Federal Reserve Proposes Opening FedNow to Cross-Border Payments via Intermediaries

Federal Reserve·high signal

On April 8, the Federal Reserve Board proposed allowing U.S. banks and credit unions to use intermediaries for cross-border transfers through FedNow, aligning it with Fedwire Funds Service capabilities for the first time. Currently, FedNow participants cannot send payments outside the U.S. Under the proposal, either the sending or receiving U.S. bank could act as correspondent for a non-U.S. bank, processing the international leg outside FedNow while using FedNow for the domestic portion. Comments are due within 60 days.