Approximately 700 FIs Now Onboard With FedNow; Goal to Get as Many as 8,000

NEW YORK—About 700 financial institutions have connected to the Fed’s instant payment network—FedNow--since its debut in July of 2023, with at least 1,000 more in the pipeline, according to a new report.

The Federal Reserve ultimately to attract up to about 8,000 financial institutions to FedNow, according to Payments Dive, which featured an interview with FedNow Head of Payments Product Management Dan Baum.

While there are nearly 10,000 financial institutions in the country, only about 9,200 of those banks and credit unions are actively using Fed services, so the central bank’s goal for FedNow isn’t necessarily to draw them all, Baum told Payments Dive.

“So far, about 700 financial institutions have connected to the network since it was launched last July, and the central bank has been eager to lure more to the system in the interest of creating as much reach for the network as possible,” Payments Dive reported.

Added Baum, “We see the policy objective to be to get everyone that’s willing to, and can, and can make a business case. We expect that to be somewhere in the 7,000 to 8,000 range at the end of the day.”