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Conference Connection: Reuniting with the payments industry at Smarter Faster Payments 2022

Nacha’s Smarter Faster Payments Conference (Off-site) was held in Nashville, Tennessee, connecting thousands of industry stakeholders in person after two years of virtual gatherings. Attendees experienced informative sessions on current and upcoming payment issues and opportunities and networked at various events throughout the week. Our Federal Reserve representatives welcomed the opportunity to connect in person with industry participants as exhibitors and speakers.

Sessions topics at the 2022 conference included, but were not limited to:

  • Faster Payments Experience
  • Compliance & Regulatory
  • Payments in Practice
  • Small to Large Business Perspectives
  • Practical Strategies
  • Cybersecurity & Risk
  • Smarter Payments Experience
  • Disruptive Ideas & Technologies and more

Federal Reserve representatives participated in 14 different sessions throughout the four-day event as moderators, panelists and speakers, most notably:

  • Federal Reserve Town Hall
  • A Growing Menu: Comparing Cross-Border Payment Platforms
  • Central Bank Digital Currency: The Ultimate in Faster Payments?
  • FedNowSM Fundamentals: Understanding the Service’s Features & How to Prepare
  • Illuminating the Path to Mitigating Synthetic Identity Fraud

Federal Reserve Banks' Conference Booth

Federal Reserve session highlights

During the “Federal Reserve Town Hall” session, Shonda Clay, Chief of Product and Relationship Management, Cheryl Venable, Chief of Payments Operations, Susan Foley, Senior Associate Director, Federal Reserve Board of Governors and Nick Stanescu, Senior Vice President and FedNow Business Executive, gave updates on the importance of having an agile U.S. payment system. As the Federal Reserve continues to be on the frontline of the evolution in payments, an agile system is crucial to meet evolving global, national and local needs. Attendees were able to join these senior leaders from across the Federal Reserve to learn about industry trends that impact traditional payments channels and the benefits they hold for the industry.

At the “FedNow Fundamentals: Understanding the Service’s Features & How to Prepare” session, Bernadette Ksepka, Vice President and Deputy Head of Product Management and Dan Gonzalez, Vice President, Director of National Accounts discussed the fundamentals, key properties and how to begin preparing for the FedNow Service launch, set for 2023. The Federal Reserve is paving the way for instant payments with the development of the FedNow Service. The instant payments service will provide organizations and other service providers a springboard to offer innovative payment solutions. With the information and insights shared by Ksepka and Gonzalez, organizations can begin to determine instant payment use cases and leverage FedNow Explorer (Off-site) and Ecosystem Accelerator Group programming to prepare for the service.

The “Illuminating the Path to Mitigating Synthetic Identity Fraud” session led by Mike Timoney, Vice President of Secure Payments, shared the incredible progress that has been made to shine a spotlight on synthetic identity fraud, with the industry showing greater awareness of this problem. Organizations are leveraging new technology, artificial intelligence and multilayered detection approaches to pinpoint synthetics. Timoney and panelists at the forefront of this fight discussed potential synthetic identity fraud detection and mitigation tactics, and new resources available (Off-site) to help your organization defend against synthetic identity fraud.

Action Item:

Check out the Industry Events page for additional events throughout 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.