The Federal Reserve released new resource guides for users of its FedNow Service, which enables instant payments for households and businesses anytime. The guides offer information on service readiness, onboarding, and additional guidance for institutions looking to join FedNow.
Launched in July 2023, more than 900 banks and credit unions have signed up for the service to provide this payment capability to customers through their various payment interfaces and banking apps.
The FedNow Service Readiness guide is designed to help financial institutions improve their understanding of the inner workings of the service to prepare for instant payments. It includes insights, questions to consider and ideas for gaining value from the service for institutions and their customers. The Fed plans to update this guide over time based on feedback and product enhancements.
The FedNow Onboarding Overview guide describes the onboarding process for institutions and offers a detailed overview of what is needed to launch FedNow on an institution’s available customer-facing platforms.
FedNow allows customers to send payments within seconds, which are immediately available to the recipient with no limits in terms of days or times this can be accomplished.
The service is designed for a variety of transactions, including bill payments, vendor payments, payroll deposits, and large-dollar wire transfers.
Additional resources and information on the FedNow service can be found on the Explore FedNow website.