A year on from committing to build the Fed's first major new payment system in four decades, the US central bank is working hard to get its FedNow real-time payment and settlement service up and running as quickly as possible.

The pilot programme will include three phases: advisory, testing and closed-loop production.

Throughout each of these phases and the subsequent launch of the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve will call upon pilot participants to participate in discussions or demos, test the service, engage service providers or users, and conduct other activities as needed.

Interested organizations that are not members of the FedNow Community should first enroll by submitting a Community participant profile form. Enrolled Community members will receive more information on the pilot programme via an invitation to join a webinar later this month.

While the launch date is still likely to be in 2023 or 2024, the Fed has decided to take a phased approach to ensure that a core set of features get to market "expeditiously" with extra pieces being added over time.

Interested parties have until 16 November to get their applications on the table.

"Participants will be selected from the pool of interested organizations, seeking to ensure the program is representative of various types of institutions and service providers, connection types, and settlement arrangements," states the Fed.

"Additional participants may be added in later phases of the programme to address evolving needs. Organizations that are not selected will have opportunities to provide input into the FedNow Service through their participation in FedNow Community roundtables, working groups and surveys and may elect to become an early user of the service upon general availability."

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