Real-Time Payments
RTPACTIVEOperator: The Clearing House (TCH)
Overseer: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (as a designated FMU)
Legal basis: Designated as a systemically important Financial Market Utility (FMU) under Dodd-Frank Title VIII
Launched: Nov 13, 2017
Quick reference: View technical card →
Executive Summary
The RTP network is the first modern instant payment system in the United States, launched by The Clearing House in November 2017. Operated by the same private-sector consortium that runs CHIPS, RTP provides 24/7/365 real-time payment capabilities with immediate finality. It settles in commercial bank money through a joint account at the Federal Reserve pre-funded by participants. RTP reached its first trillion dollars in cumulative value in 2023.
How It Works
Settlement Model
Prefunded settlement in commercial bank money (joint account at Federal Reserve)
Message Standard
ISO 20022 (native from launch)
Max Transaction
$10,000,000
Clearing Mechanism
Direct settlement via prefunded positions — no netting. Each transaction is settled individually.
Settlement Cycle
Continuous 24/7/365. Settlement is immediate using prefunded balances. Participants must maintain sufficient prefunding in the joint account.
Message Flow
The sending participant submits a credit transfer to the RTP network. TCH validates the message and checks the sender's prefunded position. The sender's prefunded balance is debited and the receiver's balance is credited immediately. The receiving participant is notified in real time. The end-to-end process completes in seconds. Request for Payment (RFP) enables payee-initiated flows.
Typical Use Cases
Business payments, insurance payouts, gig economy payments, bill payments, account funding, request-for-payment initiated flows
Key Data
Participants & Access
Membership Requirements
Open to federally insured depository institutions. Participants must meet TCH eligibility criteria, execute participation agreements, and maintain prefunded positions. Third-party service provider access available.
Governance & Risk
Governance Model
Owned and operated by The Clearing House, which is owned by 22 major US banks. Governed by RTP Operating Rules and Participation Rules. Subject to Federal Reserve oversight as a designated FMU.
Concentration Risk
Moderate. Settlement risk mitigated by prefunding requirement. Operational concentration on TCH infrastructure. Designated as systemically important FMU.
Resilience & Business Continuity
TCH maintains redundant processing infrastructure. Prefunding model eliminates settlement failure risk. 24/7 operational monitoring.
Dispute Resolution
RTP Operating Rules govern inter-participant disputes. No chargeback mechanism — payment is final. Request for Return of Funds available but not guaranteed. Disputes handled bilaterally.
Pricing
RTP pricing includes per-transaction fees charged to the sending participant. Pricing is transparent and published.
Transaction fee: $0.045 per credit transfer (send fee)
Source: The Clearing House
Connectivity
same operator
CHIPS
Both operated by The Clearing House — complementary large-value (CHIPS) and instant (RTP) services
Peer Comparison
RTP competes directly with FedNow in the US. RTP launched first (2017 vs 2023) and has more established volumes, but FedNow's Federal Reserve backing and lower barriers to entry are driving rapid adoption. RTP settles in commercial bank money (prefunded), while FedNow settles in central bank money — a meaningful difference for risk management. Compared to SEPA Inst, RTP operates in a single country rather than across 36.
Compare in detail →Regulatory Framework
Oct 1, 2025
SEPA Instant mandatory for all EU PSPs
All EU payment service providers must be able to send and receive SEPA Instant Credit Transfers. IFR pricing rules apply — instant payments cannot cost more than standard SEPA transfers.
Intelligence (133)
NewsJul 4, 2026
RTP Network Processes $576 Billion in Q2 2026 as Daily Average Hits $6 Billion
Network participation stood at over 1,260 financial institutions as of May 2026. The quarterly figure brings the RTP network's cumulative total since its 2017 launch to 1.6 billion transactions worth more than $3 trillion.
AnalysisJun 30, 2026
Bulgaria Retires BISERA6 and Blink as Euro Adoption Shifts Payment Traffic to TARGET and TIPS
Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone on January 1, 2026 retired its domestic RTGS, batch clearing, and instant payment systems. All payment traffic now settles through the Eurosystem's T2, STEP2, and TIPS platforms.
AnalysisJun 26, 2026
Iceland's CBI RTGS Handles High-Value ISK Settlement as Instant Payments Absorb Retail Volume
Iceland signed a TIPS participation agreement in 2025. The agreement adds the Icelandic krona as the fifth currency on the Eurosystem's instant payment settlement platform from 2028.
RegulationJun 19, 2026
Fed Publishes First GENIUS Act Rulemaking as July 18 Deadline Approaches with No Final Regulations
The Federal Reserve Board joined four other agencies on June 18, 2026, to propose customer identification requirements for stablecoin issuers, marking the Fed's first GENIUS Act rulemaking. With the July 18 statutory deadline for final regulations 29 days away and no agency having published any final rule, the Act's fallback effective date of January 18, 2027 is increasingly certain.
NewsJun 19, 2026
ACI Worldwide Joins EPI to Integrate Wero Across European Merchant Base
ACI separately disclosed on June 16 that it is powering Rabobank's Wero instant payments processing in the Netherlands.
AnalysisJun 19, 2026
Belarus Mandates QR-Code Instant Payments by July 2026 as BISS Modernisation Advances
The mandate comes as BISS, the country's real-time gross settlement system, undergoes its own modernisation. The NBRB is working on BISS 2.0, a migration to ISO 20022 messaging standards, though no confirmed go-live date has been announced.
NewsJun 18, 2026
NPCI Open-Sources Drunix Distributed Ledger Platform for Enterprise Payment Infrastructure
India's National Payments Corporation released Drunix on June 17, an open-source high-performance distributed ledger built on Hyperledger Fabric, marking its second blockchain framework after Falcon and extending NPCI's role beyond payment switching into foundational infrastructure provision.
NewsJun 18, 2026
Danish Banking Community Selects EBA Clearing's STEP2 for Krone Batch Payments
STEP2 currently processes over 70 million euro-denominated SEPA transactions daily for more than 4,800 payment service providers across SEPA countries.
RegulationJun 17, 2026
Federal Preemption and Permanent Injunction Effectively Neutralize Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act
Three convergent federal actions in June 2026 have stripped the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act of nearly all practical effect. A permanent court injunction, NCUA preemption rule, and legislative postponement leave the first US state interchange fee law applicable only to Illinois-chartered financial institutions.
RegulationJun 16, 2026
Visa-Mastercard $38 Billion Interchange Settlement Clears Preliminary Approval
Visa and Mastercard will reduce average effective credit interchange rates by 10 basis points over five years. Standard consumer credit card rates are capped at 1.25 percent for eight years.
Reference Documents (2)
RTP System Operating Rules
The Clearing House · operating_rules · vEffective 01-01-2026 · Jan 1, 2026
RTP Participation Rules
The Clearing House · operating_rules · vEffective 07-21-2025 · Jul 21, 2025
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