CUNA advocates for real-time payments ahead of Senate hearing 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

September 25, 2019   

Washington, DC    

CONTACT:         

Lauren Williams        
CUNA Communications        
202-672-3396 

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and credit unions across the country are seeking real-time payments to improve their members’ access to their finances. The Federal Reserve System’s real-time payments network, FedNow, is supported by the trade group who believes that having multiple real-time payment networks will ensure a more robust payment system.  

“As the plumbing of the payments systems is essentially a utility, having multiple operators will help make the system more robust against a cyber-attack or other unforeseen technical glitches,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote. “Also, competition breeds innovation, and not just in product features but in other aspects such as the security and robustness of the system.” 

CUNA and its member credit unions have supported The Clearing House’s (TCH) efforts to develop their real-time payments network, RTP, but maintains that efforts by both the Federal Reserve Board and the TCH will help to bring real-time payments to consumers, who will benefit from the innovation and clarity of a faster payment system. 

“Having both vendors is a luxury but only the Federal Reserve is critical because they are the only vendor with the bandwidth and expertise to provide payments services to the entire financial services sector,” Nussle concluded.  

In the letter sent to Senator Mike Crapo and Senator Sherrod Brown, CUNA encourages the Federal Reserve Board to work alongside TCH as the trusted financial service provider that Americans know need.  

Read the letter in full here. 

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About CUNA:          
Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is the only national association that advocates on behalf of all of America’s credit unions, which are owned by 115 million consumer members. CUNA, along with its network of affiliated state credit union leagues, delivers unwavering advocacy, continuous professional growth and operational confidence to protect the best interests of all credit unions. For more information about CUNA, visit cuna.org. To find your nearest credit union, visit YourMoneyFurther.com