Announcing the FedNowSM Pilot Program

October 13, 2020

The Federal Reserve announced the creation of the FedNow Pilot Program to support development, testing and adoption of the FedNow Service. This program continues efforts to foster industry partnerships in the development of the new instant payments service.

Over the last month, the Federal Reserve accepted expressions of interest in the pilot program from eligible members of the FedNow Community, including financial institutions, as well as service providers and payment processors that partner with financial institutions.

The pilot program will include three phases: advisory, testing and closed-loop production. Throughout each of these phases and the subsequent launch of the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve will call upon the entire group or subgroups of pilot participants – for example, those with specific expertise and/or representing specific segments – to participate in discussions or demos, test the service, engage service providers or users, and conduct other activities as needed.

The Federal Reserve has happily received a large number of expression of interest submissions and we are in the process of reviewing them all. Participants will be selected from the pool of interested organizations, seeking to ensure the program is representative of various types of institutions and service providers, connection types, and settlement arrangements.

Additional participants may be added in later phases of the program to address evolving needs. Organizations that are not selected will have opportunities to provide input into the FedNow Service through their participation in FedNow Community roundtables, working groups and surveys and may elect to become an early user of the service upon general availability.

If you have any questions about the Community or the pilot program please email us at SYSFedNowCommunity@chi.frb.org.

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