Federal Reserve Adds Alacriti to FedNow Showcase

Payments fintech Alacriti has been added to the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service Provider Showcase, a resource for financial institutions to connect to instant payment solutions providers.

The FedNow service, which is currently being developed by the Federal Reserve system, enables financial institutions to provide secure and efficient instant payment services.

The move will see Alacriti’s Cosmos Payments Services connected to the FedNow Service.

Cosmos is a cloud-based payments system designed to work with “all major payment rails”, according to Alacriti CEO Manish Gurukula, allowing integration with core and digital banking systems at a low cost.

The FedNow service was announced in 2020 and is expected to launch in 2023. It will be deployed in phases to allow adjustments and improvements to be made as the service expands.

The FedNow system is designed to build out a nationwide instant payment framework for consumers and businesses. The system’s website explains that FedNow will “provide choice in the market for clearing and settling instant payments as well as promote resiliency through redundancy” for individuals.

“Financial institutions and their service providers will be able to use the service as a springboard to provide innovative instant payment services to customers,” according to the site.

Research published last year by the central bank revealed that, increasingly, US businesses expect fast or instant payments from and to suppliers and clients, and will select their bank based on the payment services they offer.

The Fed reported that 90% of businesses said they expected to be able to “initiate and receive” faster payments.