and PayPal leading the charge. People began to expect immediacy when sending and receiving money.

Mercator Advisory Group researched this phenomenon further and worked with Alacriti on a survey of senior-level bankers—focusing on their latest approach to payments technology and real-time payments. In this webinar, speakers from Mercator and Alacriti discuss the report Payments Infrastructure Outlook and the following:

• How the pandemic affected payments modernization
• Where senior-level bankers stand on payments modernization technology
• How to utilize the cloud as a strategic tool
• Where revenue will come from real-time payments
• The roadmap for real-time ROI

The U.S. has come a long way in its journey to real-time payments, with TCH and Zelle in market and FedNow just around the corner. COVID-19 has accelerated the demand to move to real-time. Yet many financial institutions remain unconvinced of the need to move, with less than 3% of financial institutions signed up today.

In this Banking Exchange hosted webinar Celent’s Gareth Lodge, Senior Analyst, Global Payments, and Alacriti’s Mark Ranta, Payments Practice Lead, discuss the findings in the Celent research report, Real-Time Payments in the US Market: Speeding Up or Slowing Down?

• U.S. specific challenges for payments overall
• Why there’s been a slow start in real-time payments
• How the picture is actually better than it seems
• A real-time payment isn’t just a faster ACH—the important use cases for FIs
• Celent’s outlook for the future of payments

The majority of credit unions are already offering their members online banking and various bill pay options. There is an ever-increasing variety of payment channels, allowing credit unions to meet members where they want to be met—e.g., Facebook Messenger, Alexa, text message, etc. However, in today’s digital world, what are members really expecting for next-level service in payments?

In this webinar hosted by Credit Union Times, speakers from Alacriti and Glia discuss:

• Disruptors in the banking landscape
• What payments modernization means when it comes to member service, bill pay, and payments
• How RTP can better serve members when it comes to payroll, P2P and A2A transfers, disbursements, and business
• Beyond online banking—what true digital member service really means