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FPC unveils guideline for sending instant payments

Monday, January 13, 2025 — 19:09:14 (EST)

Jan. 13, 2025 – The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), a membership organization devoted to advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, today released the latest guideline from the FPC Operational Considerations Work Group, sponsored by Endava: Operational Considerations for Instant Payments Send-Side Primer. This comprehensive report provides financial institutions (FIs) with valuable insights and actionable steps for enabling instant payment sending capabilities on the FedNow® Service and RTP® Network.

“The Operational Considerations Work Group is focused on providing real-world examples and help to financial institutions looking to implement real-time payments,” said Miriam Sheril, Head of Product – US at Form3 and FPC Operational Considerations Work Group Chair. “Not many have implemented send yet or done it at scale, and we hope that this primer on what you need to consider in order to enable sending instant payments on the rails will be a starting point for banks to pursue those initiatives in 2025. We will, of course, follow up with the deep dive that will go into not just what you need to consider, but how you can get it done!”

The report highlights essential considerations for institutions expanding from receiving to sending instant payments, emphasizing areas such as operational readiness, user interface design, liquidity management, and fraud mitigation. With instant payments offering irrevocability and real-time processing, financial institutions are encouraged to adopt robust reconciliation systems and comprehensive risk management strategies. Additionally, the primer underscores the importance of staffing and training to ensure smooth operations and enhanced customer experiences.

“While receiving instant payments is certainly foundational to the entire network, there is far bigger impact and opportunity when FIs start pursuing and building out sending capabilities,” said Tony Cook, Executive Vice President – Payment Operations at FirstBank and Operational Considerations Work Group Vice Chair. “And while there is a lot of focus on use cases, understanding operational requirements, risks, and other considerations is an enormous part of that journey to ensure successful implementation and ongoing operations.”

The guideline also delves into technical and strategic elements, such as interoperability, exception processing, and mechanisms for meeting performance requirements. By addressing these topics, the primer provides a roadmap for institutions to design efficient systems capable of handling the speed, scale, and complexities of instant payment transactions.

“As the faster payments landscape continues to evolve, sending capabilities represent the next frontier for financial institutions aiming to deliver on the promise of real-time payments,” said FPC Executive Director Reed Luhtanen. “This primer offers a practical foundation for FIs to build upon as they take their next steps in enabling secure, reliable, and scalable sending capabilities. Our goal is to equip our members and the industry at large with the tools and knowledge they need to lead the way in faster payments adoption.”

The Guideline.02: Operational Considerations for Instant Payments Send-Side Primer is now available for download from the FPC's Faster Payments Knowledge Center.

The FPC prioritizes inclusion of diverse perspectives in tackling complex topics such as interoperability, identifying real-world solutions that can ease adoption of faster payments, managing security risks and fraud threats, addressing barriers to financial inclusion and cross-border payments, and more, as the organization paves the way toward a future of faster payments for all.

For more information on the FPC, its current work efforts or to join, visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.

Contact:

Elizabeth Grice U.S. Faster Payments Council 720-737-7368 egrice@fasterpaymentscouncil.org

About the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC)

The FPC is an industry-led membership organization whose vision is a world-class payment system where Americans can safely and securely pay anyone, anywhere, at any time and with near-immediate funds availability. By design, the FPC encourages a diverse range of perspectives and is open to all stakeholders in the U.S. payment system. Guided by principles of fairness, inclusiveness, flexibility and transparency, the FPC uses collaborative, problem-solving approaches to resolve the issues that are inhibiting broad faster payments adoption in this country. For more information, please visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.

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Source: Company press release.