One of the key roles of the Federal Reserve is to provide secure, resilient, best-in-class payment services that are the bedrock of our nation’s economy, benefiting businesses and individuals alike.
Federal Reserve Financial Services is an integrated organization within the Federal Reserve that is responsible for managing critical payment and securities services that foster the accessibility, integrity, and efficiency of the US economy.
Through its relationships with more than 9,000 financial institutions nationwide, the Federal Reserve provides access to a system that facilitates more than $5 trillion payments each day. Federal Reserve Financial Services, delivered via a secure FedLine network, include the FedNow Service, FedCash Services, FedACH Services, Check Services, Fedwire Funds and Securities Services, the National Settlement Service, and more. Find more information here
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The Federal Reserve also collaborates broadly with payments stakeholders on improvement initiatives to advance the end-to-end speed, security, and efficiency of domestic and cross-border payments. This collaboration led to and has informed development of the FedNow Service, an instant payments infrastructure that launched as a new Federal Reserve Financial Services product offering in 2023.
FedNow Service for instant payments
The FedNow Service is an instant payment infrastructure developed by the Federal Reserve for financial institutions. Participating banks and credit unions can use the service to send and receive money for their customers instantly—24 hours a day, any day of the year.
The FedNow Service, introduced in July 2023, is a safe and efficient instant payments infrastructure that operates around the clock, 365 days a year. It enables financial institutions of all sizes to offer customers the ability to send and receive money immediately, providing receivers immediate access to funds.
Through the service, funds settle between participating financial institutions instantly, which means no buildup of interbank obligations or short-term credit risk. The FedNow Service provides a springboard for financial institutions to offer innovative instant payment solutions and help them meet the growing demand for these services. The FedNow Service modernizes the US payment infrastructure and provides a range of use cases and benefits to financial institutions, individuals, and businesses.
As an interbank payment system, the FedNow Service operates alongside other longstanding Federal Reserve payment services, including Fedwire and FedACH. The Federal Reserve is working with the more than 9,000 banks and credit unions across the country to support the widespread availability of this service for their customers over time.
More information about the FedNow Service is available here.