Dwolla, BBVA Compass partner for real-time payments

But it took until now for the partnership to become reality. Thus, BBVA Compass customers can bypass the processing delay of the automated clearing house (ACH) when sending or receiving funds.

As part of the integration, businesses and individuals with a US BBVA bank account can move money at a flat fee of 25 cents for transactions more than USD 10; transactions less than that are processed for free.

The companies say that real-time transfers are useful for a range of companies, from startups to enterprises to SMBs, that are looking for a way to collect funds, make disbursements or handle B2B payments.

As for the technical side of the partnership, it marks the debut of Dwollas FiSync secure authentication protocol. FiSync uses a tokenization process to remove sensitive bank account information and credentials from Dwollas or any other partys systems.

The companies are also pitching the service to developers and innovators, who can use Dwollas APIs to create their own custom real-time applications or business processes.

Coincidentally, the partnership comes at a time when the US Federal Reserve is nudging the payment industry to create a real-time payment infrastructure within five to 10 years.