The Federal Reserve's real-time payment network is set to go live. Several years in the making, FedNow joins RTP, a real-time payment network operated by The Clearing House, in supporting instant payments between financial institutions, 24 hours a day, every day. FedNow is the first new payment system implemented by the Federal Reserve since the ACH was launched in the early 1970s.
Continuous processing is also a new concept for the Fed. Historically, the Fed's payment clearing and settlement services have operated 9 a.m .to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and have been shut down on weekends and federal holidays. Don't expect a bevy of activity once FedNow goes live, however, as just 57 FIs and service providers have been certified for the service's launch.
Omnichannel commerce is big, as experiences that combine digital and in-person interactions remain popular, according to a new report from Fiserv. For example, nearly six in 10 consumers (59 percent) make purchases online for pick up at a brick-and-mortar location, the 2023 Carat Insights report indicated. Additional highlights from the report, based on a survey of 2,200 adult Americans this past Spring, include the growing appeal of both digital wallets and retailer apps.
Carat is an omnichannel ecosystem that orchestrates payments and experiences for many of the world's largest businesses. Buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS) gained numerous converts in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it didn't stop there. In 2022, 47 percent of consumers surveyed used BOPIS; this year, 50 percent said they used BOPIS.
Analysts are discussing Block Inc.'s antitrust lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard, which accuses the card brands of overcharging its business unit Square Inc. Filed July 14, 2023, Block, Inc. v. Visa Inc., E.D.N.Y., No. 1:23-cv-05377 seeks award for damages caused by anti-competitive behavior from the time Square opened its doors in February 2009. Co-founders Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey established Square as a mobile app and payment facilitator.
The company subsequently onboarded millions of sub-merchants, diversified its holdings and rebranded as Block Inc. in 2021, according to Square's website. "Today, we're a partner to sellers of all sizes – large, enterprise-scale businesses with complex commerce operations, sellers just starting out, as well as merchants who began selling with Square and have grown larger over time," reads Square's About section at squareup.com.
The Financial Stability Board, a body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, unveiled a regulatory framework aimed at standardizing approaches to crypto-asset activities worldwide. It also provided further details in a statement. Noting that guidelines will help ensure consistent, comprehensive and risk-based regulations, FSB representatives affirmed the two-part plan provides guidance on regulating, supervising and overseeing activities and markets of general crypto-assets and global stablecoin products.
The FSB further noted it has collaborated with sectoral standard-setting bodies (SSBs) on a plan to develop risk-based global regulatory guidance that combines SSB activities with public monitoring and reporting.
A new study by Paysafe found the experience economy thriving despite a global cost-of-living crisis. The latest in the company's Lost in Transaction series, "Consumer payment trends 2023: How consumers' shifting priorities are impacting the experience economy," surveyed 14,000 consumers in Europe and the Americas and found 23 percent of U.S. consumers have not cut their budgets, and 41 percent are booking travel and airline reservations online.
Rob Gatto, Paysafe's chief revenue officer, noted that experiential commerce is trending worldwide. Paysafe researchers also noted that in times of economic uncertainty, consumers frequently turn to cash spending as a budgetary tool that helps control spending. Gatto pointed out that eCash enables cash to be used for online transactions, providing digital access to cash payers. 
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