The Federal Reserve’s buildup to faster payments innovation came to a head in August when it announced FedNow, its proposed real-time payments infrastructure under the draft Payments Modernization Act of 2019. Reception toward the initiative was not, however, universally positive.
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Task Force on Financial Technology held a hearing Thursday (Sept. 26) titled “The Future of Real-Time Payments” to discuss the development of FedNow and its implications for the U.S. payments ecosystem. Despite some previous pushback, the Fed, represented by Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President and Chief Executive Officer Esther L. George, was met with widespread support from her fellow witnesses.
Speaking before Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and the rest of the committee, witnesses from the Fed and other areas of the payments community offered their support to FedNow — but not without caveats.