As real-time payments spread in the United States, banks are facing a growing burden to authenticate customers and verify recipient accounts. Transfers are faster, but it is difficult to reverse a transaction if money is sent to the wrong account or a customer falls victim to financial fraud, increasing the importance of verification in advance.

American Banker reported on Oct. 12 local time that, unlike Britain or the European Union, the United States has no nationwide rule that uniformly mandates strict recipient verification by banks. As a result, financial institutions differ in how they verify accounts and in their security levels.

Ximena Aleman (시메나 알레만), co-chief executive officer of Prometeo, pointed out that some banks still rely on small test deposits or manual checks by staff. She explained that even a single incorrect digit in an account number can result in money being transferred to someone else.

Real-time payments, unlike typical card payments, are often difficult to cancel or refund after a transaction. For that reason, procedures to confirm account status and recipient information before sending money are important.

The U.S. Federal Reserve provides a recipient name verification service, and it is also expanding features on its real-time payment network FedNow to verify recipient account information in advance.

Automated fraud detection is also being strengthened. Banks are using AI and machine learning to analyze customers' usual transaction patterns to detect first-time transfers or unusually large remittances. If risk is detected, a transaction can be temporarily delayed for additional checks.

Automation remains limited, however. In a Federal Reserve survey of more than 400 financial institutions, 71 percent used manual reviews to detect accounts used for money laundering. The share using automated review methods was less than half.

Experts stressed that as real-time payments spread, balancing transfer speed and security becomes more important. They said verification to prevent financial fraud should take place before, not after, a transfer.