Real-Time Payments Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the real-time payments market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global real-time payments market reached a value of nearly $27.75 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.8% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $27.75 billion in 2023 to $119.2 billion in 2028 at a rate of 33.8%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 35.9% from 2028 and reach $552.73 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the rise in internet penetration, growing initiatives taken by governments to promote cashless economy and increasing popularity of contactless payments. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period included the rise in cyber security concerns.

Going forward, the increase in growing consumer preferences for instant transactions, increasing adoption of mobile POS (point of sale) and rising penetration of e-commerce will drive the market. Factors that could hinder the growth of the real-time payments market in the future include growing data breach threats.

The real-time payments market is segmented by component into solutions and services. The solutions market was the largest segment of the real-time payments market segmented by component, accounting for 77.9% or $21.61 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the solutions segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the real-time payments market segmented by component, at a CAGR of 34.36% during 2023-2028.

The real-time payments market is segmented by type into person-to-person (P2P), person-to-business (P2B), business-to-person (B2P) and other types. The person-to-person market was the largest segment of the real-time payments market segmented by type, accounting for 61.3% or $17.02 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the person-to-person segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the real-time payments market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 35.53% during 2023-2028.

The real-time payments market is segmented by enterprise size into small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. The large enterprise market was the largest segment of the real-time payments market segmented by enterprise size, accounting for 61.2% or $16.98 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the real-time payments market segmented by enterprise size, at a CAGR of 35.83% during 2023-2028.

The real-time payments market is segmented by deployment into cloud and on-premises. The on-premises market was the largest segment of the real-time payments market segmented by deployment, accounting for 61.3% or $17.01 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the cloud segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the real-time payments market segmented by deployment, at a CAGR of 32.02% during 2023-2028.

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the real-time payments market, accounting for 38.3% or $10.64 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the real-time payments market will be Asia-Pacific and South America, where growth will be at CAGRs of 35.7% and 34.9% respectively. These will be followed by North America and Western Europe, where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 34.5% and 32.5% respectively.

The global real-time payments market is fairly fragmented, with a large number of players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 27.3% of the total market in 2022. Mastercard Incorporated was the largest competitor with a 7.5% share of the market, followed by Visa Inc. with 5.4%, Fiserv, Inc. with 4.5%, PayPal Holdings, Inc. with 3.6%, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS Inc.) with 2.6%, Global Payments Inc. with 1.5%, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation with 1.2%, ACI Worldwide, Inc. with 0.5%, Finastra with 0.4% and Ripple Labs Inc. with 0.2%.

The top opportunities in the real-time payments market segmented by component will arise in the solutions segment, which will gain $ 73.03 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the real-time payments market segmented by type will arise in the person-to-person segment, which will gain $ 60.81 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the real-time payments market segmented by enterprise size will arise in the large enterprises segment, which will gain $52.43 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the real-time payments market segmented by deployment will arise in the on-premises segment, which will gain $51.22 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the real-time payments market segmented by end users will arise in the retail and e-commerce segment, which will gain $34.55 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The real-time payments market size will gain the most in the USA at $26.78 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the real-time payments market include focusing on the development and adoption of application programming interfaces (APIs) specifically designed for real-time payments, strategic collaborations with major international banking institutions and payment gateway networks for digital payments, launching new and innovative products, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to fight, predict and prevent real-time payment scams of all types and adoption of blockchain-based, real-time payments platforms to automate payments with smart contracts and to transfer money instantly.

Player-adopted strategies in the real-time payments market include focus on strengthening payment services, strategic acquisitions, strategic partnerships and focus on enhancing business operations through the launch of new payment solutions.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the real-time payments companies to focus on streamlining real-time payments with tailored APIS (application programming interfaces), focus on innovative product development for market dominance, focus on blockchain-based platforms for instantaneous transactions, focus on AI integration for fraud prevention, focus on person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-business (P2B) segments, increase focus on cloud-based solutions, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on strategic collaborations for global payment advancements, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on pricing precision for market success, participate in trade shows and events, continue to use B2B promotions, focus on strategic promotion for market penetration, focus on retail & e-commerce and BFSI end-user segments and focus on customer-centric approaches for targeted end-user engagement.