While money can change hands in mere seconds, investors might still find themselves waiting several days to actually receive it. This disconnect creates an oddly sluggish experience on a digital platform when a user is eager to access their funds.
The report titled “The Power of Now: Moving Money at the Speed of Life: Investment Firms’ Payout Gap” is based on a survey of 120 executives from U.S. investment platforms responsible for making payment-related decisions.
It reveals that these investment platforms have set ambitious targets for accelerating payouts. On average, they aim to process 47% of payouts in real time within the next three years, but current figures are significantly lower. As it stands, only 11% of standard withdrawals are completed in under a minute.
This lag in performance comes with tangible costs for businesses. Delayed payments tend to frustrate investors, leading to an uptick in service requests and disputes. Furthermore, they bring about additional manual work while increasing compliance risks. In a competitive environment where customers can easily shift their assets to different platforms, the speed of payouts can prove just as critical for customer loyalty as the trading process itself.
The report hints at a viable path forward. It shows that platforms implementing a push-to-debit option manage to process a significantly larger portion of payment transactions in real time. They also receive considerably fewer inquiries from customers regarding payment status. This data implies that quicker money transfers could enhance customer satisfaction while relieving pressure on customer service teams.
Insights from the Report
- Diverse challenges arise from payment delays across various firm sizes. Over half of the platforms in each revenue tier report customer dissatisfaction. Larger firms are facing the highest rates of disputes, whereas smaller firms tend to struggle with issues linked to late payouts and the need to reissue payments.
- The size of the firm influences the barriers to quicker payouts. Medium-sized platforms often grapple with system costs and compatibility challenges. Smaller platforms are more focused on preferences for checks and high-value transfers, while larger ones prioritize verifying recipient identities.
- Plans for automation reveal potential stagnation. Half of the surveyed firms believe that increased automation could enhance the processing of withdrawals and disbursements. However, only 30% intend to pursue these upgrades in the coming year, illustrating a significant gap between expressed need and planned action.
For a complete picture of where investment platforms are advancing, where implementation is lagging, and how quicker payments can better serve investors, check out the report.
About the Report
“The Power of Now: Moving Money at the Speed of Life: Investment Firms’ Payout Gap” is a report developed as part of PYMNTS Intelligence in collaboration with Visa Direct. It is founded on a survey conducted from December 30, 2025, to January 26, 2026, involving 120 U.S.-based investment platform executives overseeing payout and disbursement decisions.
