This year's report—now in its fifth edition—takes a deep dive into some of the world's leading real-time payments markets, highlighting the factors that have allowed those nations to successfully build end-to-end real-time payments ecosystems. Previous reports have focused on the economic benefits of real-time payments and consumer uptake globally.

The report also shows that many of the world's most recent market entrants are catching up swiftly, as central banks and legislators everywhere push for adoption in an effort to promote financial inclusion for their population and profit from real-time payments.

Important Results in a Glance

By 2028, 575.1 billion real-time transactions are expected globally, indicating a 16.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2023 to 2028. Real-time payments are predicted to make up 27.1% of all electronic payments made worldwide by 2028.

With 129.3 billion transactions in 2023, India will continue to lead the global real-time payments market. This is greater than the combined total of the other top 10 real-time payment markets in the world. In India now, 84% of all electronic payments are made in real time.

In 2023, Brazil saw an impressive 77.9% YoY growth, with 37.4 billion real-time payments transactions. With 75% of all transactions in the region, Brazil leads Latin America in real-time payments without a doubt. Seeking to emulate Brazil's success, other Latin American nations are advancing their modernization efforts for real-time payments.With CAGRs of 51.2% and 42.6%, respectively, Peru and Colombia are expected to have the highest rates in the area between 2023 and 2028.

In 2023, Asia Pacific (APAC) accounted for 185.8 billion transactions, or 24.0% of all electronic payments made in the area, making it the largest real-time payments market. With four of the top five real-time payments markets by volume, the Asia-Pacific area is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 13.6% from 2023 to 2028, or approximately 351.5 billion real-time transactions.

The global real-time payments market with the quickest rate of growth is the Middle East. In 2023, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar introduced programs, joining more seasoned regional participants such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. The region's CAGR from 2023 to 2028 is 28.8%, and by that time, transactions should have increased from 855 million to 3.0 billion.

The Instant Payments Regulation of the European Union (EU), which was passed in February 2024, is anticipated to increase the amount of instant payments throughout the Single Euro Payments Area, which encompasses all 27 EU member states. It is predicted that quick payments would represent 13% of all electronic payments in Europe by 2028, up from 8% in 2023.

North America, with a projected CAGR of 27.1% from 2023 to 2028, is a significant growing market to monitor, mainly because FedNow will be launched in the U.S. in 2023.

Another significant growing market is Africa, where Nigeria is without a doubt the leader in real-time payments. In 2023, the nation registered 7.9 billion transactions, with real-time payments accounting for an astounding 82.1% of all electronic payments.

Deep Dives into the Markets: Insights from the Most Promising Real-Time Payments Marketplaces

This year's report, for the first time, delves deeply into five of the most developed real-time payment markets globally: India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. It does so by examining the key elements and application scenarios that have enabled these nations to create vibrant real-time payment ecosystems that have the potential to revolutionize industries and enhance the lives of consumers.

The Power of Collaboration: Real-time payment systems, whether by industry consensus or government mandate, flourish when there is active collaboration among stakeholders. To create and run effective real-time payments ecosystems, financial institutions, payment service providers, central banks, governments, retailers, and other stakeholders must collaborate.

Open and Inclusive Payments Ecosystems: Fintech-rich environments are being fostered by the most successful real-time payments marketplaces. According to the research, smaller banks and fintechs are becoming more and more important parts of the real-time payment ecosystems in the world's most important markets. For larger banks to be competitive in the quickly expanding global real-time payments markets, they will need to reassess their approaches and establish new alliances with fintech companies.

Robust Incentives for Merchants: The expansion of real-time payments depends on merchant adoption and uptake. For instance, the Indian government actively encouraged retailers of all sizes to accept UPI payments by eliminating merchant discount rates and providing all retailers with QR codes for UPI acceptance.

New and User-Friendly Use Cases Are Always Coming in: In nations where firms or consumers have widely adopted novel use cases, real-time payments are flourishing. Customers in the most prosperous economies are increasingly paying in real time for anything from utility or tax bills to transportation tickets or road tolls, subscription payments, or the weekly grocery buy.

Next Big Frontier: Cross-Border Real-Time Payment Links Asian nations are setting the standard for real-time cross-border payment extensions that are finally paying off. Users of Malaysia's DuitNow may now make real-time QR code payments from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and China, while payments utilizing India's widely used UPI network are now accepted in Malaysia, Indonesia, the UAE, and France.

Fraud involving real-time payments: Although the nature and scope of fraud assaults are shifting due to the use of generative AI, the industry is rising to the occasion. New AI-based anti-fraud technology and techniques, along with government interventions, education campaigns, and consumer rights measures, are beginning to have an effect.

Craig Ramsey, global head of real-time payments at ACI Worldwide, said, "This year's report highlights the key success factors that have allowed some countries to forge ahead with real-time payments modernization and reap enormous benefits for consumers and businesses." Modern real-time payments necessitate cooperation between banks and a new generation of market entrants, with whom they frequently collaborate as well as compete. The most effective real-time payment systems in the world, particularly those in Brazil and India, also include use cases that are incredibly well-liked.

"The future belongs to real-time payments, particularly cross-border transfers. In the end, they promote financial inclusion and economic growth by reducing payment friction and increasing system liquidity, according to Debbie Guerra, chief product officer of ACI Worldwide. "Banks ought to contemplate whether they are actually optimizing the real-time rails within their market, and if restricting their commitment to the bare minimum also implies restricting their prospective portion of the payments landscape in the future."