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BAC Plans to Launch Real-Time Global Payments: A Fee Revenue Catalyst?

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Key Takeaways

  • BAC plans a real-time cross-border payments solution through Swift and CashPro next quarter.
  • BAC targets remittances, gig-worker payouts and e-commerce payments to drive recurring fees.
  • BAC's platform adds tracking, full-principal delivery and local-currency settlement.

Bank of America’s (BAC - Free Report) planned launch of a cross-border real-time payments solution next quarter is expected to support fee revenues over time by giving corporate and commercial clients a faster, more transparent way to move money across countries. By offering instant payments through Swift and CashPro, BAC can reduce delays and uncertainty in global transactions, encouraging more clients to route cross-border payment activity through the bank.

The opportunity is meaningful because BAC is targeting high-volume payment areas, such as remittances, gig-worker payouts and e-commerce marketplace payments. While these transactions are often smaller in value, they occur frequently. As volumes increase, transaction-related fees can build into a steady recurring revenue stream, making the product attractive from a long-term revenue perspective.

The launch is also expected to help BAC deepen relationships with corporate and institutional clients. Companies using CashPro for real-time global payments may also turn to the bank for treasury, cash-management, foreign-exchange and working-capital services. This will likely create cross-selling opportunities and improve client stickiness.

Features such as real-time tracking, full principal delivery and local-currency settlement will improve client experience. Businesses want certainty around when money is sent, when it arrives and how much the receiver gets. By reducing delays and improving transparency, BAC can make its payments platform more valuable.

Overall, as demand for faster and more reliable cross-border payments grows, the launch is expected to help Bank of America capture a larger share of global payment flows and gradually strengthen its fee-based revenue stream.

How Are BAC’s Peers Competing in This Space?

Global transaction banking peers such as JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) and Citigroup (C - Free Report) are also investing in faster cross-border payment capabilities.

JPMorgan is strengthening its real-time cross-border payments capabilities through its blockchain-based Kinexys Digital Payments platform, which enables institutional clients to move deposits with JPMorgan instantly, including across borders and outside normal banking hours.

By supporting 24/7/365 payments, real-time transaction visibility, liquidity movement and offshore USD clearing, Kinexys positions JPMorgan as a leading large-bank competitor in tokenized payments and real-time treasury solutions.

Citigroup, conversely, is advancing its real-time cross-border payments capabilities by integrating Citi Token Services with its 24/7 USD Clearing platform. The solution enables institutional clients to move funds near-instantly across Citigroup and non-Citigroup accounts, initially in the U.K. and the United States, with plans to expand to more markets.

Bank of America’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

In the past six months, BAC shares have lost 1.1% against the industry’s 2.2% growth.

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From a valuation standpoint, Bank of America trades at a 12-month trailing price-to-tangible book (P/TB) of 1.96X, below the industry average of 3.24.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAC’s 2026 and 2027 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 16.8% and 14.2%, respectively. In the past week, earnings estimates for both years have been unchanged.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Bank of America currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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