When Faster Isn’t Better: The New Rules of Business Payments

Business customers today have more ways to move money than at any point in recent memory. The arrival of near-instant payment networks like FedNow and RTP has expanded the menu of options, giving companies new ways to balance speed, cost, and security when making payments.

In a PaymentsJournal Podcast, Darren Beyer, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Qolo, and Hugh Thomas, Lead Analyst of Commercial and Enterprise Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, discussed how the business payments landscape has evolved. While faster payments have captured much of the industry’s attention, they noted that speed is only one consideration. In many cases, choosing the right payment method has become a more nuanced decision.

A Panoply of Options

According to Javelin's 2026 Commercial Payments Factbook, one of the most notable developments in business payments is that virtually every alternative to paper checks is growing at the same time—a dynamic the industry hasn’t seen before.

The payment method companies choose depends on the circumstances surrounding the transaction. When funds need to move immediately and both parties want real-time visibility into the transfer, businesses often gravitate toward RTP. In newer supplier relationships, where trust may still be developing, virtual cards are frequently the preferred option, particularly when buyers and suppliers are looking for working capital or cash management benefits.

ACH remains a mainstay for established business relationships. Companies that have worked together for years often rely on ACH because the process is familiar, automated, and dependable. Whether using standard ACH or Same Day ACH, many businesses continue to view it as a simple and efficient way to move funds.

The banking ecosystem has also split across newer instant payment networks. While many large financial institutions helped build and adopt The Clearing House’s RTP network, smaller banks have generally shown greater interest in the Federal Reserve’s FedNow service.

“The problem is that while both of those are real time networks, they don't talk to each other,” said Beyer. “If you're a bank that does FedNow, you can't accept an RTP for one of your banking clients. The best way that gets solved is by both of those reaching a critical mass of acceptance on the banking side. Until that problem gets solved, those are going to continue to be throttled.”

Beyond Speed

The conversation around faster payments has been building for more than a decade. Since the Federal Reserve first outlined its vision for modernizing payments, financial institutions and technology providers have invested heavily to expand available options.

Now that those systems are reaching greater maturity, the focus is shifting. The challenge is no longer about enabling faster payments, it’s helping businesses understand when speed matters—and when it doesn’t.

For many, delaying a payment can be advantageous. A company issuing large volumes of payments may prefer to preserve cash for a few extra days. In other situations, speed can be critical, such as when paying a six-figure supplier invoice and avoiding costly late fees.

“If you were to ask 100 CFOs of varying size companies about RTP or FedNow, they might say, that's kind of like a real-time ACH or something, isn't it?” said Beyer. “That's their level of understanding of what it is. Once you understand what something is, you can think about how are you going to use these things.”

“Your CFO may realize, OK, I know what RTP is, now I can hang on to my funds till the absolute last moment and then push them out in my contractual obligation to pay a payee. All that becomes more material to the CFO. That cascades down through the organization in working with providers to better understand the mandates the CFOs push in terms of hitting those cash conversion cycle goals.”

By and large, it’s less about choosing a single payment rail and more about applying rules-based decision-making. Today