The meeting, which took place during the larger Alliance meeting Oct. 10-12 in Washington, D.C., served as an opportunity for the Team participants to further progress on their work to provide tools for financial institutions and business end users seeking better understanding and clarity on faster payments to help shape their faster payments strategy.

As part of the meeting, the Faster Payments Playbook Project Team discussed key components of a Faster Payments Playbook for the industry. With “audience,” “purpose” and “actionable” as foundational elements on which the Playbook will be built, the Group determined key topic areas for inclusion, including faster payments opportunities, business strategy, risk mitigation and compliance, and internal impacts. Additionally, the Team examined the Introduction to Faster Payments in the U.S. publication to outline necessary updates and enhancements, ultimately determining that the next iteration will be more audience specific, emphasize the attributes of faster payments and faster payments options, and articulate the opportunities faster payments present. The Team also determined that the next version of the resource could be broken into two separate components: one that describes the faster payments environment and one that addresses the specific attributes and opportunities of faster payments.

“We are encouraged by the progress the Faster Payments Playbook Project Team has made since our launch in late June,” said NACHA Senior Director & Group Manager, Government & Industry Relations Bill Sullivan. “Our goal is to be thoughtful and inclusive as we look to build resources that can serve the entire financial services ecosystem. We will continue to move quickly to deliver the faster payments resources that will propel the payments industry forward.”

The Faster Payments Playbook Project Team will continue to work rapidly to further the efforts and activities established during its October meeting. The Team will reconvene in person Dec. 12-13, 2018, at NACHA’s offices in Herndon, Va., to move into the next phase of development of the Faster Payments Playbook. The Group anticipates that a draft of the refined introductory resource and robust table of contents for the Faster Payments Playbook will be completed by Dec. 31, 2018.