Three separate US policy initiatives now target the same outcome: opening Federal Reserve payment services to non-bank financial institutions. On May 19, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Fed to evaluate how non-bank financial companies access Reserve Bank payment accounts. The Federal Reserve Board published a notice of proposed rulemaking the following day for a new "payment account" category. The proposed accounts would give legally eligible non-traditional institutions limited access to Fedwire and FedNow, subject to a $1 billion balance cap. Account holders would receive no intraday credit. In Congress, the bipartisan PACE Act would mandate that the Fed process non-bank access applications within fixed timelines.
The three tracks operate through different legal mechanisms. The executive order carries no binding authority over the independent Fed. It does set a 90-day deadline for all financial regulators to identify rules that impede fintech competition. The NPRM would create a limited-access tier below full master accounts, explicitly containing liquidity risk. The PACE Act would impose statutory requirements that reduce the Board's discretion to delay or deny applications.
The convergence is notable because the Fed has moved slowly on expanding payment access. The 2023 master account guidelines established a tiered review framework without compelling approvals. Only one non-traditional institution has obtained any form of Fed payment access since then. Kraken Financial, a Wyoming special purpose depository institution, received a limited-purpose account from the Kansas City Reserve Bank in March 2026. The executive order specifically asks whether regional Reserve Banks can act independently of the Board to grant payment accounts. The NPRM's 60-day comment period closes in mid-July 2026. The executive order's 180-day action deadline falls in November 2026.