June 9, 2026—Real-time payments are no longer an emerging payments trend . According to PYMNTS Intelligence’s May 2026 report, Ready and Willing: B2B Payments Are Headed for Real-Time Rails. Here’s How They’re Getting There, a collaboration between PYMNTS and The Clearing House, operators of the Real-Time Payments (RTP) Network, businesses now recognize that instant payment rails can improve cash flow, reconciliation, supplier relationships, and operational control.
So, if instant payments are so valuable to businesses, why has adoption not moved faster? The biggest barrier to broader adoption by businesses is not lack of interest. The greatest challenge for many businesses is system integration. Adoption is driven by operational complexity and, for many companies, it is challenging, and not yet cost effective, to make real-time payments work smoothly with existing accounting, treasury, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) environments. Larger firms report a greater return on an investment in technology and workflow improvements because of their higher transaction volumes, treasury complexity, and the added benefits of faster reconciliation, cash-flow control, and supplier relationships. Smaller firms are more likely to care about, and be stalled by, cost.
The shift is real, but still early
Most B2B payments today still move through traditional payment rails, including credit cards, checks, and ACH, including same-day ACH. That is not because businesses dislike innovation. It’s because these traditional payment rails continue to work well enough for many businesses. In fact, the report shows that 94% of businesses pay suppliers on time and 86% say their accounts payable processes are efficient.
Today, Zelle® for Business, RTP®, and FedNow® together account for only 8% of overall B2B payment volume, even though nearly half of surveyed firms have used at least one instant method in the past year. But the momentum behind real-time payments is building. This report says 86% of businesses plan to adopt the RTP network at some point, and nearly three in ten organizations plan to adopt within the next six months. Real-time payment rails are shifting from a conceptual interest to active evaluation.
For now, adoption of instant payments rises with revenue. RTP adoption is 3% among firms with $1M–$5M revenue, but 17% among firms with $25M+ revenue; FedNow shows the same pattern, rising from 2% to 11%.
Broader adoption of instant payment rails by businesses of all sizes may depend on clear evidence that these methods deliver measurable advantages—beyond transaction speed alone—over traditional processes and integrations.
Why real-time payments stand out
The strongest finding in the report is that instant payments do outperform non-instant alternatives across every capability measured, including, but not limited to, access to funds, transaction processing, on-demand payments, revenue recognition, reduced manual work, cash flow management, stronger supplier relationships, and reduction in fraud risk.
This advantage matters. Real-time rails can support more disciplined cash management, more precise timing of outgoing payments, and better alignment between payment execution and business operations. In practice, that means businesses can hold cash longer, pay vendors exactly when needed, and reduce the friction that comes with batch-based payment cycles. For finance teams, that translates into more visibility, less uncertainty, and better control over working capital.
Business size is a factor though in calculating the value of these real-time rails; this report says real-time rails, for now, deliver the most visible benefits at higher volumes and more complex treasury operations.
What is holding adoption back
Businesses repeatedly point to the difficulty of connecting real-time payment rails to existing ERP, accounting, and treasury systems. Other concerns include fraud risk, payment irreversibility, and workflow compatibility, as well as supplier acceptance, especially for FedNow, which, as the newest payments rail, is still gaining traction with financial institutions and their payments applications. These concerns are real, but the report frames them as solvable rather than structural or specific to instant payments.
RTP and FedNow are not moving at the same pace
The report also draws a distinction between The Clearing House’s RTP Network and the FedNow Service. Both are real-time bank payment rails, but they are not on the same adoption trajectory.
RTP, a private network launched in 2017, has, with more time on the market and the participation of the nation’s major commercial banks, stronger momentum, broader network reach, and more confidence among larger businesses. FedNow, a public sector payments infrastructure built by the Federal Reserve and launched in 2023, by contrast, is earlier in its institutional build-out and faces greater hesitation, especially around supplier acceptance and familiarity.
That does not mean FedNow lacks long-term potential. The report suggests its adoption path is positive, but slower and more uneven. RTP currently seems better positioned for near-term B2B use cases, particularly for larger firms with more complex treasury needs.
What businesses want next
Businesses are looking primarily for better integration of instant payments with accounting, ERP, or treasury systems. After that, they state they want lower payment costs, better payment tools or technology, stronger fraud protection, greater supplier acceptance, and improved access to credit or liquidity.
This order is important. It shows that businesses do not view faster payments as a standalone upgrade. They want them embedded in broader finance workflows that reduce manual work, improve visibility, and make payment execution more intelligent.
The future of B2B payments is not just real-time. Real-time payments align with the way businesses in the credit union and small- to medium-sized banking sectors already operate. From Vertifi’s perspective, this has been clear for years: the future of payments is not about choosing a rail—it is about orchestrating them. Each payment rail serves different use cases, client segments, and timing needs. The institutions that succeed will be those that can intelligently connect these rails, unify payment experiences, and deliver them through a single, cohesive infrastructure.
Vertifi is a leading provider of payments system technology and delivers these services with a consultative approach and deep industry expertise to guide our clients on their payments journey. We offer cutting-edge money movement solutions for modern payment rails and a centralized hub to orchestrate it all.