October 20, 2021

The Federal Reserve Banks today launched new resources for the U.S. payments industry to facilitate education, preparation and ecosystem innovation in support of instant payments, a type of faster payment that provides payees with immediate access to funds, enabled by real-time final settlement between financial institutions.

“End users have accelerated their use of digital payments, including instant payments,” said Shonda Clay, the Federal Reserve’s chief of customer and industry engagement. “The Federal Reserve is offering new tools to help payments stakeholders better understand and address this market, including providing instant payments education and helping them prepare to adopt the FedNow^SM Service for instant payments when it is launched in 2023.”

The Federal Reserve’s new instant payment tools and support include:

• The FedNow Explorer website (Off-site), an experiential platform designed to educate and engage financial institutions and service providers with curated content and business tools to support their instant payments journey. The website will offer different learning path options for guided or self-guided exploration. Content includes instant payment basics; how the FedNow Service works; information about FedNow features, functionality and use cases; and how to plan and prepare for the FedNow Service.
   
• The Ecosystem Accelerator Group, a new user group within the FedNow Community that will provide payment processors, core banking system providers, mobile and online banking platform providers, payment hubs and gateways, bill pay/presentment service providers and others the opportunity to:
  • Influence FedNow Service design and release priorities.
  • Participate in programs designed for the needs and interests of solution developers and providers.
  • Ask technical questions and obtain answers relevant to this ecosystem group.
  • Network with the broader FedNow Community and potential partners among financial institutions, other service providers and business clients.
  
  
• A new Service Provider Showcase to support end-to-end development of the instant payments ecosystem and FedNow Service implementation. The online showcase will enable service providers to highlight their technical and consultative capabilities related to instant payments. Service providers who are members of the Ecosystem Accelerator Group within the FedNow Community will be able to submit their information and solutions for the showcase starting later this year for broad exposure on the FedNow Explorer website in early 2022. More details on how service providers can participate in this showcase will be provided in the coming weeks, as well as the anticipated timeline for publishing submissions.

For more information about the FedNow Service and other instant payment resources, visit FedNowExplorer.org (Off-site).

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