Federal Reserve Adds Cross-Border Capabilities to FedNow Network

The Federal Reserve is enhancing FedNow with cross-border transaction support, enabling banks to use the instant payments network for the domestic portion of international money transfers.

The upgrade allows financial institutions to serve customers conducting business beyond US borders for international payroll, corporate payments, insurance claims, and global treasury management. FedNow handles the US segment while correspondent banking relationships move funds on the international leg, mirroring how the Fedwire Funds Service operates.

The service isn't operational yet. A group of institutions will soon begin testing FedNow to transmit and receive the domestic leg of cross-border payments. All FedNow participants will be able to adopt the new messaging formats to support cross-border capabilities "soon", according to the central bank.

Cross-border transaction capabilities will give financial institutions powerful new ways to serve internationally active customers, said FedNow Chief Executive Nick Stanescu. > After several years focused on growing the domestic instant payments market, this is an important first step toward meeting the global needs emerging across our ecosystem.

FedNow launched in July 2023 and now connects 1,900 participating financial institutions, up from more than 1,500 at the close of 2025. Despite expanding participation, the Federal Reserve continues pushing institutions to activate and scale both send and receive capabilities.

Federal Reserve Financial Services announced a new discount program launching in 2027 that will offer institutions incentives of up to $80,000 for enabling and scaling FedNow payments.

The cross-border expansion arrives as stablecoins increasingly deliver many of the same benefits FedNow offers domestically—always-on, real-time value transfer without traditional intermediaries. Stablecoins can move funds around the clock, sidestepping the operating hours and correspondent banks that have historically made international payments slower and costlier. The Federal Reserve has acknowledged that stablecoins could become a faster, lower-cost alternative for cross-border payments.

The move makes international functionality a critical component of FedNow's value proposition. By letting banks use FedNow for the US leg while correspondent institutions handle the overseas portion, the central bank extends the speed and 24/7 availability of its instant-payment rail to global use cases. The approach doesn't eliminate correspondent banking infrastructure the way some stablecoin-based payment models attempt to, but it gives banks another tool to deliver faster international payments within regulated banking infrastructure.

Our upcoming integration with cross-border functionality supported by the FedNow Service reflects our commitment to providing financial institutions with a faster, more transparent solution for the US leg of international transactions, said Payall President and CEO Gary Palmer.

Palmer emphasised that the system elevates safety by un-nesting complex payments, screening each party instantly, and digitizing every risk and compliance process to meet industry standards. He noted that as commerce increasingly demands instant execution across borders, the infrastructure supports what clients and their customers need.