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Request to Pay is one of the most talked about initiatives in the payment industry at present. In allowing payees to initiate requests for payments within a secure messaging channel, and with the ability for data to travel with the payment request, Request to Pay enables new flexible ways for money to move between people, organisations and businesses. As such, it can be viewed as an enabling mechanism for a range of different payment scenarios or use-cases.

Yet despite broad interest and increasing recognition of its potential to offer new and improved payment services, the path to widespread adoption remains unclear. The full range of product offerings across sectors have yet to emerge and take hold.

To better understand current and future perspectives on Request to Pay, in October 2021, Icon surveyed a group of over 50 industry stakeholders including leading retail and global corporate banks. In-depth interviews were also conducted with senior executives at several tier 1 banks.

Insights include

Request to Pay is set to challenge traditional payment methods like cards and direct debits.

Demand for Request to Pay services is increasing, particularly from corporate customers.

Despite increasing demand for Request to Pay, action is limited.

The biggest obstacles to industry adoption are bank readiness, strong customer authentication and standardisation.

Existing technology limiting banks when it comes to delivering Request to Pay.