The Clearing House Association

Many small banks remain skeptical of the payments network because it is owned and operated by big banks and they are waiting for the Federal Reserve to launch a rival service.

Congress should get behind the Fed's effort to launch a real-time payments service instead of getting in its way.

Congress should get behind the Fed's effort to launch a real-time payments service instead of getting in its way.

One Republican lawmaker went so far as to suggest that Congress should try to block the central bank's effort, but Democrats said FedNow will promote competition in real-time payments.

The Clearing House is working to add its Real-Time Payments (RTP) network as a third payment rail for Early Warning Services’ Zelle P2P payments service and to enable Zelle bill pay and possibly point of sale transactions.

Increased adoption of The Clearing House’s faster payments system could put pressure on community banks and credit unions awaiting the launch of the Fed’s competing service, FedNow.

Community banks and tech companies that are happy the central bank is building a next-generation system are not as pleased with its four- to five-year timeline. But big banks see the slow rollout as an opportunity to expand their own instant payment network.

The Clearing House has been quite clear that it did not think the Federal Reserve's FedNow real-time settlement service would be necessary. But some of its executives are rethinking that stance.

Vice Chairman Randal Quarles’ public dissent raises questions about how the board will proceed on other policy debates.

Community banks shouldn’t wait for the Fed to create a new real-time payments rail when consumers are already flocking to other options.