Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. The company announced today that there are more than 100 financial institutions implementing its faster payments hub, JHA PayCenter™, to connect to Early Warning Services’ Zelle Network® and The Clearing House’s RTP® network.
Jack Henry is the first third-party service provider to connect a financial institution, Dallas-based Pegasus Bank, to the RTP network and process live transactions. The $750 million-asset bank is offering its consumer and commercial customers the ability to receive real-time payments sent by accountholders from other participating financial institutions without incurring interbank settlement risk. The real-time payment capabilities provided by the RTP network also enable Pegasus Bank customers to receive real-time credit transfers initiated from third-party payment apps. More than 50 additional Jack Henry clients are scheduled to go live on the RTP network by calendar year-end.
Jenny Murphey, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Pegasus Bank, said, “Making faster payments a reality was already a crucial matter; fast and easy electronic payments are a necessity in today’s world. We have seen an uptick in P2P payments as well as customers applying for bill pay in recent weeks. Offering the RTP network has proven to be a tremendous value to our clients already, and we expect heightened activity in the months ahead as we expand the scope of the real-time capabilities we provide.”
JHA PayCenter is a proprietary payments hub that provides seamless connections to the Zelle and RTP networks, enabling near-real-time payments to be sent and received through Jack Henry’s core and digital solutions. JHA PayCenter eliminates the expense and resources required for institutions to build their own connections to the faster payment networks and expedites speed-to-market with implementing real-time payments. It also provides access to an operational infrastructure and payments expertise that would be challenging for individual institutions to assemble and maintain. This payments hub will also provide a single integration point with future faster payment networks.
Tede Forman, group president of consumer and commercial payments at Jack Henry, said, “The demand for real-time payments has taken on a new meaning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers and businesses face mounting pressures to expedite funds availability and help improve cash flow with a new contemporary alternative for moving money how and when they need to. We have a big, ongoing opportunity to help financial institutions of all sizes deliver secure, convenient payment experiences that support consumers and businesses with money in the exact moment of need.”
The RTP network currently reaches more than 51% of U.S. transaction accounts and adoption is growing. Zelle processed $187 billion in payments on 743 million transactions in 2019.
