With the FedNow Service launching in July, your financial institution might be wondering just how it can prepare to implement the service.

It’s important to remember that each financial institution’s path to the FedNow Service will be unique. However, there are key decisions and activities many organizations take along their way.

Six phases of the journey

Here’s an overview of six common phases of the FedNow Service journey:

• Learn – Get to know instant payments and the FedNow Service
• Engage – Dig deeper into how instant payments can impact your organization and customers
• Prepare – Start preparing for instant payments and assess your organization’s readiness
• Commit – Decide to adopt the FedNow Service and get ready to onboard
• Onboard – Sign up for the FedNow Service and go through onboarding
• Go Live – Be ready to send and/or receive transactions

No matter where you on your journey, there are resources to help and the “6 phases of the FedNow Service journey” quick reference guide is a good place to start.

Already in the later stages of your journey?

If you’re past the first few phases of your journey and are now moving toward the commit phase, there are several key decisions and capabilities you’ll need to finalize to help ensure a smooth onboarding process. Your financial institution will need to answer the following:

• How will you connect — through your own FedLine® Solutions connection or a service provider’s connection?
• Where will you settle — in your own Federal Reserve Bank master account or through the master account of a correspondent?
• How will you participate — will you receive only, send and receive, etc.?
• Are you ready for real-time posting — Have you assessed your operations and technology and made any necessary upgrades or changes?

In addition to the resources linked above, the FedNow Service Readiness Guide is a comprehensive document that can help you on your road to instant payments.

Learn more

The FedNow Service will be here before you know it — take steps today to make sure your organization is ready for instant payments. For more information about the FedNow Service and how to prepare for it, visit FedNowExplorer.org or contact your Federal Reserve relationship manager.