By Greg Deckard

As we come to the end of the first quarter of 2022, we’re still in the throes of finding our “new normal,” which is shaping everything from our branch strategy to product innovation and beyond. There are several issues deserving of our focus, but for many of us, instant payments has risen to become a necessary priority.

With FedNow slated to launch in 2023, we must make several decisions now about the path ahead, including what does the service mean for our digital strategy and how will it feed into our customer offerings. There is much to consider, with a lot of unknowns surrounding it.

At my bank, payments have been a key element of our long-term strategy, but we’re now at the stage where we need to move from strategy to planning and execution. In fact, we are presently seeking a payments specialist to support our payments business overall. It’s an important first step in our instant payments journey.

But we’re aware that there is much more to come. With that in mind, our leadership team has begun asking some important questions about what we want to achieve with instant payments and what we can be doing now to prepare. I’m betting many community bankers are in the same planning stages as State Bank Northwest. And you are asking your team the same questions, including:

• What elements of our day-to-day operations need to shift as we take on instant payments?

• What does it mean for staffing and other internal needs?

• What instant payments use cases and areas of opportunity do we see for our customers?

• Which should we prioritize in roll out?

• What is our implementation approach?

• What parameters do we want to set for ourselves and our customers as we develop instant payments products?

• Recognizing we still need more information from providers, what can we be doing now, in the short-term, to prepare?

• What does timing look like for us to be comfortable moving toward implementation?

These are not easy questions to answer, but thankfully, we have ICBA Bancard for support. This issue of Bancard Confidential outlines tools and resources (provided on Bancard’s website and from their expert staff) that can help community bankers navigate this unfamiliar territory.

There’s no doubt that we are being deluged with instant payments information, but I’m equally confident that now is the time to educate ourselves and create a plan. And I’m grateful that we can turn to Bancard to support us in doing just that. I encourage you to frequently visit the ICBA Bancard website for educational resources and white papers to assist you in your instant payments journey. The Bancard Team is ready, willing, and able to assist!

Greg Deckard is ICBA Bancard’s chairman and is the CEO and chairman of State Bank Northwest, a $250 million-asset community bank in Spokane, Wash.