RTP Network

Overview

The RTP® Network (Real-Time Payments) is the instant-payment rail operated by The Clearing House (TCH), launched in 2017 as the first new core payments infrastructure in the United States in more than 40 years ¹². It operates 24/7, settles funds in real time, and is credit-push only — the payer instructs its institution to make the payment, and "settlement is final and irrevocable" ². RTP is built natively on the ISO 20022 messaging standard ³ and includes a Request for Payment messaging capability ².

History

The Clearing House — a membership organization owned by the major U.S. banks — launched the RTP network in 2017 ². TCH announced the first live payments on the network in November 2017, billing it as the "first new core payments system in the U.S. in more than 40 years" ¹. The network is managed by TCH and is the newest electronic bank-payment method in U.S. domestic banking ⁴.

Technical specification

RTP uses the ISO 20022 standard for the messages that initiate payments and retrieve transaction status, and is notable for being all-ISO 20022 from launch with publicly documented message specifications ³. Core message flows include:

• pacs.008 — customer credit transfer; the only RTP message that results in settlement of funds between financial institutions ⁵.
• pacs.002 — payment status report giving an immediate response and status for each message, including reject reason codes ⁵.
• pain.013 / pain.014 — Request for Payment and its status report; the sender FI of an RfP can request cancellation via pain.013, and the receiver responds with pain.014 ⁵.

Receiving institutions are required to make funds available immediately, and settlement is final and irrevocable ². Because the network is strictly credit-push, there are no pull/debit transactions — a payer always authorizes the outgoing payment ².

Transaction limits. The individual transaction limit began at $25,000 under a risk-managed rollout, was raised to $1 million, and increased to $10 million on February 9, 2025 — a tenfold increase enabling real-estate settlements, large B2B payments and corporate treasury operations ⁶². As of 2026 the credit-transfer limit on the network is $10 million ².

Use cases

RTP's Request for Payment (RfP) message functions like an electronic invoice or bill: it can include all the information a customer needs to remit payment, so the payer can approve and send it directly from their banking app ⁶². This underpins bill pay, account-to-account funding, B2B/supplier payments and consumer-to-business flows. The higher $10 million ceiling explicitly targets real-estate settlements, large B2B payments and corporate treasury ⁶. The credit-push, immediate-funds model also suits payroll, gig/earned-wage disbursements and insurance payouts.

Implementations

RTP is a closed interbank network reached through a participating financial institution or an authorized third-party service provider; TCH publishes message specifications in its RTP technical documentation but does not offer a public open-source encoder/SDK ³. Payment-platform vendors (for example treasury and payment-API providers) expose RTP connectivity to businesses on top of a sponsor bank, but there is no public reference implementation repository.

Comparison

RTP and the Federal Reserve's FedNow Service are the two real-time, ISO-20022, credit-push interbank rails in the U.S.; both now carry a $10 million per-transaction ceiling ⁶⁷. RTP launched earlier (2017, operated by the privately owned The Clearing House), while FedNow launched in 2023 (operated by the Federal Reserve) ²⁷. RTP reaches roughly 71% of U.S. demand-deposit accounts through over 950 financial-institution participants (Q2 2025) ², while FedNow leverages the Fed's nationwide account relationships. The two are complementary rather than competing, and a rail-agnostic QR layer such as the ASC X9 Payment QR Code standard is designed to route a single scanned code over either RTP or FedNow (or ACH / push-to-card).

Fun facts

• RTP was the first new core payments system in the United States in more than 40 years when it went live in 2017 ¹.
• RTP is unusual among U.S. rails in that every message follows the ISO 20022 standard from launch, with the specifications published online ³.

Status

Active. As of Q2 2025 the RTP network reached 71% of U.S. demand-deposit accounts with over 950 financial-institution participants ², and the per-transaction limit stands at $10 million following the February 2025 increase ⁶.

Sources

1. First New Core Payments System in the U.S. in more than 40 Years Initiates First Live Payments — The Clearing House, 2017
2. Real Time Payments — The Clearing House, 2025
3. How RTP works, a look at ISO 20022 — Modern Treasury
4. What are Real-Time Payments (RTP)? — Modern Treasury
5. Understanding ISO 20022 and PAIN Messages: A Complete Guide — Cashbook
6. Real-Time Payments (RTP) for Developers — Modern Treasury, 2025
7. FedNow Service Will Raise Transaction Limit to $10 Million — Federal Reserve Financial Services, 2025

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.