Though the U.S. continues to take significant steps toward a faster payments ecosystem, the market undoubtedly lags behind others across the world in the path toward real-time payments ubiquity.
There are a variety of reasons why this is the case, which stem beyond one of the most common explanations — that the U.S., unlike markets like the U.K. and Europe, lacks the same government push for change, and in some cases, mandatory changes.
ACI Worldwide Executive Vice President of Growth Markets Mandy Killam elaborated on the complexities of the U.S. real-time payments journey in a recent interview with PYMNTS. The market’s early-stage growing pains, she said, reflect the unique struggles of a market driven by competition, not regulation.
“My personal viewpoint is the U.S. is behind, and not because of technology constraints,” Killam said. “If you compare it to other nations, in the U.S., regulation is both a help and a hinderance. And of course, our government is less likely to intervene to provide capabilities that can be provided by the market.”