How to Get Ready for the FedNow Service

The Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service launching July 2023 will allow U.S. financial institutions of all sizes to enable their customers to send and receive payments in seconds — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Are you ready for instant payments with the FedNow Service? Here are tips to help you prepare.

Get to Know the FedNow Service

Whether you’re just starting out on your instant payments journey or are looking for in-depth information on the FedNow Service, there are resources available to help. Here are three easy ways to learn about the service:

• Explore resources on FedNow Explorer.
• Sign up for regular FedNow News emails.
• Talk to your Federal Reserve relationship manager.

Understand the Demand

Your customers may not be directly asking for faster/instant payments, but the demand is there. Seventy-four percent of consumers and 83% of businesses sent or received a faster payment in the past 12 months, according to recent Federal Reserve surveys.

Reviewing how much money your customers have transferred from their accounts at your financial institution to online payment providers can also give you a clue as to their preferences. If you’re a FedACH® Services customer, you can use the ACH Originated Entries Detail Report and ACH Received Entries Detail Report to get a sense of your customers’ payments behavior.

Consider the Opportunities

Think about the products you can build and offer using the FedNow Service to help meet your customers’ needs. Here are a few examples to spark ideas:  

• Individual customers: Paying bills, reloading prepaid cards, transferring funds between accounts and paying friends or family.
• Business customers: Transferring cash between accounts, sending bills or invoices using request-for payment capabilities, and paying insurance claims and employee wages.

Coordinate Internally and with Service Providers

Convene a team to prepare for the service. This may include network/firewall experts, application development staff, information security, operations staff, legal counsel and more. You’ll also want to understand the service providers that can support your instant payment needs. Your current service providers are a good place to start. Or, visit the FedNow Service Provider Showcase to find and connect with providers.

Make Key Decisions

Before you begin onboarding, your organization will need to answer the following:

• How will you connect – using a new or existing FedLine Solutions connection or through a service provider?
• Where will you settle payments – in your Federal Reserve Bank master account or that of a correspondent?
• How will you participate – receive only, send and receive, settlement only, etc.?
• Prepare for real-time posting – can you make funds available immediately?

Commit to the Service and Start Onboarding

Once you’ve taken the steps above, you may be ready to start the FedNow Service onboarding process. An assigned onboarding manager will help you along the way.

Learn More

For more information about preparing for the FedNow Service, download the “Preplanning Roadmap” and “6 phases of the FedNow Service Journey” resources on FedNowExplorer.org.

The Federal Reserve Financial Services logo, “FedNow” and “FedLine” are service marks of the Federal Reserve Banks.