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Preparing for FedNow, Fighting Fraud, & Digital Outages

Preparing for FedNow, Fighting Fraud, & Digital Outages

24/7 transactions may become a reality in July when FedNow begins rolling out

Anna Lad & Robert Baron
March 24, 2023

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Banking News

Banks Prepare for FedNow Payments System

Early adopters of FedNow, which launches in July, include a range of large and small institutions, including ACI Worldwide, Bridge Community Bank, and fintech company Temenos. The payment platform will allow money to move 24/7.

Around 24 companies, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are close to finishing testing the system. Bridge Community Bank CEO Bob Steen said:

We believe that if community banks are going to be relevant, they have to stay current in payments. They have to offer [FedNow].

Bob Steen

Anand Selva Succeeds Citi Exec Karen Peetz

When she retires in May, Citi’s current chief administrative officer Karen Peetz will pass the baton to 32-year veteran Anand Selva. Selva, who has worked at Citi for over three decades, will assume the bank’s “transformational” objectives as the new COO.

Anand’s background includes being the U.S. consumer bank head and executive roles in Citi’s Asian branches.

Credit Union News

Atlanta-based CU Outage Hurts Customers

The $2.5B-asset Atlanta Postal Credit Union is experiencing a multi-day technical outage that prevents customers from paying bills, accessing the app and online banking, and using credit and debit cards. Account holders have been forced to use the CU’s Facebook page as their only way to get information. The glitch is independently caused, not due to a bank run or contagion from SVB’s collapse.

Section 1071 Needs Fine Tuning, CUNA Says

The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) believes in the message of the Dodd-Frank Act’s Section 1071 but disagrees with the depth of its purview, according to a letter it sent to Congressman French Hill (R-AR). Hill’s legislation, the Small Lenders Exempt from New Data & Excessive Reporting (LENDER) Act, argues against excessive rules and accelerated reporting timelines.

CUNA CEO Jim Nussle wrote:

The overly broad scope of the CFPB’s proposed rule will substantially raise the cost of small business borrowing… Section 1071 should be appropriately tailored to ensure the health and financial needs of truly small businesses can continue to be met.

Jim Nussle

Financial Services & Blockchain

Aumni to be Acquired by JPMorgan Chase

Aumni, a Salt Lake City-based investment analytics startup, is slated to be bought by JPMorgan before the end of June. The fintech, worth $232M, organizes data from private companies worth a total of $3.6T.

JPMorgan’s move to acquire the company falls in line with its recent acquisition blitz.

Apto & Sardine Fight Fraud Together

Two fintech companies in the anti-fraud space, Apto Payments and Sardine, will now issue cards with robust scam-prevention measures. Apto already provides cards through a partnership with Connecticut-based Patriot Bank. The payments company chose Sardine after it raised nearly $52M in funds from Google, Visa, and Andreessen Horowitz.

Meg Nakamura, CEO of Apto Payments, said:

Partnering with Sardine allows us to bolster our own fraud and risk engines, resulting in the best cardholder protections in the industry.

Meg Nakamura