TD Auto Finance president and chief executive officer Andrew Stuart is part of the luncheon and opening panel discussion at the Auto Intel Summit, which looks to provide some clarity of “what’s next” for auto financing.

Stuart also is involved with a major undertaking TD Auto Finance announced on Thursday. The bank has launched real-time payments for its network of dealers, becoming what the institution believes is the first indirect auto finance provider to roll out the ability to send real-time payments nationwide.

With real-time payments, TD Auto Finance explained in a news release that it can fund dealers as contracts are booked throughout the day, rather than sending batch payments overnight via ACH.

TD Auto Finance pointed out this payment path can provide dealers with improved cash flow management and greater visibility into their financial position.

“We understand how important cashflow is to dealers. Our goal with real-time payments is to make life easier for dealers by eliminating the need to wait for payments overnight and giving them maximum confidence in their cash position and ability to operate their business,” Stuart said in the news release.

“We’re proud to be the first major auto lender to introduce this capability for dealers and we believe our focus on driving payments innovation is critical to deepening our dealer relationships,” added Stuart, who was the 2018 Auto Finance Executive of the Year and returned to his current position in December.

TD Auto Finance first introduced real-time payments in October to a pilot group of dealers. The nationwide rollout is currently underway and will be available in phases over the coming weeks to dealers whose banks are live on the RTP network, the real-time payment system from The Clearing House.

The launch of real-time payments to TD Auto Finance dealers represents a significant milestone in TD Bank’s overall commitment to deliver this technology to our commercial and retail customers.

Since connecting to the TCH network in November 2019, TD has experienced a substantial increase in demand for real-time payments, and as an owner bank of The Clearing House, will continue to invest in this capability to deliver a legendary experience across our customer base.

“We are excited to see TD Auto Finance bringing real-time payments to its dealer customers through the RTP network,” said Steve Ledford, senior vice president of product development at The Clearing House.

“The RTP network is designed to foster innovation so financial institutions can offer their customers value added, faster payment services, such as real-time payments from TD Auto Finance,” Ledford continued in the news release.

Payments and more topics will be in the spotlight during the Auto Intel Summit, which is on deck for April 12-14 in Raleigh, N.C.

After the opening panel featuring Stuart along with Stephanie Hanson of Tricolor Financial, Joana Deans of Toyota Financial Services, Marc Womack of Santander Consumer USA and Justin Osterle of RouteOne, the AIS agenda is full of more discussions and workshops.

To see the agenda and register, go to www.autointelsummit.com.