FedNow Trails Behind RTP Network in Real-Time Payments

The Federal Reserve's instant payments system, FedNow, and The Clearing House's RTP network are competing for dominance in real-time payments in the US. A recent report by the Richmond Fed compared the growth of both systems.

FedNow has connected to 1,725 U.S. banks and credit unions since its launch in July 2023, but still lags behind RTP's transaction volume. In the second quarter, RTP processed 142 million transactions valued at $480 billion, while FedNow handled about 5 million transactions.

The report noted that despite being newer, FedNow has higher enrollment than RTP from both banks and credit unions. However, RTP maintains connections to a greater percentage of total demand deposits due to stronger adoption among large financial institutions.