Federal Reserve Financial Services launched the FedNow Network Intelligence API on April 28 for early adopters. The tool provides participating financial institutions with receiver account-level data derived from activity observed across the FedNow network. Participants can use these insights alongside their internal data to decide whether to proceed with a transaction, place it on hold, or flag it for review.
The API targets authorized push payment fraud, a category where senders are manipulated into making legitimate-seeming transfers. Nick Stanescu, executive vice president and CEO of the FedNow Service, said the tool delivers instant network-level data insights that complement participants' existing risk management capabilities. By surfacing recent transaction volume and value metrics for receiver accounts, the API adds a layer of behavioral intelligence that individual institutions cannot generate from their own data alone.
Jack Henry, which tested the API ahead of the launch, confirmed the tool enriches transaction data before fraud review. Tede Forman, president of payment solutions at Jack Henry, described the integration as providing more data, more visibility, and more security. The Federal Reserve is also exploring how to enable Payee Name Verification through its FedDetect Notification Services suite for real-time needs, which would confirm whether a payee's name matches account details before a payment is sent.