Re:Why it's taking so long for Americans to get payments ins...
by lxgr on Sunday December 17, 2023 @02:26PM
(#38675583)
Offering a new payment service with different semantics to all existing ones is not only a tech/backend change, though.
The real-time aspect of FedNow has liquidity implications; the fact that it (optionally?) allows outbound push payments for consumers at a much cheaper rate than wires makes means that automated fraud prevention becomes a priority.
In other words, when you can charge $10-30 for an outgoing (and often incoming!) wire, that pays for the liquidity and manual fraud reviews (during business hours only). At roughly $0, those economics change significantly.
The real-time aspect of FedNow has liquidity implications; the fact that it (optionally?) allows outbound push payments for consumers at a much cheaper rate than wires makes means that automated fraud prevention becomes a priority.
In other words, when you can charge $10-30 for an outgoing (and often incoming!) wire, that pays for the liquidity and manual fraud reviews (during business hours only). At roughly $0, those economics change significantly.