We had an update from the Federal Reserve on FedNow this week. There are now 400 banks participating in the instant payments network as either a sender or receiver.
They launched last July with 35 institutions and have been growing steadily since then. The last public statement that I have heard was when FedNow chief, Mark Gould, spoke at the American Fintech Council’s Policy Summit in November when they had 200 banks on the platform.
Some of the country’s largest banks such as Bank of America, Citi, Capital One and PNC have still not joined. But these banks have indicated that they will eventually join.
Most large banks are members of The Clearing House’s RTP network so can process real-time payments via that network. Then, of course, there are also real-time payment offerings from the card networks, Visa Direct and Mastercard Send, that have almost universal coverage and work internationally as well.
FedNow is run by the federal government so it can afford a slow rollout. The Fed is playing the long game and it is inevitable that most payments will move to real-time eventually.
When that happens FedNow will likely be a huge player in payments.
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