The Future of Payments

46 BANKING PERSPECTIVES QUARTER 4 2018 RTP at 1: Trion Solutions, Inc. T The prospect of RTP (Real-Time Payments), with near-instantaneous execution of interbank payments, is no longer the financial industry’s best-kept secret. No longer will anyone have to wait for funds to clear or worry if a transaction was completed because of a lack of message transparency. As retail customers become more aware of RTP’s potential and commercial clients demand greater flexibility, the financial community is receiving an opportunity to show strong leadership and earn customer loyalty. As chief financial officer of an HR- administration outsourcing company that works with small to midsize businesses, I know businesses need to access an additional financial tool. As a CFO of a business that’s experiencing fast growth, I applaud The Clearing House (TCH) for its insight and leadership on RTP as well as its role in continuing to encourage leading banks to institute the first new payments structure in the United States in more than 40 years. Businesses soon will have important features at their disposal: instant availability of funds, the certainty of payments being final, immediate liquidity, standardized data relating to payments, and two-way communication with messaging. Along with the flexibility of making transfers 24 hours a day, any day of the year, RTP will reshape the scope of payment transactions. Trion Solutions, Inc., a minority-owned business, is one of the largest professional employer organizations (PEOs) in the United States. Small to midsize companies outsource their HR-administrative needs to us, enabling them to remain focused on their core business and receive cost savings from us. I want Trion Solutions to be at the forefront of the PEO industry in the use of RTP. And that’s why I am working with several leading financial institutions to offer industry-leading insight as the RTP platform is being developed, tested, and made available. I am convinced RTP will revolutionize the highly regulated PEO industry. Trion Solutions manages the payrolls of more than 500 client companies, servicing approximately 40,000 work- site employees. RTP will let Trion offer client companies the option of providing fast payments to employees, with immediate access to funds. As these companies compete daily to recruit and retain employees, RTP can be an attractive and differentiating selling feature – i.e., there will be no need to wait for a check to clear because ALL OF US SHOULD HELP SHAPE THE RTP PLATFORM, WHICH WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ACROSS NUMEROUS AND DIVERSE INDUSTRIES. RTP: AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW LEADERSHIP BY ANDREW W. KIRK, TRION SOLUT IONS, INC.