Federal Reserve announces FedNowSM Pilot Program
October 13, 2020
Invites Industry Stakeholders to Join the FedNow Community, Express Their Interest in Pilot Participation
Chicago, IL
The Federal Reserve Banks today announced and invited expressions of interest in a pilot program for their upcoming instant payments offering, the FedNow Service.
The opportunity to participate in the pilot program is open to eligible members of the FedNow Community, comprised of more than 700 members that have expressed their commitment to the success of the service. Community members selected to participate in the pilot will play a key role in supporting the development, testing and adoption of the FedNow Service.
"Thanks to industry input we have a strong foundation with our initial service design and are now in the next phase of development designing enhanced features and functionality,” said Nick Stanescu, senior vice president and FedNow business executive with responsibility for product management. “We are eager to engage a group of pilot participants who will work side by side with us as we develop a service that meets stakeholder needs and can support rapid adoption by thousands of 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 pilot program will promote development and testing of services that leverage FedNow capabilities to address a variety of consumer and business use cases.
Over the coming weeks, the Federal Reserve will accept 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.
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.
Interested organizations that are not members of the FedNow Community should first enroll by submitting the FedNow Community participant profile form (Off-site). Enrolled Community members will receive more information on the pilot program, the program’s expression of interest form and an invitation to join a webinar later this month.
About the FedNow Service
The Federal Reserve Banks are developing the FedNow Service to facilitate nationwide reach of instant payment services by financial institutions – regardless of size or geographic location – in near real time, around the clock, every day of the year. Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals will be able to send and receive instant payments conveniently, and recipients will have full access to funds within seconds, giving them greater flexibility to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments. Access will be provided through the Federal Reserve’s FedLine® network, which serves more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or through their agents. For more information, visit FRBservices.org.
Media Contact:
- Mike Adleman (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) P: (312) 322-2934
- Maryellen Thielen Federal Reserve System P: (312) 322-4427