Arvest Bank selected for Fed pilot program

The Federal Reserve Bank has selected Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank to participate in a pilot program for a new real-time payments system.

FedNow is a new instant payment service that will enable financial institutions of all sizes to provide safe, efficient payment services in real-time. The goal is to give customers greater flexibility in managing their funds and to make time-sensitive payments more conveniently.

Arvest is one of more than 100 banks, credit unions and payments technology providers in the program. They’ll support development, testing and adoption of the FedNow service, and encourage development of services and use cases that leverage the service’s functionality.

The central bank said FedNow is on track to debut in 2023.

“The ability to move and receive money instantly, at any time of the day, is becoming the expectation for consumers here in the U.S.,” said Tristan Thompson, payments strategy director for Arvest Bank. “Instant payments have vast benefits for both consumer and business customers. That includes convenience, more control of funds in the form of quicker access to earned pay, improved cash flow and predictability for businesses.”