PUB. 18 2021 ISSUE 3

20 ONE STEP CLOSER TO INSTANT PAYMENTS WITH THE FEDNOW SM PILOT PROGRAM By Jay Kenney, SVP & Southwest Regional Manager for PCBB T he Federal Reserve’s development of its instant payment infrastructure, the FedNow Service, is making “good progress,” according to FedNow Program Executive Kenneth Montgomery. The industry-wide launch timeline has moved to 2023, and the pilot program started with various financial industry players, including PCBB. FedNow will increase the instant payment service options for financial institutions and their customers. As one of 120 pilot program participants, PCBB has an opportunity to provide feedback on service implementation and how community banks would use this solution and shape the direction to ensure the payment rails are cost-effective to implement. PCBB hopes to help other community bankers by being an intermediary, so they won’t need to expend their own time and labor while getting the benefits of a new payment service. “We are thrilled to be a participant in the FedNow Service pilot program. This gives us an opportunity to assist the Federal Reserve in developing an instant payments strategy, roadmap, and various approaches for adoption for the industry,” states Sonia Portwood, EVP, Business Development and Strategic Execution of PCBB. The FedNow Service will be developed in phases so that testing and learnings can be folded in during development