快速支付的定价：实践和理论概述

Pricing in fast payments: apractical and theoreticaloverview by Jose Aurazo, Holti Banka, Guillermo Galicia, NilimaRamteke, Vatsala Shreeti and Kiyotaka Tanaka Monetary and Economic Department October 2025 JEL classification: O3, E42, G28 Keywords:financial inclusion,digital payments,fastpayments, interchange fee pricing BISWorking Papers are written by members of the Monetary and EconomicDepartment of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by othereconomists, and are published by the Bank. The papers are on subjects of topicalinterest and are technical in character. The views expressed in this publication arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its membercentral banks. This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). Pricing in Fast Payments: A Practical and Theoretical Overview Jose Aurazo, Holti Banka, Guillermo Galicia, Nilima Ramteke, Vatsala Shreeti andKiyotaka Tanaka1 Abstract Fast payments are at the forefront of payments digitalisation globally. By enabling immediateavailability of funds on a 24/7 basis, they offer the potential to enhance efficiency, promotefinancial inclusion, drive innovation and foster competition. Despite their growing adoption,key questions remain regarding the design of fast payments systems (FPS), particularlyconcerning pricing. Open issues around pricing of fast payments exist at three levels: betweenthe FPS owner and participants (system level), among participants themselves (participantlevel) and finally between the participants and their customers (end user level). This paperprovides a comprehensive overview of global practices in FPS pricing at these three levels. Torelate these practices with the academic literature, particularly for the person-to-merchant(P2M) payments, we use a classical two-sided market model and analyse how different pricingschemes at the end user level might influence the volume of fast payments and overall socialwelfare. Our expository model shows that fast payment usage may be lower than sociallyoptimal in many cases. Moreover, when all fees are zero, fast payments are unsustainablewithout external subsidies or alternative revenue streams for participants. JEL codes: O3, E42, G28. Keywords: financial inclusion; digital payments; fast payments; interchange fee; pricing Executive Summary Fast payments (also called instant, or real-time payments) are rapidly reshaping the way thatpeople transact. They provide a convenient alternative for payment cards and cash in manyjurisdictions around the world. They are characterized by the instant transmission of thepayment message and by the immediate availability of funds to the beneficiary on a 24/7 basis.A fast payment system (FPS) facilitates these payments for individuals and businesses throughparticipants like banks and non-banks. More than 120 jurisdictions around the world have access to fast payments, and severalothers are planning to adopt them soon (Annex A). In 2023, 266 billion fast payments wereconducted, an increase of 42 percent from the previous year (ACI Worldwide, 2024). Moreover,fast payments accounted for 19 percent of all digital payments conducted in 2023, and it isprojected that by 2028, they will reach 575 billion in volume and account for 27 percent of alldigital payments (ACI Worldwide, 2024). As the use of fast payments expands, their benefits are becoming more evident. Tostart with, fast payments offer a reliable and secure alternative to cash, which can be especiallyimportant in countries with a low penetration of payment cards (i.e., debit, credit or prepaidcards) and low financial inclusion. Even where payment cards are popular, fast payments canoffer a cheaper way to make payments, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses(Aurazo etal,2024).Implementation of FPS can also spur savings in formal financialinstitutions, and foster competition and interoperability (Aurazo et al, 2025; Sarkisyan, 2023).Recent research shows that access to FPS improves household incomes, activities of smallbusiness enterprises, as well as the supply of credit (Dubey and Purnanandam, 2023; Alok etal, 2025).At the same time, fast payments can also generate useful data that can enableunderbanked users to move from digital payments to other financial services like credit(Aurazo et al, 2024). Even as the adoption of fast payments is increasing across jurisdictions, many FPS arestill in early stages, with active policy discussions around the best ways to promote wideradoption and use. A key element of these discussions is the role of pricing in balancing theadoption and use of fast payments with the incentives of the FPS participants (often bank ornon-banks, or generally payment service providers (PSPs)). Both system-level pricing (chargesto participants by the FPS owner, and among participants) and end user pricing (charges toend users by banks and non-banks) are important in this discussion and as suc