Question 1

Which U.S. real-time payment rail is operated by the Federal Reserve?

Accepted Answer

FedNow. FedNow is the Federal Reserve's instant interbank service, launched in 2023. RTP is operated by The Clearing House, ACH and Fedwire are different rails.

Question 2

What is the defining property of a real-time payment compared to ACH?

Accepted Answer

Settles within seconds, irrevocably, 24/7. Real-time payments settle in seconds, are typically irrevocable once cleared, and operate on 24/7 infrastructure.

Question 3

Which messaging standard underpins most modern real-time rails globally?

Accepted Answer

ISO 20022. ISO 20022 is the structured, XML-based messaging standard used by FedNow, SEPA Instant, T2, CHAPS, and most other modernized rails.

Question 4

What is Confirmation of Payee designed to prevent?

Accepted Answer

Misdirected payments from name/account mismatches. Confirmation of Payee schemes check the payee name against the destination account before a payment is initiated, helping reduce APP-scam losses.

Real-Time Payments 101

Which U.S. real-time payment rail is operated by the Federal Reserve?

What is the defining property of a real-time payment compared to ACH?

Which messaging standard underpins most modern real-time rails globally?

What is Confirmation of Payee designed to prevent?