Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
We are proud to be payments nerds – we love sharing perspectives on all things payments. The Payments Nerds podcast features expert guests who explore the most important issues, topics and trends to consider in payments today. If you are a payments nerd too, or are a little bit curious about what’s going on the payments world, just download the “Payments Nerds” podcast from The Clearing House.
Greg MacSweeney: You are listening to
Payments Nerds, a podcast where we share
perspectives on all things payments.
If you are a payments nerd too
or are a little bit curious about
what's going on in the payments
world, you are in the right place.
Let's start the show.
Hello and welcome to Payments
Nerds, where we talk about
anything that's payments related.
I'm Greg McSweeney, and I'm your host,
and this is episode 49 of the show.
If you've listened to the past few
episodes, you've realized we've been
speaking to many financial institutions
about their instant payments journey.
You know, we've seen a huge
surge in new participants on the
RTP network in the last year.
Now there are more than 1000 participants
on RTP up with 354 financial institutions
joining in the past year alone.
So it's really exciting to.
And what I find interesting is that
when we speak with different banks
and credit unions, they each have
a different story to tell about
their instant payments journey.
About, about where they started, uh,
where they are now, what they plan to do.
And they all have unique customers.
They have a unique client base,
member base with different needs,
expectations, and requirements.
So it's kind of fun to see and
it's, it's really interesting to
hear all the different stories.
One thing we hear from many financial
institutions is that when they're trying
to build their instant payments journey
and they start their instant payments
journey, is they're having a little
difficulty with the business case.
You know, how do they make instant
payments part of their product portfolio
for their members and their customers?
Trying how to quantify that.
So today we're going to continue this
discussion about instant payments, of
course use cases and business cases,
and I have two great guests today.
I'm lucky enough to have Dina Bartel,
vice President of Payment Services at
Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union.
Randolph Brooks is one of the largest
credit unions in the country, I think with
about 18 billion in assets, and Randolph
Brooks is also one of the new financial
institutions on the RTP network this year.
Dina, thanks for joining us.
Deana Bartel: Thanks for having me.
Greg MacSweeney: Great.
I also have Melissa Ashley, president, CEO
of corporate, one Federal Credit Union.
Corporate one is an early adopter of
RTP, and they've onboarded, I think more
than a hundred financial institutions
to the instant payment rails nowadays.
And I think probably
about 84, 85 on RTP alone.
So that's really nice to see.
And credit one is definitely
one of the leading partners
on the RTP network for sure.
So Melissa, thanks for joining us.
Thank
Melissa Ashley: you.
Greg MacSweeney: Happy
Melissa Ashley: to be here.
Greg MacSweeney: Great.
So let's talk about business
cases and one of the things that.
Some organizations have struggl,
they struggle with, you know, how
to quantify the need to add instant
payments that offering to your members.
Uh, and that's what we're gonna discuss.
So Dina, I'd like to start way back.
You know, when you were building
out your business case, when you
were formula relating your plan for
instant payments, what did you decide?
How did you go through that process?
What, what were some of the steps there?
Deana Bartel: Well, let me just
say it was quite the journey.
I think when we first started hearing the
buzz about faster payments many years ago.
We were very intrigued, but we really
needed to learn more about it because
to your point, we had already, uh.
Spent some time investing in the
different payment channels that are
available to consumers, and we wanted
to make sure that we were integrating
and leveraging it in the best way
possible to serve our members.
So we really took a fairly
slow approach to understanding
what instant payments were and.
We started to build that business case.
So when we, we made the
decision early on that we were
gonna break it into two parts.
We wanted to make sure that
we broke it into receive only
capability and then send capability.
I think anytime you have a new
product in market, there's a little
bit of uncertainty and we really
needed to define what those risks
were beyond the member benefits.
And so that's where we really started
early on building our business case
so that we could seek the internal.
Approvals that we needed to start
launching real-time payments.
And I think more specifically in the
business case, if you want me to kinda
jump in, what we really focused on.
So for receive only, we knew this
one was gonna be a quick win for us.
You know, it was just a better way to
bring deposits into our members accounts.
I think there's a lot of different use
cases that you can explore, but receive,
like I said, was just a, a quick win.
But we took the time to research what
others were doing and we deal detailed
that in our business case as well.
But more specifically for send,
we had to evaluate how much of
our current payment traffic might
transition to the RTP network.
And so what we did was we focused on.
For our use cases, the one time a CH
originations that we had in 2024, and
that's how we estimated the cost of
what would flow through the RTP network.
And we knew that that was estimating
high because it was unlikely
that everything was gonna go.
Through that channel, but ultimately
that gave us the numbers that we needed
to get our executive team comfortable
with the impact of the cost, because it
is a little bit more to send an an RTP
transaction versus something like an A CH.
Greg MacSweeney: Well, when you
looked at those one-time a CH
originations, what were some of the
types of transactions you were seeing?
Where did you think it RTP
would make the biggest benefit?
Deana Bartel: Well, it was interesting
because we had been tracking for a few
years, the just our member transactions
that were flowing through like Venmo and
PayPal and the different providers where
you can move money, and that's really
where we were focused in saying, how
do we get those funds back on our side
and how do we gain those transactions?
And so that's why we chose to focus
on those one time originations and.
It was interesting because you see so many
different types of transactions and it
really puts things into perspective when
you see how significant those volumes are.
Greg MacSweeney: Right.
So I guess the thought process is, you
know, if, uh, you're moving, if the
money's out in a digital wallet somewhere,
uh, it's not in in your financial
institution, you'd rather have it there
and then the members can then send that
money directly from their bank account
to their nanny to pay a bill or to.
A friend to split a dinner rather
than going to another digital app.
Deana Bartel: Absolutely.
We want to be their trusted partner
in moving money, and so that
was certainly the focus for us.
Greg MacSweeney: Great.
Well, Melissa, you know, over a hundred
onboarded onto the instant payment
rails, I'm sure this has come up
with a lot of your customers members.
How do they build their business case?
What are their stumbling blocks and
how do you help them overcome them?
Melissa Ashley: I think you're right.
The business case and building of the
business case is one of the biggest
challenges that we see with credit unions,
particularly because it is a new rail.
They haven't done this before.
It's not like you're using an
existing provider and you're just
converting to a new provider.
It's all new for the credit union.
So they are thinking about
what's the investment required?
How long does this.
Take, what's the impact to
existing payment channels?
What's the fraud implications?
So they have a lot of questions and I
think the credit unions that build the
best business case are trying to quantify
and use data to support their decisions.
So they are looking, like Dina said,
at their A CH transactions, and I think
there a lot of them are looking to
see what's the impact with the digital
wallets and how much use are the credit
union members already using the digital.
To wallets and they see the
deposit flows that exist there.
So they try to take that data and
quantify what will be the impact of
receive or send on their institution.
So that's one place where they're
definitely looking for data to quantify.
And I would say that I think most of
the credit unions see that after they
implement real-time payments, it doesn't
cannibalize existing payment channels.
They actually see more payments come.
To their credit union and it's an
additive transactions because they
tend to happen more frequently.
The other thing that they do is look at
some of the industry information, right?
The clearing house provides fraud
information, and that's been fairly low,
and so credit unions are very pleasantly
surprised to see that the fraud on the RTP
rail is lower than what they see across a
lot of other payment channels, so that's
helps them alleviate their concerns.
Around risk.
And so they combine, you know, the
internal data that they've been able
to pull together along with the kind
of the broader industry trends or
even some of the peer as they talk to
other credit unions, that peer data.
And they put all that together.
And I think they've really been able
to alleviate concerns about fraud,
figure out where they're going to
better serve their members, and.
How they're going to
increase member engagement.
And that starts to support the
longer term visions of the credit
unions to grow membership, to be
their primary financial institution.
And we see that when they put that
data together, both the internal
and external data, they build a
very compelling business case.
Greg MacSweeney: That's a great
point about the fraud rates
bring low and all the different
components of the business case.
You know, we've always, everybody likes
to hear, uh, people say faster payments
equals faster fraud, and it's not playing
out right that, that way right now.
You know are very low, Tina, the fraud
and the security and the risk compliance.
How did you work that into your
business plan and what did you
do to make sure those boxes were
checked as you built the plan?
Deana Bartel: Yeah, so we
have a two-part business case.
The first is very much focused
on that concept and the cost
that I spoke about earlier.
And then the second part is really focused
on the risk fraud and the compliance.
And so what we did was we made
sure that we included those teams.
Early on in the conversation so that
way we could try to mitigate any
concerns that they had early on.
And what we found in our evaluation is
that we already have so many robust tools
in place for other payment channels that
we knew we could leverage those tools to
ultimately mitigate the fraud and risk.
Um, I think one of the most
interesting conversations we had was
specifically with our fraud team.
And trying to not disrupt the transaction
and allow them to vet it for fraud.
And so I know we had a little bit
of back and forth in that, but
building the business case and
having those conversations ultimately
is what helped us be successful.
But it, it certainly took some time.
Greg MacSweeney: Definitely move on to it.
You know, we've talked about some of the
benefits, you know, receiving deposits,
keeping the money in their bank account
rather than at a digital wallet somewhere.
You know, and much of the talk
about instant payments has just been
about faster, you know, moving money
faster, making it more convenient,
reducing wait time, speed necessarily.
What about other benefits?
Are you seeing other benefits from instant
payments right now than just the speed?
The speed, I guess Talking point.
Deana Bartel: So as just a receiver,
currently the biggest thing that
we've seen is we really didn't have
to add any additional staffing,
and we really don't anticipate
adding staffing for send as well.
So I think that's a huge benefit for us.
So we think it'll reduce a
lot of our manual processes
that we have in place today.
But where I really see the benefit is
that this is just an opportunity for us to
gain back some of our member transactions.
Melissa kind of alluded to this earlier.
I mean, we know our members are using
different providers to move money
like Venmo, and we want our members
to come to us as the primary financial
institution so that they have a safe
and reliable place to hold their funds.
And I think the member benefit
is really going to be the most
important factor for R-B-F-C-U.
Greg MacSweeney: That's interesting.
You didn't have to add
any staff for Right.
A new payments rail, right?
Yep.
A new way to send money and receive money.
And no, no staff.
Deana Bartel: No staff.
So far we've been very fortunate.
We haven't been asked to
potentially send funds back, which
we know we're not required to do.
But as a credit union, we're always
trying to work with one another
and to achieve the best experience.
But fingers crossed, it stays
that way where we don't have to
add a staffing for this rail.
Greg MacSweeney: Melissa, I'll give
you the, the same type of question,
you know, what are the other benefits
you're seeing And also, you know, are
you seeing this at some of your members?
Who are you not having to add staff?
Is that common or is
that, uh, an exception?
Melissa Ashley: I think that it does
provide operational efficiencies.
I think that compared to some of the
other payment rails, when there's
a lot of day two work, that's been
the biggest differentiator with the
immediate payments is the transactions
either occur or they don't.
If there's bad account information, bad
instructions, the payment doesn't ha.
The money isn't there
for the consumer to send.
It doesn't go.
So it does provide huge
operational efficiencies, I think,
on the back end to have those
transactions move so seamlessly.
And we've definitely seen that.
I think the other thing
that we've seen is a.
On the implementation side, we have
credit unions pull together huge
teams initially, and I've heard
this from a lot of credit unions.
They're pulling together all
kinds of folks to get involved
in the implementation process,
and we've really tried to make
it as streamlined as possible.
And so by the time they get
through a couple of meetings.
People are peeling off and figuring out
there's really a core group that have
to do the implementation and it's not
as difficult as they initially think.
And so we've definitely seen a couple
areas where credit unions are very
pleasantly surprised that it, it's not
as big of a challenge as they thought.
Greg MacSweeney: It's not an not an all
hands on deck implementation process.
Melissa Ashley: It doesn't have to be no.
Greg MacSweeney: The implementation
process for receive, is that
kind of what you went through and
experience at at Randolph Brooks?
Deana Bartel: Yes, absolutely.
We had a very seamless implementation
for receive only, and yes, everybody
in the credit union from all different
areas of the credit union wanted to
be involved because nobody really
knew what the implementation was
gonna entail, and we were able to.
People were able to get back to
their normal day-to-day jobs because
we really just didn't need the
resources because it was that easy.
Greg MacSweeney: Interesting.
So you joined, uh, Randol
Brooks joined in January, right?
Is that correct?
Yes.
Yeah.
So RTP in January and then,
uh, fed now in March, right?
That's correct.
So what are the initial results?
What are you seeing, uh, in terms of your
volume coming in from RTP and the, you
know, volume deposits, that sort of thing?
Deana Bartel: So the RTP network.
Was really exciting for us because we saw
our first transaction within four seconds
and I just thought, wow, that is so cool.
We went live right at 8:00 AM and that
first transaction was coming in, and
so I thought that was, that really, I
think, proves the point that it really
is real time and that was fun to see.
I would say like in our first day,
just tracking on the RTP network from
8:00 AM to like around 5:30 PM we
accepted over 359 transactions with
over $180,000 in dollar volume, and
I thought that was pretty significant
just from a receive only perspective.
But then when we've been monitoring
the transactions since January through
the end of June, we've accepted over
273,000 transactions on that rail
with over $120 million in volume.
So I think that volume really
speaks for itself, especially
from a deposit perspective.
So we continue to see the volumes grow
and we'll continue to monitor it as well.
Fenna wasn't quite as significant, but
I think we'll see that grow as well.
Greg MacSweeney: And you know, I don't
know if you have this information or if
it's possible to figure it out that 120
million, are those, are they coming from
a CH or wire or are they net new deposits?
You know, how would you categorize those?
Deana Bartel: A lot of our top
originators that we're seeing on the
RTP network is coming from Square,
Venmo, PayPal, even, um, money Lion.
So.
It's exciting for me to see that
maybe we're starting to steal
some of those funds back from
some of those other providers.
But we will down the road, start to
explore the opportunity of how do we
pull our wires down the RTP network.
So I wouldn't say we're, we're seeing
that just yet, but I think your PayPal's
your Venmos, they better watch out
'cause we're coming for that volume.
Greg MacSweeney: Exactly.
Any other kind of types
of use cases there?
You mentioned the PayPal and
the Venmo, the digital wallets.
The money line, which I guess
are consumer loans, possibly.
Any other kind of things standing
out in terms of use cases?
Deana Bartel: No, those have been the
primary ones that we've seen and then
we've tried to track it regularly just
to see if there's any fluctuation, but
those are still our top places that
we're receiving transactions from.
Greg MacSweeney: Fantastic.
Melissa, is that track with what you're
seeing with your, your other over a
hundred members that are on board?
Melissa Ashley: It does, like you said.
Just in 2025, we connected
20 credit unions, and so that
brings our total almost to 90
credit unions on the RTP network.
We got third and more in the
pipeline, so one in four credit
unions on the RTP network have been
connected through corporate one.
So we do see, just reinforcing a
little bit about what Dina said.
Credit unions are so excited to see
that when they go live on the rail, it's
seconds, minutes, if not seconds, that
they see the transactions start coming in.
And this is often without announcing
that they're on the RTP rail.
They don't make a member communication
or a member announcement.
So the member start utilizing
this functionality just in
their regular interaction with.
The financial ecosystem, and you're right,
the top senders, Venmo Square, PayPal,
daily Pay, so the earned wages, we see
transactions come in from the gig economy.
Those are some of the major use cases.
We saw an increase in tax return
activity this year from the credit unions
that we've brought online and seeing
their members get their tax refunds
from their maybe tax preparer earlier
than they would have from the IRS.
So a lot of use cases
from that standpoint.
The credit unions are, like Dina
said, so excited to just see the
transactions happen so quickly.
They do see that there's almost 25% of
the transactions occur on the weekend, so
a lot of member engagement on off hours.
Over 55% of the transactions
come after hours.
So outside of the normal, you
know, nine to five business hours.
So they really are excited that
they're meeting the members' needs
from an engagement standpoint.
In those times that.
You know, they wouldn't have typically
been able to serve those members in that
way on the weekends and the evenings.
So that's a lot of what we're seeing.
And like I said, that people are
just so interested to see that
it really is real time and that
transactions can happen that quickly.
Greg MacSweeney: Yeah.
The, the off hours, the, the late
nights, the, you know, after normal
business hours, I think RTP is tracking
about 48% of the volume is weekends,
holidays, 10 o'clock at night.
When you're paying your bills,
you just wanna do it then.
You wanna receive that money
from your digital wallet, you
know, at the point in time.
Interesting.
Dina, have, have you received any direct
feedback from either your consumers
or or business customers about this?
Have they come and say,
wow, this is fantastic?
Deana Bartel: Not yet.
Since we're only receiving, I think
we'll see it when we get to send,
just because when the member is able
to go into their online or mobile
banking and make that decision to
get it there now, I think that's when
they're gonna get excited about it.
I mentioned this earlier, but it really
does give us that huge opportunity to
continue to build trust with our members.
And you know, we see them paying to send
money in real time with other providers.
So I think we have a huge opportunity
'cause we're not gonna charge
for that to again, gain back
some of that transaction volume.
And I think our members are
gonna be really excited to
see it once we get to send.
Greg MacSweeney: That That's right.
Yeah.
Mean that that kind of tracks
what, what we hear from other
banks and credit unions too.
You know, when they're just doing
receive, they don't hear like, oh this
is great 'cause customers are just
using it and it works and fantastic.
That's when the send starts happening.
That's getting direct feedback.
I dunno, Melissa, if you
have any insights there.
Melissa Ashley: Yeah, I think,
you know, like you said.
It just kind of happens through
the financial ecosystem.
I don't think the consumers necessarily
know that they're on a different rail.
They just have this great experience
and I think that as consumers start
to see that more and more and get that
experience, they're gonna want that.
The businesses are a little more.
Informed about which payment rail
they're using at any given time.
And I do think the businesses as
they are able to better manage their
cash through immediate payments, are
gonna demand that their financial
institution have this capability.
So that's the feedback that we
get, is that once folks experience
it, they want more of it.
It's more convenient.
Greg MacSweeney: I think
that's a great point.
It's very hard to explain what it is.
Because they think a CH is fast.
I get my money through Zelle
the same day, kind of sorta.
Many of us know on the back end, you,
the money's coming the following day.
But you know, the, the banks and
credit unions are sometimes upfronting
that money, but when they actually
do experience it, you know, they're
like, oh wow, I get that now.
I want this all the time.
That's kind of the change in
mindset that's gonna be coming
over time I think as well.
I wanna go back to this talk a little
bit of the technical implementation.
You didn't have to have any
staff members, so that's good.
Well, were there any hiccups?
What were their concerns or problems
you had during implementation?
Nina?
Deana Bartel: Well, I wish I had
some big elaborate story for you,
but I'm gonna be very boring.
Receive only implementation.
You know, we chose to partner with
corporate one as our third party
service provider, and it really
was just such a seamless launch.
We had a couple of challenges, but
most of that was related to changes we
needed to make within our core system.
Nothing specific to the RTP
network or the Fed Now network or
really, you know, to corporate one.
So it was really easy.
Greg MacSweeney: Melissa,
what about on your.
What are some of the common
challenges that credit unions
have to work through when they're
joining instant payment rails?
Melissa Ashley: Well, I'm thrilled to
hear that Dina's experience was that good?
That's what we're going for, right?
We are a certified third party
service provider, so we've prided
ourselves on trying to make the
connection as simple as possible.
We've partnered with nine cores across
the industry, so really helping to
work with those cores ahead of time to
make it easier for the credit unions.
The technical connections is.
Certainly a concern when credit unions
start to think about immediate payments,
but we try to alleviate that with a
lot of options for the connectivity.
We work with them one-on-one to
figure out what's the right way to
connect into their infrastructure.
Some credit unions run
their core in-house.
Some of them run 'em in a data center.
Some of them run them as a
collaboration with other credit unions.
So we have multiple ways to connect them.
And then we have our core agnostic,
API, flexible system to help them
actually receive the payment messages.
And again, working with the cores ahead
of time, trying to work out all of those
kinks to make it as seamless as possible.
We've been able, if we have a
pre-existing core, and like I said,
we work with nine cores across.
The industry, which cover about 50%
of the credit unions, we can get
implementation down to 45 to 60 days.
If we can get, you know, the right
people involved and the right core,
we can do it pretty seamlessly.
So credit unions have been very pleased
with how easy, and I often do hear
from credit unions, this was one of the
easiest implementations that we've done.
So that receive side.
You know, I think through just
creating a more, like I said, the
implementation playbooks a more
streamlined, consistent process.
It helps get over a lot of
those hurdles for credit unions.
Greg MacSweeney: Fantastic.
So I wanna move on to the next
topic of spending capabilities.
You know, what we've seen on the
RTP network, especially in the
last year, 18 months, that the gap
between when an organization joins
as a receive only to when they.
Send is shorter and sometimes they're
doing both at the same time, but a few
months, maybe six months, eight months.
Let's talk about Randolph Brooks, uh, and
your move to adding send capabilities.
Where are you with that and how did you
build a business case for, for send?
Deana Bartel: Yes.
So as I mentioned earlier, we
built a separate business case
for the send capability and we
started that process probably.
Midyear last year, and we had to
take it to committees and again,
get buy-in from our executive team.
So I would say from a send perspective,
it was really focused on the cost and
the risk of those transactions when we
started building that business case.
We had to go back to committee a few times
and it was for very good questions that
were coming from our executive team and
I, it was very nice to see how thoughtful
as an organization we were being in
approaching this new ability, right,
and being able to send in real time.
So I think everyone agreed
across the board that it was
a must have member benefit.
But again, it really boiled
down to that cost and mitigating
the fraud and the risk.
So without speaking too specifically
with pricing, you know, we had that
increase in a, from going from an
a CH transaction to a real time.
And once we identified that the
potential volume that I spoke about
earlier, it really put everything
into perspective and allowed us to
get the approvals that we needed.
I would've loved to us to already be on
Send, but I think most organizations run
into this challenge where we have a lot
of really cool things being worked on,
and so it's also reliant on resources
being available for those implementations.
And we should be kicking off
our send project here and this
month sometime, so we're excited
to see that come to fruition.
Greg MacSweeney: What were some
of the technical things you
had to work through for Send?
What are some of the additional things
you had to put in place for offering Send?
Deana Bartel: One of the things that
we are working with corporate one
on is just connecting to some of our
different providers to ensure that we're
seeing all those transactions and we're
evaluating them as they're coming in.
And so that's something we're
working behind the scenes on.
But other than that, we already had.
All of our tools that we wanted from a
fraud and risk perspective implemented
in our online and mobile banking.
And so we chose to leverage those
tools that were available to us and
we'll continue to monitor and look for
different opportunities to continue to
mitigate any risk that we see pop up.
But I really don't anticipate.
There to be a huge need because
I think we've done a really good
job on our side of making sure
that we have those tools in place.
I think once we really get into full
implementation of send, there may be
some little intricacies that we have
to work with to update, say maybe like
the transaction types in our, our core
system or little things like that,
but so far we're not seeing a lot of
technical changes happening on our side.
Greg MacSweeney: Got it.
What are some of the common technical
hurdles that credit unions have
to overcome when they add send?
Melissa Ashley: And I think just
to more specifically kind of talk
about how we're supporting Randolph
Brooks, we have designed our immediate
payment solution to be very holistic.
So we've already got received,
we have the Send APIs available
and the request for pay.
So it allows a credit union
to evolve to whatever.
Solutions they wanna evolve to.
So one of the hurdles that's already
taken care of is we've technically
connected to their core, so we
don't have to worry about that.
Again, receive is up and running.
That's not an issue.
So now it's just connecting the Send
APIs and exposing those and allowing
them to use their platform for
their front end user experience with
the backend that we already have.
So we can make it pretty seamless
from a. Just speaking more broadly
across all credit unions, that's
where we're really trying to
work with those user experiences.
You know, the credit union members
are in the home banking, the mobile
banking platforms, that's where they're
going to have the user experience.
So just like we were core
agnostic, we're front end ag.
And we'll work with any credit
union's front end provider
for those send experiences.
So I think that allows them to know
they've got a partner that can expand
as they get ready to expand and
integrate to whatever fraud solutions
they might already have in place.
So we don't have a one size.
Fits all.
It's very friendly from the standpoint
of being able to expand as the credit
union grows and allows them to expand.
One of the other things that they need to
consider beyond the technical piece is the
funding and the liquidity requirements,
and so that's one of the products that
we also built to help credit unions.
Manage that 24 7, 365.
So we have that all built out and ready
for credit unions to take advantage of
so that they don't have to, again, like
Dina said, you don't have to implement
more staff to manage the 24 7 liquidity.
We can do that on their behalf
with our funding agent solution.
Greg MacSweeney: Got it.
Tina, are you taking
advantage of the funding agent
capabilities from corporate one?
Deana Bartel: We are, yes.
Greg MacSweeney: Yeah, that's one of
the, for smaller financial institutions
or even larger ones, like Randolph
Brooks, the funding agent is something
that they, you have to think about when
it comes into payments on RTP for sure.
Another thing that Melissa mentioned
was the member experience, either
through the front end, either
the mobile app or the web portal.
You know, what are you doing for, you
know, member education at this point,
or planning, I mean, be probably not
doing it yet 'cause it's not ready,
you're not rolled out yet, but what's
in the works there in terms of getting.
Around materials or marketing
ready for, uh, member education.
Deana Bartel: Yes, we anticipate doing a
pretty significant member education push
and a staffing education push because
we know that in order for people to one,
know the functionality is there and.
Two, to actually go and use it.
We need to make sure that our front lines
have that education and understanding
of how the send capability works and
how they can send that transaction.
I think that's one of the things we
focus on internally quite a bit, is
we want our employees at our BFCU
using the different payment channels
that we offer, so that way they can
explain that to our members as well.
I imagine though for the member
education, we do pretty heavy pushes
through direct mail, email, social media.
We have built out our own, what
we call move money functionality
within our online and mobile space.
And we've really taken the approach
that we wanna give our members the
option to send money however they
choose, but they don't necessarily
know the rail that it's going down.
We just need to know when you
need it there, how much it is.
And then on the back end we navigate
that so that way it's going down the
best possible payment rail that it can.
So I think it's important for us as
we begin our member education is that
they're, they're aware that we have
the capability to send in real time,
but it's still gonna be supported
through our normal Move money channel.
Greg MacSweeney: Yeah.
It's interesting.
We're here on a, on a
Payments Nerds podcast.
So we're talking Rails and instant A CH.
That's our terminology.
But the members and customers, they don't.
I sent an instant payment or.
I sent an electronic payment.
They don't know if it was a CH or
wire or they just know it worked.
So members, they're not gonna need to
know what rail it's on, they're just
gonna need to know that it worked.
So.
Exactly.
So I think we've covered a lot here.
Um, we've covered your business
case, your moving to send
customer, the member experience.
A bunch of stuff, some of
the use cases you're seeing.
Is there anything else that we missed
or is there any advice you would give
to listeners, especially for other
credit unions who are looking to
start their instant payments journey?
And we start with Melissa first, and
then I'll, uh, give it to Dina Melissa.
Melissa Ashley: I think just advice,
I think start with receive only.
That is one of the most critical things.
It's the easiest for credit unions to
do the lowest risk, the easiest lift.
So start with that and then when
they're ready to move forward, I
think building that use case for
send, really thinking about how is
it going to help their membership.
Do you have a lot of business
members that are demanding this?
And for you to.
Day competitive in the market?
Or is it the consumers?
And like Dina said on their side,
helping them move money quicker,
that's a, a great use case for them.
Or a credit union might need internal
capabilities and looking at some of
the operational efficiencies or better
member experience with funding loans and
how they fund loans for their members.
So I think identifying that
use case is really critical.
And then, you know, leverage
experience partners.
I think that you can get there
faster if you are being helped by
others who have done it before you.
And so, you know, I, I know that's one
thing we're really trying to help credit
unions is just have that experience so
that we can leverage that and help them do
what they wanna do as quickly as possible.
Fantastic.
Greg MacSweeney: Dina?
Deana Bartel: Well, I agree with
Melissa, but I would also say do it.
I think the time is now your peers and
competitors are either offering real-time
payments or they will be soon, and I
think it's the perfect opportunity to
get in the game and be a part of it
because it's gonna be really important.
But I, I think, Melissa,
your a hundred percent right,
know what your use cases are.
I think one of the most interesting
things that I found was I didn't think
we would have a lot of control on how
we leveraged real-time payments in
the early on, and it really ended up
evolving into something where I felt
like I had a lot of control over saying
how I wanted to use the RTP network and
how we would offer it to our members.
So the use cases, they're endless,
but they also will drive what your
organization is seeking to pursue.
Greg MacSweeney: I do
have one more question.
It's a tradition on this show.
So we call the show Payments nerds
and we always ask our new guests on
the show, you know, a fun question.
You know, what makes you a payments nerd?
So I'm gonna start with Melissa.
What makes you a payments nerd?
Melissa Ashley: We are definitely living
and breathing this and we've been in the
immediate payments game since the start.
And so if you walk around corporate one,
you will see so many people engaged in
real-time payments, immediate payments.
And so it's been very exciting and, and
like I said, we just live and breathe it.
So if you're talking to me, you're
usually talking to me about immediate
payments, which makes me a payment nerd.
Greg MacSweeney: Great.
Yep.
Deana Bartel: Yeah, so I think
at R-B-F-C-U payments is such an
important part of the organization,
but for me personally, I have been
doing this for probably 12 years now,
and I still get excited about it.
And I think that's what makes me
a payments nerd is I just love it.
Greg MacSweeney: That's great.
Yep.
Well, here at the clearinghouse
we're also payments errors.
We're running payments rails.
Consumers and you know, they don't know
about it, they just send their payments.
But uh, yeah, we're all
payment nerds here as well.
So it is an exciting time in the
payments world with all of these changes.
So I think that wraps it up for today.
Uh, Dina, thank you for sharing
your story and, and Randolph
Brooks' story about offering
instant payments over RTP and Fed.
Now I'm Melissa.
Congratulations on the
impressive milestone.
Over a hundred credit unions on,
uh, the instant payment rails.
Of which are on RTP 90
now, so that's pretty cool.
So on behalf of the clearinghouse and
our guest, Dina from Randolph Brooks
and Melissa from Corporate one, I'd
like to thank each of our guests and
listeners for uh, tuning in today.
And if you enjoyed today's episode and
you want to hear more about payments,
you can find the Payments Nerd podcast
wherever you subscribe to podcasts.
Simply search for payments nerds in your
podcast app such as Apple or Spotify.
Thank you and have a great day.
Announcer: The clearinghouse is full
of payments nerds who just can't wait
to tell you about how the RTP network
helps us financial institutions create
a faster and smarter experience for
their corporate and retail customers.
Check out the schedule for online and
in-person events@theclearinghouse.org.
Greg MacSweeney: You've been
listening to Payments Nerds.
To ensure that you never miss an
episode, subscribe to the show
in your favorite podcast player.
Thank you so much for listening.
Until next time.