VocaLink, the U.K.-based international payment systems provider, has signed a contract with The Clearing House to develop a national real-time payment service in the U.S.  In October, the two companies announced that they had signed a letter of intent; Thursday's contract signing finalizes the partnership and clears the way for work to build the system to begin immediately. 

"Finalizing this partnership with VocaLink represents a significant milestone in our effort to make ubiquitous real-time payments a reality in the U.S.," James Aramanda, president and CEO at The Clearing House, said in a press release. "Once completed, customers will pay or receive money in real time from any financial institution, and with its innovative extensible design the system will be built to provide the basis for payment solutions currently unimagined."

Vocalink already has worked on national real-time payment services in the U.K. and Singapore. 

VocaLink designed, built and manages the real-time technology behind the U.K. Faster Payments Service on behalf of the Faster Payments Scheme. Since the service was launched in 2008, over four billion payments have been securely processed and the real-time infrastructure has provided a platform for further innovation, driving the development and proliferation of a wider range of services, including mobile payments.