InfoBytes Blog
Federal Reserve developing real-time payment system
On August 5, the Federal Reserve Board (Board) announced that Federal Reserve Banks will develop a “round-the-clock real-time payment and settlement service” called the “FedNow℠ Service.” According to a notice and request for comment, “the service would support depository institutions’ provision of end-to-end faster payment services and would provide infrastructure to promote, ubiquitous, safe, and efficient faster payments in the United States.” The Board is requesting comments on how the service might be designed in order to support payment system stakeholders and the general functioning of the U.S. payment system. FedNow is anticipated to be available in 2023 or 2024. Comments on the notice will be due 90 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Board also released FAQs associated with faster payments.
In a speech announcing the service, Governor Brainard noted that FedNow will be accessible to all banks and “will permit banks of every size in every community across the country to provide real-time payments to their customers.” Brainard noted that the Board is “uniquely placed to deliver this outcome” given its “long-standing service connections with more than 10,000 banks across the country.”
As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Board issued a request for comments in October 2018 regarding potential actions the Board could take to facilitate real-time interbank settlement of faster payments. The Board reports that it received over 350 comments and over 90 percent supported the Board operating its own, round-the-clock payment service alongside services provided by the private sector.