As financial institutions prepare for the FedNow Service, they’ll need to consider how to connect to the service and determine which connectivity option best suits their business needs.
Why is connectivity important?
Connectivity to the FedNow Service allows your organization to perform key functions, including:
- Sending and receiving messages, including ISO® 20022 messages. This will occur using an application that interfaces with an IBM® MQ client, which connecting parties will need to install.
- Accessing the participant profiles in the FedNow Service interface via FedLine® Solutions to manage configurations, view reports, run ad-hoc queries and more.
What are the connectivity options?
Financial institutions can choose to connect:
- Directly using a FedLine Solutions connection (WAN or VPN) to send and receive FedNow ISO 20022 messages and perform FedNow Service profile administration.
- Through a third-party service provider(s) such as a payment processor, bankers’ bank or corporate credit union.
What are the first steps?
As your organization considers how you’ll connect to the FedNow Service, here are a few tips:
- Gather an internal team at your organization to determine how you’ll connect. Team members may include project managers, application owners, network or firewall staff, information security, your End User Authorization Contact (EUAC) and an executive sponsor.
- Review your organization’s current connection solutions and portfolio of Federal Reserve services, along with your instant payment strategy, to help you determine if existing capabilities can support the FedNow Service.
- Contact your Federal Reserve relationship manager to help you assess your FedNow Service readiness and understand both connectivity options and next steps.
Where to get more information
We have ample resources to help you understand FedNow Service connectivity. For a quick overview, download the “FedNow Connectivity at a Glance” (Off-site) resource. For more detailed information, view the “FedNow Service Guide to FedLine Connectivity” (Off-site).
