As Real-Time Payments Systems Gear Up, Finastra Launches a Multi-Network Software Offering

With the Federal Reserve’s announcement last week that it will launch its FedNow real-time payments service in July, technology firms are jockeying for position as the appetite for faster payments grows worldwide. One big development emerged early Tuesday with an announcement from London-based payments-software firm Finastra Group Holdings Ltd. that it is teaming with Aspire Systems Consulting PTE Ltd. to speed up real-time capability for banks around the world.

The joint offering will feature Finastra’s Payments to Go technology, according to the announcement, with implementation eased for banks through Aspire’s system-integration experience. The result, the parties say, will be a software-as-a-service offering working on Microsoft’s Azure platform and connecting to multiple real-time networks, including FedNow but also The Clearing House Payments Co.’s Real Time Payments (RTP)system, Swift, and the Target Instant Payments Settlements (TIPS) service from the European Central Bank.

Finastra says it will rely on Aspire’s implementation expertise as well as its add-on services, including variable recurring payments, request to pay, and payee confirmation. The idea, Finastra says, is to cut costs and shrink complexity for clients looking to implement real-time payments.

This could appeal to institutions now that the Federal Reserve has zeroed in on a more definite start date for FedNow, a system the U.S. central bank has been working on since 2019. “Facilitating instant payments is a key priority for banks, particularly as customer demand continues to soar,” says Sylvie Boucheron-Saunier, global chief revenue officer, payments, at Finastra, in a statement. The company maintains offices in five cities worldwide, including Lake Mary, Fla.

Finastra’s latest news comes on the heels of reports last month that its owner, Austin, Texas-based Vista Equity Partners, was looking to sell the company’s banking business for up to $7 billion. Talks were at “an early stage,” Reuters reported at the time, and no further information was immediately available. The banking unit provides core-banking functionality.

Finastra grew out of a $3.6-billion merger Vista engineered in 2017 between one of its portfolio companies, software provider Misys, and financial-services software developer DH Corp., which went by the brand name D+H.