Due to COVID-19, many spring conferences and in-person events were canceled or moved, but some went virtual. Federal Reserve Bank representatives have embraced these new ways to connect and attended and spoke at multiple virtual events, including Nacha Smarter Faster Payments 2020: Remote Connect (Off-site) and the Southern Financial Exchange (SFE) Annual Conference & Expo (Off-site), both in April.
Nacha Smarter Faster Payments 2020: Remote Connect
A premier payments educational conference, Nacha Smarter Faster Payments 2020 was held virtually to connect the thousands of stakeholders who would normally attend in person each year. Attendees were able to experience education on current issues and opportunities through sessions and workshops from experts, made especially for executive and senior-level professionals. This year’s event included 13 educational sessions, offered as live webinars, over a three-day period.
Fed speakers participated in the following sessions:
- Spotlight Speaker Series: ACH State of the Union
- The Future of FedNowSM
- Mapping Fraud: The Road to Safer Payments
During the Future of FedNow session, Senior Vice President and FedNow Business Executive Nick Stanescu gave an update on the current work to build the new instant payment service. “The FedNow Service continues to be a high priority for the Federal Reserve and is currently in active development. Work continues on building the service even in this challenging time, and is expected to be available, as publicly discussed, in 2023 or 2024.”
Stanescu also highlighted the importance of industry engagement, calling it a key component in the FedNow development plan. Shortly after his presentation, the Federal Reserve announced the formation of the FedNow Community, seeking active participation from a variety of organizations that will represent the constituents of the FedNow ecosystem. Read more about the FedNow Community in our May 15 Fed360 article “Join the FedNow Community to participate in the development of the FedNow Service.”
SFE Annual Conference & Expo
The SFE Annual Conference provides tools and information from industry-leading speakers to financial institutions and payments professionals on topics like payments strategies, compliance issues, technology solutions and more. SFE’s first-ever virtual conference was held over two days, and several Fed account executives participated to let attendees know about our financial services. In addition to full-length sessions below, the Federal Reserve was represented during three “commercial breaks” where speakers presented on the FedNow Service, contingency options, the FedPayments® Reporter Service, FedLine Command® and the FedACH® Exception Resolution Service.
Fed speakers participated in the following sessions:
- Top 5 Reasons Faster Payments Are The Future
- Playing Legal Catch Up in a Changing Payments Landscape
- The State of the ACH Network
Action Item:
Check out the Industry Events page for additional virtual events we will attend and attendance plans for further in the year.
Note
The Federal Reserve Banks do not sponsor or endorse any of the non-Federal Reserve Bank-related products, parties or entities discussed in this publication.
