Playing Catch-up with FedNow – The Greatest Hits of FedNow Resources and Reference Materials

With the July launch of FedNow looming, are you feeling behind in terms of learning more about the service, its impacts on your bank, and the steps needed to implement it?

You may have gone to the FedNow Explorer tool or ICBA Bancard’s instant payments resource page, and observed there is a ton of great information out there. If it seems overwhelming fear not, Bancard has you covered. Check out our ‘Greatest Hits’ for a curated list of resources to guide you from planning to implementation.

FedNow Resources and Reference Materials ‘Greatest Hits’

1. Understanding the FedNow Service: Before you even begin planning, it’s important to know what you are planning for! Start by further developing your understanding of what the FedNow Service is (and is not). A review of the FedNow Product Sheet is a great place to begin.

2. Understanding the FedNow journey: Before putting pen to paper and developing a plan, it will be helpful to have a big picture view of the key phases involved. The Six Phases of the FedNow Journey reference helps paint this picture (fednowexplorer.org).

3. Develop your plan: After gathering appropriate background context, you can begin putting together a plan for FedNow. Watch one of ICBA Bancard’s recorded webinars with a FedNow expert on plan development to learn more.

4. Determine how you will connect: Deciding how you will connect to the service is an important decision. While most community banks will connect through a third-party, some will connect directly. Check out FedNow Explorer’s Connectivity at a Glance readiness guide.

5. Deciding on a service provider: As referenced above, many community banks will rely on a third-party service provider for FedNow service connectivity and processing. The Readiness Roadmap for institutions working with a service provider is a great place to start. You can also mailto:contact ICBA Bancard ([email protected]) for support in figuring out what options are available.

6. Determining how you will use the service when implemented: Deciding if you will ‘receive-only’ at launch, or send and receive, is an important decision. This decision also goes hand-in-hand with envisioning which instant payments use cases will be most helpful for your customers. Check out the Fed’s use case series (fednowexplorer.org) to learn more about the use cases out there and watch our recorded webinar with a FedNow expert “Exploring Instant Payments Use Cases” (icba.org/instantpayments) to hear first-hand how you might use the service when first implementing.

7. Learn more about important fraud considerations: The instant and irrevocable nature of FedNow transactions bring about important fraud considerations for banks to be aware of. Review the Protecting Against Instant Payments Fraud (fednowexplorer.org) resource and talk to your current and prospective fraud vendors to ensure you are prepared.

8. Solidify readiness for service implementation: Review both the comprehensive FedNow Service Readiness Guide and the applicable Fed operating circular to ensure that you have dotted the i's and crossed the t's in preparing for implementation, and that you have educated yourself on the service's operating rules.

By leveraging these ‘Greatest Hits’ of FedNow reference and resource materials, we hope your bank will be confident in developing your plan and implementing the service at the appropriate time. Please know that Bancard is here to help! Let us know how we can assist along the way.