Sionic announces suite of trust-based services for bank-to-bank, verified rapid payments

By Edlyn Cardoza

Sionic, one of the leading providers of omni-commerce, faster digital payments solutions, announced it is launching a suite of new, trust-based services to address the significant challenges facing faster payments in the U.S., whether on The RTP Network or upcoming FedNow bank rails. The services are designed to help avoid fraud prevalent in person-to-person (P2P) payments, as reported regularly.

At the core of the new services are critical components, including decentralised IDs and verification for payers and payees, support for digital wallets, fraud detection and mitigation and warranty service for financial institutions.

“We’ve identified serious gaps in bank-to-bank payments that have prevented rapid adoption by financial institutions, consumers and businesses,” said Matt Watson, Chief Technology Officer of Sionic. “Our new suite of trust-based services enabling Verified Rapid Payments will provide all parties with a safe and secure way to Pay-by-Bank.”

Unlike credit card payments, where payers dispute transactions with the card issuer, Sionic’s services allow payers and payees to resolve disputes directly and instantly with one another, relieving the burden on financial institutions providing the deposit accounts. Both parties have access to each other’s trust scores before payment transactions are verified and approved, helping to reduce disputes before they occur.

Ronald Herman, CEO of Sionic, said, “Every financial institution interested in providing faster, trust-based, bank-to-bank payments will want to consider this Verified Rapid Payments service. The alternative is for bank-owned The Clearing House and Early Warning or the Federal Reserve to come up with similar services which may delay adoption and create conflict among financial institutions.”

Sionic’s Pay-by-Bank is the industry’s first real-time payments service enabling bank-to-bank digital cash deposits at the point-of-sale in the U.S. market. This comes at a time when merchants are responding to consumer demand by allowing more widespread digital payment options. In addition to receiving funds instantly, merchants may save an average of 60% on credit card swipe fees.