Domestic

The RTP Network (instant, final, prefunded)

Riya sends USD 250.00 to Arjun in the middle of the night and he can spend it at once. RTP, operated by The Clearing House, runs every day of the year, only pushes money, and is final the moment it settles — no one can recall it.

Contributor Shubham Mathure14 July 2026

PAYMENTS SIGNAL · REFERENCE CARD

Actors

Riya (sender)customer
Bank Alfa (sender bank)bank
RTP (The Clearing House)infrastructure
Nordbank (receiver bank)bank
Arjun (recipient)customer

Messages

No standard message — a book / internal transfer.

The sequence

#	Step	Route	Kind
1	Instruction — Riya instructs Bank Alfa to pay Arjun	Riya → Bank Alfa	message
2	RTP credit transfer — Bank Alfa submits the credit transfer to RTP	Bank Alfa → RTP	message
3	Confirm funds available — RTP checks the position and asks Nordbank to confirm	RTP → Nordbank	message
4	Confirmation — Nordbank confirms it will make funds available	Nordbank → RTP	message
5	Prefunded settlement — RTP settles in the prefunded joint account at the Fed NY	Bank Alfa → Nordbank	settlement
6	Debit Riya — Bank Alfa debits Riya	Bank Alfa	posting
7	Credit Arjun — Nordbank credits Arjun immediately	Nordbank	posting

Exception rails

Rail	Trigger	Where the money ends up	Next action
No recall — only a request for return	Bank Alfa realises the payment was a mistake and wants it back. But RTP payments are final and irrevocable: there is no recall right for the sender. The only route is a Request for Return of Funds — a request Nordbank and Arjun may or may not honour.	With Arjun. The payment was final on receipt; funds return only if Arjun voluntarily sends them back as a new payment. · The original settlement is final and irrevocable and stands; nothing was reversed in the prefunded joint account.	Nordbank — Bank Alfa waits for the recipient's decision and, if refused, resolves it directly with Riya outside RTP — unlike rails that grant a recall right, RTP has none.