The news: Visa Direct will transfer funds to US bank accounts within one minute or less starting in April 2025, per a press release.
Prior to this, Visa required issuers to make funds available to cardholders within 30 minutes of the transaction approval.
Why this matters: With faster transfer speeds, Visa Direct is a true real-time payments scheme. It will help the solution better compete with the likes of The Clearing House’s (TCH) RTP Network and FedNow, which is still in the beginning stages of its rollout.
The bigger picture: The faster speed should also be more attractive to potential partners, helping Visa Direct keep up its momentum.
- In Q4 FY 2024 (ending September 30), Visa Direct transactions grew 38% quarterly.
- For the full year, Visa Direct boasted 10 billion transactions.
This growth came from new partnerships and growing existing relationships. For example, Visa Direct expanded its partnership with Revolut in Europe to enable real-time card transfers for business customers. And it expanded its tie-up with DailyPay in the US, enabling customers to send earned wages as international remittances.
Our take: Enabling US transfers in one minute or less is a major milestone for Visa Direct. It makes it a true real-time payments competitor.
And if Visa can bring this capability globally, it could become a major game changer in the RTP space. While Visa Direct operates globally, many of its competitors, like THC’s RTP Network and FedNow, only operate in the US.
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