The Federal Reserve debuted a new payments system designed to speed up the movement of money among banks around the U.S., the central bank’s first new network in decades.
The new system, called FedNow, will allow eligible banks with accounts at the Federal Reserve to send money instantly starting Thursday. So far, about 50 institutions have completed the formal testing and certification needed to send or receive payments on the new network, the central bank said.
The new network is a long time coming, with the Fed in 2019 announcing plans to create the system. At the time, the central bank’s move was seen as a major rebuff to an intense Wall Street lobbying campaign because the system competes with a similar, private network formed by the biggest U.S. banks.
