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Last week, Corporate One Federal Credit Union ($5.2 billion, Columbus, Ohio) became the first corporate credit union to enable its member credit unions to initiate real-time payments (RTPs) on behalf of their organization without joining The Clearing House's RTP network thanks to a new solution, CU Corporate Payments on the RTP Network.
Launched in collaboration with Juniper Payments, a PSCU company, the solution opens up the ability for the corporate's more than 700 member credit unions to make business-to-business RTPs (credit union member RTPs are not available through the solution). RTPs are payments that can be initiated any time and via any channel that are also certified, final, immediately available, instantly settled, and confirmed to the payee and payer. To gain access to RTPs, a credit union must become a participant in the RTP network from The Clearing House, which is currently the only U.S. vendor enabling access to RTPs, either directly or through a third-party service provider. (Later this year, the Federal Reserve Board is scheduled to launch the second RTP system in the U.S., FedNow.)
With CU Corporate Payments on the RTP Network, Corporate One, a certified participant on The Clearing House's RTP network, serves as the third party for its member credit unions, allowing them to initiate and receive immediate payments directly out of their settlement account to a recipient account at a financial institution that is also a participant on the RTP network, Corporate One said.
"As a result of our longstanding partnership with Juniper Payments, we're excited to provide a solution that allows credit unions to harness the power of real-time payments without the requirements of RTP network participation/certification," Corporate One President/CEO Melissa Ashley said. "With CU Corporate RTP, our members can easily modernize their payment capabilities and enhance how they do business by participating in the country's newest payment rail in over 40 years."
Corporate One connected to The Clearing House's RTP network in 2020 via its CUSO, Sherpa Technologies, and at that time, the corporate's member credit unions gained the ability to receive RTPs to their operating accounts. In 2021, Corporate One signed a deal with Juniper Payments, which has been a Corporate One partner since 2015, to offer integrated, send and receive B2B RTP functionality – becoming the first corporate credit union to do so, according to the announcement about the new service.
Over the past six months, four of Corporate One's member credit unions piloted the service and reported that their most common use cases for RTPs included indirect lending settlements and mortgage settlement payments.
The service also enables users to switch a payment from an RTP to a domestic wire if the receiving institution is not an RTP network participant, manage user permissions and limits through an online hub, access payment risk mitigation tools and receive data-rich reports, Corporate One said.
"This successful collaboration is a testament to the devoted teams at both Corporate One and Juniper Payments and our focused, phased approach to introducing new and innovative payment options," Juniper Payments CEO Jon Budd said. "CU Corporate RTP provides both operational efficiency and increased payment transparency – and it's instant. We are excited to help our partner Corporate One leverage this new payment rail and provide immediate value for their client base."
Corporate One emphasized several benefits of the new RTP service: Low cost, as paying for RTP network participation/certification and other associated technical resources is not required; the ability to improve current business operations and drive new ways of doing business with vendors and business partners; and the opportunity to streamline record keeping and reconciliation with rich payment messaging and other information that accompanies each payment.
According to Corporate One's web page describing the new service, the corporate will be releasing details about a solution that will enable the sending of RTPs through FedNow in the coming months.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
