Join us for an in-person Payments Boot Camp® in San Francisco on December 2 & 3. Bundle and save by adding the Advanced Payments workshop on December 4.
A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
Search Payments News
October 13, 2025
On the web
Elder Fraud Prevention Begins at Home
Atlanta Federal Reserve
"In 2023, Americans over the age of 60 were scammed out of more than $3.4 billion, according to the FBI's most recent Elder Fraud Report. Those reported losses were nearly 11 percent higher than they were in 2022. Investment, tech support, email, and romance scams were the most common among the schemes outlined in the report."
How Do Consumers’ Fraud Experiences Vary with Their Financial Vulnerability?
Federal Reserve
"A sizeable share of U.S. consumers has been exposed to financial fraud. According to the 2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), in 2023, 21 percent of U.S. consumers experienced financial fraud involving their credit cards, bank accounts, or other financial products. In this Payments System Research Briefing, we examine how both the share of consumers who experienced financial fraud and the share who ultimately incurred fraud losses varies by consumers’ level of financial vulnerability."
October 10, 2025
Top Post
Federal Reserve Board Announces Expanded Operating Days of Two Large-Value Payments Services, Fedwire® Funds Service and the National Settlement Service (NSS), to Include Sundays and Weekday Holidays
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
"The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced expanded operating days of two large-value payments services, Fedwire® Funds Service and the National Settlement Service (NSS), to include Sundays and weekday holidays. The Reserve Banks will implement this expansion in several years, no earlier than 2028 to ensure operational and industry readiness."
October 9, 2025
Top Post
How Do Consumers’ Fraud Experiences Vary with Their Financial Vulnerability?
Federal Reserve
"A sizeable share of U.S. consumers has been exposed to financial fraud. In this Payments System Research Briefing, we examine how both the share of consumers who experienced financial fraud and the share who ultimately incurred fraud losses varies by consumers’ level of financial vulnerability."
October 8, 2025
On the web
Financial Institutions Can Use Instant Payments to Attract Customers, Improve Satisfaction and Lower Risk of Attrition
Federal Reserve
"U.S. consumers want fast, convenient payment methods, and younger generations are adopting nonbank providers to meet their expectations. A new study from Federal Reserve Financial Services found that 78% of consumers chose faster payments as a preferred option — and half held balances at nonbank providers."
October 2, 2025
On the web
Toolkit Module 2: How Synthetic Identities Are Used
FedPayments Improvement
"Unlike other types of fraud, payment behavior does not always indicate synthetic identity fraud. Once a synthetic identity enters a portfolio, its account activity often mimics that of a normal – and even upstanding – customer, with timely and in-full payment history. Once a loss is incurred, there are not any indicators that fraud occurred. Rather, it appears to be a real customer who simply was unable to pay off his or her credit balance."
September 29, 2025
Top Post
Who Will Pay for Tariffs? Businesses’ Expectations about Costs and Prices
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
"Amid evolving global trade policy and rising tariff uncertainty, understanding how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) form expectations about future costs and adjust their pricing is critical for assessing how the recently imposed tariffs on US imports could impact consumer prices. To that end, we analyze several waves of a survey of owners and other decision-makers at a nationally representative sample of US SMBs, defined as companies that employ 500 or fewer workers. "
September 25, 2025
Top Post
U.S. Consumers’ Use of Cryptocurrency for Payments
Kansas City Federal Reserve
"Some policymakers and payments industry participants expect consumers to use stablecoins—a type of cryptocurrency intended to maintain a stable value relative to some other asset—for payments. However, the share of U.S. consumers who use cryptocurrency for payments has been very small and recently declined slightly. The most cited reason for using cryptocurrency is that the person or business receiving the money preferred it, suggesting many users passively choose cryptocurrency for payments."
September 23, 2025
On the web
From Gadgets to Gas Pumps: The Evolution of Payment Interfaces
Atlanta Federal Reserve
"As payment functionality spreads across more devices, so do the risks. Privacy and data security become more complex in distributed environments where sensitive information may pass through multiple endpoints. Not everyone is ready to adopt voice-based or ambient payments, particularly when concerns about errors, mischarges, or device misinterpretation persist. Many devices and services are locked into proprietary networks, limiting interoperability and making the user's experience across platforms difficult."
September 19, 2025
On the web
Evolution of Identity Verification and Fraud Detection
Federal Reserve
"Identity verification, the process by which financial institutions confirm your identity, has evolved over the years due to technological advancements, as well as our dependency on and the convenience of digital devices. Traditionally, this verification process depended on in-person interactions with bank staff and the presentation of physical documents, such as passports, driver’s licenses and utility bills. While digital devices are improving the customer experience, they also have introduced new ways for criminals to apply different fraud tactics."
September 17, 2025
On the web
Exception Resolution Service Now Includes FedNow® Service Transactions
Federal Reserve
"FedNow Service participants can now use the Exception Resolution Service to directly communicate with one another to ensure that exceptions — such as disputes, notifications, questions or requests for additional information — can be resolved swiftly and effectively for instant payments. Federal Reserve Financial Services expanded the Exception Resolution Service beyond ACH transactions in response to industry feedback that FedNow participants were looking for a way to efficiently resolve exception management cases."
September 15, 2025
Top Post
FedNow® Service Powering Instant Payments for Disaster Relief Disbursements
Federal Reserve
"Starting this month, FedNow Service participants may start receiving a new type of government payment for their accountholders — instant disaster relief disbursements. This is the latest example of Treasury’s use of the FedNow Service for certain government payments. Treasury was among the first to launch with the FedNow Service two years ago. The first financial institution to receive an instant disaster relief payment was CB&S Bank, headquartered in Russellville, Alabama."
September 9, 2025
Top Post
FedNow® Service Will Raise Transaction Limit to $10 Million to Meet Increased Demand, Unlocking Higher-Value Use Cases
Federal Reserve
"The FedNow Service network transaction limit will increase from $1 million to $10 million in response to growing commercial demand, effective November 2025. The increased limit will enable financial institutions and businesses to support higher-value use cases and reflects an increasing need for speed and certainty in the modern payments ecosystem."
September 4, 2025
On the web
What’s New With New Account Fraud?
Federal Reserve
"In today’s digitized world, financial institutions may have many reasons to encourage customers to open accounts electronically. The digital onboarding process, whether online or in-app, typically is more convenient than in-person onboarding. However, without appropriate fraud detection or controls in place, digital account opening can expose financial institutions to numerous opportunities for criminals."
September 3, 2025
Top Post
Contact and Payment Methods Used for the Top Five Categories of Scams
Kansas City Fed
"In recent years, the amount of money U.S. consumers have lost to scams has increased sharply. The contact methods scammers use to reach consumers and the payment methods defrauded consumers use to pay scammers vary depending on the category of scam. However, both the use of social media as a contact method and the use of cryptocurrency, payment apps, and bank transfers as payment methods have increased across the top five scam categories."
August 29, 2025
On the web
Automated Clearing House Payments [History]
Federal Reserve History
"Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments were first established in the 1970s by the Federal Reserve System and the banking industry. Up to that point, cash and checks had been the principal methods for retail payments in the United States. ACH payments, which are initiated electronically, were envisioned as a more-efficient payment method."
August 27, 2025
Top Post
Instant Payment Use Cases: Property and Casualty Insurance
Fed Now
"The FedNow® Service can offer insurance carriers the ability to instantly send final and irrevocable funds 24x7x365, creating an opportunity to modernize the policyholder experience, thus growing satisfaction and enhancing loyalty. This resource describes the advantages of transferring funds with instant payments, and outlines next steps for insurance carriers, service providers and financial institutions."
August 20, 2025
Top Post
Payments Study: Gathering Data from Thousands of Depository Institutions
Atlanta Fed
"My colleagues at the Atlanta Fed and I have been reaching out to leaders in the payments industry to assist them with responding to the Depository and Financial Institutions Payments Survey (DFIPS). This every-three-years survey is an essential component of the Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS). New this year: the FRPS is collecting data on the number and value of instant payments, encompassing real-time payments and FedNow."
August 14, 2025
On the web
Federal Reserve Unveils Two Online Toolkits for Scams and Check Fraud Mitigation
FRB Services
"With payments fraud on the rise, the Federal Reserve has released two new toolkits: the Scams Mitigation Toolkit and Check Fraud Mitigation Toolkit. The toolkits are intended to support education and increase awareness about scams and check fraud, enable the payments industry to better identify and fight them, and foster industry collaboration on fraud and scams mitigation."
August 4, 2025
On the web
Earmarking in Programmable Payments
Atlanta Fed
"As programmable payments become more common, an old-school budgeting idea is making a comeback: earmarking. At its core, earmarking just means setting money aside for a specific purpose—like rent, payroll, or taxes—so it's only used for that. It's a simple concept, but when combined with automation, it could be the budgeting upgrade many people and businesses have been waiting for."
July 31, 2025
On the web
Infographic: FedNow® Service by the Numbers
FRB Services
"It’s been two years since the FedNow Service launched. See a snapshot of how things are going and what’s on the horizon in this new infographic."
July 24, 2025
Top Post
Infographic: Two Years of the FedNow® Service
Fed Now
"Check out this infographic for a snapshot of the growth and innovation that’s been taking place on the FedNow Service since it launched in July 2023."
July 18, 2025
On the web
Rounding Up: The Impact of Phasing Out the Penny
Richmond Fed
"The U.S. government is expected to stop producing new pennies for circulation by early 2026. In 2024, the Treasury incurred a seigniorage loss of $85.3 million on penny production. As pennies phase out, businesses are likely to round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents, resulting in a "rounding tax." Using data from the 2023 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, we estimate that rounding tax could cost U.S. consumers approximately $6 million annually."
July 17, 2025
Top Post
Generative AI at the Crossroads: Light Bulb, Dynamo, or Microscope?
Federal Reserve
"With the advent of generative AI (genAI), the potential scope of artificial intelligence has increased dramatically, but the future effect of genAI on productivity remains uncertain. The effect of the technology on the innovation process is a crucial open question. Some inventions, such as the light bulb, temporarily raise productivity growth as adoption spreads, but the effect fades when the market is saturated; that is, the level of output per hour is permanently higher but the growth rate is not."
July 16, 2025
On the web
Fednow® Service Progress Update: Two Years of Growth, Innovation
FRB Services
"Happy birthday, FedNow Service! The pace of adoption on the FedNow Service since we launched two years ago has been incredible. We currently have more than 1,400 participants, up from 900 banks and credit unions at our one-year anniversary, and the network keeps growing every day. Along with adoption, we’re seeing volume continue to rise, and the number of senders — ranging from the biggest banks to the small credit unions — steadily climbs."
July 15, 2025
Top Post
Federal Reserve Financial Services Completes ISO® 20022 Migration for Fedwire® Funds Service, Advancing U.S. Payments Modernization
Federal Reserve
"Federal Reserve Financial Services announced the completed migration to the ISO 20022 message format for the Fedwire Funds Service, a major advancement in the evolution of the nation’s payments infrastructure. As global e-commerce grows and evolves, broad adoption of this new message format aligns U.S. payment transactions with an industry standard that enables greater end-to-end efficiency of transactions, further encouraging innovation across the payments landscape."
July 14, 2025
Top Post
Fedwire Adopts ISO 20022 Standard for Faster Payment Transfers
AInvest
"The Federal Reserve has completed the transition of its Fedwire Funds Service to the ISO 20022 messaging standard, a move that aligns the U.S. with other regions that have already adopted this standard. This shift is expected to enhance the efficiency and interoperability of payment systems, offering richer data capabilities that enable more detailed and structured information exchange between financial institutions. The new standard is anticipated to facilitate better fraud detection, improved straight-through processing, and enhanced data analytics, ultimately leading to more efficient and secure payment transactions."
July 9, 2025
On the web
Intelligent Routing via Payment Hubs
Cleveland Fed
"A payment hub is a centralized technology platform that acts as a financial institution’s center for payment processing and connectivity. There are several potential benefits of payment hubs, including more efficient orchestration of different payment types across various payment rails (that is, payment clearing and settlement systems), reduction in payment processing costs, increased automation rates, and decreased compliance incidents (Chinnapa, 2025)."
July 8, 2025
On the web
Innovations in Payments Acceptance Play Out in Consumer Check Use
Atlanta Fed
"Consumers avoid using checks for many reasons, as reported in the Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice. Consumers rated checks poorly for convenience, security, and speed of payment. Instead, we say we prefer to use cards or an electronic method to pay both purchases and bills. But there's another side to the decrease in the share of consumer payments via check: the payee's increased capacity to be paid by other means."
July 7, 2025
Top Post
Confirmed: ISO® 20022 Will Be Implemented July 14 for the Fedwire® Funds Service
FRB Services
"For the past several years, Federal Reserve Financial Services has worked with the industry to prepare for the upcoming ISO 20022 implementation for the Fedwire Funds Service on July 14, 2025. As announced on June 18, FRFS will move forward with implementing the new ISO 20022 message format on July 14, as planned."
Take us with you
Payments on Fire is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and other podcast apps and services. Or just say “Alexa, play Payments on Fire podcast.”
