The Customer Relations team for Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) is on the front lines of engaging with more than 9,000 financial institutions across the country. Meet Pavel Reytikh, one of this team’s many "faces of the Fed."
Q: When and why did you come to work for the Federal Reserve?
A: I was managing operations at a community bank in Chicago and began considering a switch to something different after working there for 17 years. A few months later, my Fed relationship manager mentioned an opening in what is now FRFS Customer Relations. I told him I was interested in the role for two reasons: I’d be able to use my knowledge about banking operations and the Fed’s solutions to provide advice and help financial institutions become more efficient — and because the Fed helps our whole industry advance. Things went on from there and I joined the Fed in September 2016 as a regional relationship manager supporting financial institutions.
Q: What do you do as a senior national account relationship manager?
A: Most of my current customer contacts are service providers — technology companies that provide downstream services to financial institutions. Typically, conversations are about ensuring they’re planning for FRFS enhancements and changes that are occurring or forthcoming. My day generally includes managing regularly scheduled touchpoint calls, supporting service providers at industry conferences or their own events, and answering questions as they arise.
At any given time, I may assist service providers to directly establish connectivity or services with the Fed, discuss opportunities for further service integration between them and the Fed, or simply flag important announcements and updates of relevance to their business.
Q: At present, what topics are most top-of-mind for you and your customers?
A: There’s always a lot to talk about in payments! FRFS currently is offering more touchpoints to help service providers achieve full readiness for implementation of the new ISO® 20022 message format for the Fedwire® Funds Service by July 14 of this year. That’s driving a lot of conversations. The FedNow® Service continues to ramp up quickly, with new service providers joining and those already live on the service engaging on send and other recently announced features.
Additional FRFS offerings of interest include the Account Balance API, which can be integrated into service provider platforms to enable their financial institution customers to receive and integrate automated, real-time Federal Reserve account balance information. As the Fed continues to provide fraud mitigation solutions for customers, we recently expanded FedDetect® Duplicate Notification for Check Services to include both U.S. government and non-U.S. government checks (including personal and business checks).
Q: When you’re not working with your customers, what do you do for fun?
A: My family and I live in Vernon Hills, a suburb about 35 miles northwest of Chicago. My wife Rimma and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in March. We have two daughters, a sophomore at DePaul University in Chicago and a third-grader. My youngest is not a fan of lengthy travel times — more than three hours of travel time would be a stretch for her — but we have taken family trips over the years to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico. We hang out with a close group of friends on the weekends. I play soccer once a week when the weather is nice, got into pickleball this past winter and play chess. You might not hear something like this from anyone else, but I do computer programming for fun and mental stimulation!
Pavel and Rimma Reytikh watching a Fourth of July parade in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
