"CHICAGO – The Federal Reserve Banks have narrowed the timing of the FedNow Service launch to mid-year 2023, specifically targeting a production rollout of the service in the May to July timeframe. This further defines the previously communicated 2023 launch window for the anticipated instant payments service and comes as the FedNow Pilot Program prepares to enter technical testing for the service starting in September (2022).....Currently, more than 120 organizations are participating in the FedNow Pilot Program....."
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20220829a.htm https://explore.fednow.org/ YBB Note. Instant online bank payments are already available in many countries, including some developing countries. While Zelle, Venmo, Popmoney, etc are available in the US, they are quite limited by $amounts (that vary by banks) and signups (parties must signup for those services); there are few safeguards (payments are not cancellable/reversible for any reason); they are mostly for personal transactions (P2P). The current ACH batch operations take 2-3 days (day 0-1 to send, day 2 for internal error checks, day 3 for account posting); some banks/credit unions may post $amount the next day for their established/preferred customers, but others may even have 5-day hold. Hopefully, FedNow in mid-2023 will speed things up.
Comments
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20230315a.htm
I wonder if a mechanism like this could make possible almost instantaneous bank runs. I'm thinking that if a bank was in trouble they would likely kill this immediately.