Comments due on Fed proposal to amend Reg J

The Federal Reserve Board is inviting comment on a proposed rule that would amend Regulation J to govern funds transfers over the Federal Reserve Banks' FedNow℠ Service. The FedNow Service is a new 24x7x365 service that will support instant payments in the United States and is expected to be available in 2023.

The proposed rule would establish a new and comprehensive set of rules governing funds transfers over the FedNow Service and set out the legal rights and obligations of the Reserve Banks and FedNow Service participants. Many of the concepts in the proposed rule are similar to existing provisions that govern the Fedwire Funds Service, which is the payments service currently operated by the Federal Reserve System. One provision of the proposed rule would require banks to make funds from FedNow payments available to their end-user customers immediately after receiving notification from the service that an instant payment had settled.

Comments are due within 60 days of the proposal's publication in the Federal Register.

PUBLICATION AND COMMENT PERIOD UPDATE: Published at 86 FR 31376 on 6/11/2021, with a comment period ending 8/10/2021.

UPDATE 8/3/2021: The Board of Governors announced today it is extending the comment period by 30 days to end 9/9/2021.