Oct. 13, 2022 – The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), a membership organization devoted to advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, today published a new industry resource, an International Best Practices in Directory Models white paper. Available in the FPC’s Knowledge Center, the report presents research by the FPC Directory Models Work Group (DMWG) on six directory overlays to faster payments systems across the globe.
The directory overlays profiled in the report include Bizum, Interac, M-Pesa, Pix, Swish, and Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The DMWG International Best Practices Subgroup conducted the robust research with the intention of evaluating how each overlay leveraged directories to support efficiency, experience, and security objectives while seeking to fuel adoption of faster payments within their respective markets.
"The United States is not alone in launching instant payments and so we should try to learn from the experience in other countries when creating a solution for the U.S. market – both in terms of what we should do as well as what we should not do,” said Peter Tapling, Managing Director of PTap Advisory, LLC and FPC Directory Models Work Group Chair. “This research study tries to draw key lessons for the United States as instant becomes the new normal and makes clear that a robust directory capability plays a large part in the adoption of instant payment schemes.”
The white paper provides an overview of countries that have seen significant adoption of their instant payments capabilities and discusses the effects of directories in those schemes. This research on other markets was distilled into lessons learned and best practices that can be applied domestically in the United States as faster payments take shape and examined how directories are leveraged behind the scenes in various ways to support similar needs.
“The robustness of the U.S. market for financial services demands we learn whatever we can and adapt to our unique circumstances. This new paper looks at foundational core attributes of six operational faster payments directory overlays, and examines the safety, interoperability, and governance of each,” said Lou Grilli, Senior Innovation Strategist at PSCU and FPC Directory Models Work Group Vice Chair.
The International Best Practices in Directory Models paper is the latest output from the FPC Directory Models Work Group (DMWG). The DMWG previously released the papers, Beneficial Characteristics Desirable in a Directory Service and The Economic Benefits of an Independent, Interoperable Directory Service for Faster Payments, both available to FPC Members only. The papers are summarized in a Making the Case for an Interoperable Directory to Facilitate Faster Payments infographic, downloadable from the Faster Payments Knowledge Center.
The FPC prioritizes inclusion of diverse perspectives in tackling complex topics such as interoperability, identifying real-world solutions that can ease adoption of faster payments, managing security risks and fraud threats, addressing barriers to financial inclusion and cross-border payments, and more, as the organization paves the way toward a future of faster payments for all.
For more information on the FPC, its current work efforts or to join, visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.
Contact:
Elizabeth Grice
U.S. Faster Payments Council
720-737-7368
egrice@fasterpaymentscouncil.org
About the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC)
The FPC is an industry-led membership organization whose vision is a world-class payment system where Americans can safely and securely pay anyone, anywhere, at any time and with near-immediate funds availability. By design, the FPC encourages a diverse range of perspectives and is open to all stakeholders in the U.S. payment system. Guided by principles of fairness, inclusiveness, flexibility and transparency, the FPC uses collaborative, problem-solving approaches to resolve the issues that are inhibiting broad faster payments adoption in this country. For more information, please visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.