BNY: leading real-time payments innovation with Volante Technologies
Overview
Bank of New York (BNY), the world’s largest custodial bank and a top USD correspondent, is a global leader in corporate and white-labeled transaction banking services. To stay ahead of market demands and accelerate digital transformation, BNY partnered with Volante Technologies to launch the first real-time payments (RTP®) transaction on The Clearing House’s new network. By deploying Volante’s cloud-native payments platform, the bank delivered an agile, 24/7 real-time payments capability while simultaneously reducing deployment costs and achieving unmatched speed to market.
Additionally, this same infrastructure enabled BNY to lead the digital bill-pay revolution, introducing the first-of-its-kind real-time electronic bill (e-bill) and payment solution, BNY Mellon Launches Real-Time Digital Bill Pay Service. This innovation allows customers to view, manage, and pay bills instantly, further cementing BNY’s position as a trailblazer in real-time financial services.
About BNY
As the world’s largest custodial bank, Bank of New York (BNY), rebranded from BNY Mellon, manages more than $46 trillion in assets under custody and provides critical transaction banking services to financial institutions, businesses, and clients worldwide. A top USD correspondent bank, BNY is renowned for its innovation in payments and treasury services, delivering efficient, secure, and scalable solutions to its global clientele.
BNY was also among the first participants in the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service, underscoring its commitment to advancing real-time payment solutions and further enhancing its ability to serve customers with speed and precision. Driven by its mission to lead in digital transformation, BNY continuously invests in modern technologies to enhance client experiences, improve operational efficiencies, and align with evolving regulatory standards.
The challenges that BNY faced
BNY, the world’s largest custodial bank and a leader in USD correspondent services, set out to pioneer real-time payments (RTP®) in the United States through The Clearing House’s RTP network. This ambitious goal came with considerable challenges. BNY’s existing legacy systems were built for traditional payment cycles, not for the demands of 24/7 real-time processing. The need for continuous uptime, instant settlement, and speed highlighted critical gaps in their infrastructure that could not be addressed without significant modernization.
In addition to technical constraints, BNY faced intense project timelines. Balancing aggressive go-live deadlines with project costs created pressure to find a solution that was both scalable and quick to implement. Furthermore, as digital transformation swept through the industry, competition from agile FinTechs and other financial institutions pushed BNY to act quickly to maintain its leadership position.
BNY needed a solution that would seamlessly integrate with its existing systems, support real-time capabilities, and futureproof the bank’s infrastructure for evolving payment schemes. Without solving these challenges, BNY risked falling behind competitors in an era where speed, convenience, and innovation are critical to success.
How Volante helped BNY
Modernizing payments with a flexible, multi-network platform
To meet its ambitious goals, BNY partnered with Volante Technologies, leveraging Volante’s cloud-native, multi-network payment platform. Volante’s solution offered the agility, scalability, and rapid deployment required to transform BNY’s payments infrastructure.
Volante collaborated closely with BNY to deliver a solution that integrated seamlessly into the bank’s existing systems while ensuring minimal operational disruption. The implementation process included the deployment of VolPay Hub: RTP Suite, which enabled BNY to process real-time payments on The Clearing House’s RTP network. Volante also supported Zelle Tokenized B2B Payments, aligning with BNY’s vision to transition from paper-based to digital payments.
The configurable nature of Volante’s platform allowed BNY to utilize its in-house IT resources, reducing deployment complexity and accelerating time to market. From concept to production, Volante helped BNY achieve its real-time payments launch in an impressive 10-month timeline.
By providing a solution that was both flexible and scalable, Volante not only addressed BNY’s immediate need to deliver RTP but also positioned the bank for future innovations. The partnership marked a critical milestone in BNY’s journey toward modernizing payments and meeting the growing demands of its clients.
Setting the standard for real-time payments innovation
The collaboration between BNY and Volante resulted in transformative outcomes that solidified BNY’s leadership in the payments space. BNY became the first bank in the U.S. to originate a real-time payment on The Clearing House’s RTP network, a milestone that demonstrated its ability to innovate and execute at scale.
With Volante’s support, BNY achieved rapid time to market, completing the project in just 10 months—from concept to full production. This achievement set a new standard for execution speed in the payments industry. The deployment of real-time payment capabilities, along with support for Zelle Tokenized B2B Payments, enabled BNY to modernize its offerings and deliver greater value to its corporate and institutional clients.
The implementation also streamlined operational workflows, reducing manual intervention and creating efficiencies across BNY’s payment operations. By addressing legacy constraints, BNY was able to offer its clients faster, more secure, and always available payment options, enhancing customer satisfaction and trust.
This strategic transformation turned real-time payments into a competitive advantage for BNY, solidifying its reputation as an innovative leader in global transaction banking while laying the groundwork for further advancements in payment technologies.
Building a foundation for scalable growth and innovation
With Volante’s modern payment platform in place, BNY is now well-positioned to lead the next wave of innovation in payments. The scalable and flexible nature of Volante’s solution ensures that BNY can seamlessly adopt additional payment schemes, including FedNow, and expand its real-time capabilities to meet evolving market demands.
Looking ahead, BNY plans to leverage Volante’s platform to introduce value-added services that enhance client experiences, such as advanced treasury management tools, enhanced analytics, and cash management solutions. These innovations will enable BNY to offer deeper insights and operational efficiencies to its corporate clients, strengthening its position as a trusted partner in financial services.
The adoption of ISO 20022 messaging is another key focus for BNY. By utilizing the enhanced data and rich messaging capabilities of ISO 20022, BNY can streamline cross-border payments, reduce errors, and offer superior reconciliation capabilities to its clients.
BNY’s partnership with Volante not only enabled the bank to pioneer real-time payments but also laid a strong foundation for future growth. With the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing market demands, BNY is well-equipped to lead innovation in an increasingly digital and real-time financial landscape.
The Volante difference
Volante Technologies played a critical role in helping BNY achieve its goal of becoming the first U.S. bank to process real-time payments on The Clearing House network. With a proven track record of delivering scalable, cloud-native payment solutions, Volante brought the expertise and technology needed to drive BNY’s payments transformation.
We are creating the building blocks for an integrated payments ecosystem both for today’s needs and for the next generation. This approach allowed us to be first to market with RTP and will also serve us well over the long term.
Saket Sharma, BNY’s former CIO
Volante’s multi-network platform offered unmatched flexibility, enabling BNY to process real-time payments alongside Zelle Tokenized B2B payments seamlessly. By leveraging Volante’s configurable solution, BNY was able to utilize its own IT resources, reducing deployment effort and achieving rapid time to market in just 10 months.
By leveraging Volante’s configurable solution, BNY was able to utilize its own IT resources, reducing deployment effort and achieving rapid time to market in just 10 months.
The platform’s scalability and future readiness provided BNY with a strategic pathway to support additional payment schemes, including FedNow and ISO 20022 messaging standards. Volante’s collaborative approach ensured that BNY could address legacy system challenges while building an agile, end-to-end payments infrastructure capable of meeting both present and future needs.
Through this partnership, Volante delivered not just a solution but a competitive advantage—empowering BNY to innovate, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver superior payment experiences to its clients, now and into the future.
