The 60-second brief
- 1On September 23, 2026, Federal Reserve Financial Services said FedNow will soon support cross-border transactions.
- 2FedNow will carry the U.S. domestic leg; correspondent banks will move the international portion, as with Fedwire.
- 3The capability depends on approval of Regulation J and Operating Circular 8 changes; no broad launch date is set.
- Participating financial institutions (as of Q2 2026)
- More than 1,800
- Certified service providers
- More than 50
- FedNow volume growth, Q1 to Q2 2026
- More than 80%
- FedNow transaction limit
- $10 million
Why CEOs should care
For treasurers and CFOs with international payroll or suppliers, this could shorten the U.S. portion of outbound and inbound payments, but it does not replace foreign exchange or correspondent relationships. Ask your bank whether it plans to join the early phase, which corridors its correspondents cover, what cut-off times and fees will apply, and whether payment status data will flow back to your treasury system.
For bank and credit union executives, the change creates product work. The Fed said in April that cross-border support relies on enhanced ISO 20022 message formats, the global data standard for payment messages, with specifications published on its MyStandards portal. Operations teams should plan for message changes and sanctions screening that can keep pace with instant settlement.
For CISOs and fraud leaders, instant cross-border flows raise the stakes on authorization and screening, because money that moves in seconds is harder to recall. Review how fraud controls, sanctions checks and exception handling will work before switching the service on.
Key takeaways
- On September 23, 2026, Federal Reserve Financial Services said FedNow will soon support cross-border transactions.
- FedNow will carry the U.S. domestic leg; correspondent banks will move the international portion, as with Fedwire.
- The capability depends on approval of Regulation J and Operating Circular 8 changes; no broad launch date is set.
The news
FedNow cross-border payments moved closer on September 23, 2026, when Federal Reserve Financial Services, which runs the Fed's payment services, said its FedNow instant payment network is close to supporting transactions that involve a party outside the United States.
FedNow will cover only the U.S. domestic leg of such a payment. The international portion will travel through established correspondent banking arrangements, meaning banks that hold accounts for each other across borders, the same model used by the Fed's Fedwire Funds Service. Participants can pair FedNow with whatever cross-border arrangements they already use.
A group of early adopters will soon test enhanced message formats for sending and receiving the U.S. leg of cross-border payments, and all FedNow participants will later be able to adopt them, the announcement said. The Fed did not name the testers or give a date for broad availability.
The functionality remains contingent on approval of changes to the Fed's Regulation J and its Operating Circular 8 by the appropriate Federal Reserve governing bodies. PYMNTS reported that the Fed proposed Regulation J changes in April that have not yet been finalized.
The Fed first signaled the shift on April 8, 2026, when it said FedNow was laying the groundwork to move beyond its original domestic-only design. At the time, it said participants active in global commerce could begin making the needed message changes later in 2026.
Nick Stanescu, chief FedNow executive, called the move "an important first step toward meeting the global needs emerging across our ecosystem." Gary Palmer, president and CEO of Payall, one of the early adopters quoted in the announcement, said the approach would make the U.S. leg faster and more transparent while screening each party instantly. The Fed listed potential uses including international payroll, corporate payments for global businesses, property transfers, insurance claims and global treasury management.
The numbers
- Participating financial institutions (as of Q2 2026)
- More than 1,800
- Certified service providers
- More than 50
- FedNow volume growth, Q1 to Q2 2026
- More than 80%
- FedNow transaction limit
- $10 million
Why CEOs should care
For treasurers and CFOs with international payroll or suppliers, this could shorten the U.S. portion of outbound and inbound payments, but it does not replace foreign exchange or correspondent relationships. Ask your bank whether it plans to join the early phase, which corridors its correspondents cover, what cut-off times and fees will apply, and whether payment status data will flow back to your treasury system.
For bank and credit union executives, the change creates product work. The Fed said in April that cross-border support relies on enhanced ISO 20022 message formats, the global data standard for payment messages, with specifications published on its MyStandards portal. Operations teams should plan for message changes and sanctions screening that can keep pace with instant settlement.
For CISOs and fraud leaders, instant cross-border flows raise the stakes on authorization and screening, because money that moves in seconds is harder to recall. Review how fraud controls, sanctions checks and exception handling will work before switching the service on.
The bigger picture
FedNow has grown quickly since launching in July 2023. The Fed said volume rose more than 80% from the first to the second quarter of 2026 and that the network had more than 1,800 participating institutions and over 50 certified service providers, supported by a $10 million transaction limit. It also announced on September 2 a discount program, starting January 1, 2027, to encourage more banks to enable sending. Cross-border support extends that push beyond domestic transfers at a time when, as a September 21 Banking Dive headline put it, the cross-border payments market is heating up.
The design is deliberately incremental. Because correspondent banks carry the foreign leg, FedNow does not need direct connections to other countries' payment systems at this stage, while U.S. banks and credit unions can still offer customers a faster domestic portion of international transfers.
What's next
Watch for the Fed's final Regulation J and Operating Circular 8 changes, the names of early adopters and the first live cross-border transactions. Banks should also track when all participants are invited to adopt the new message formats and how the Fed prices the service.
Sources
- GovernmentFedNow Service to enable cross-border capabilities (September 23, 2026)— Federal Reserve Financial Services (FedNow Explorer news center)
- GovernmentInnovation across borders: FedNow Service plans future support for global payment experiences (April 8, 2026)— Federal Reserve Financial Services (FedNow Explorer news center)
- GovernmentQ2 volume surges as usage accelerates and new participants join the FedNow Service (July 16, 2026)— Federal Reserve Financial Services (FedNow Explorer news center)
- ReportFedNow Opens Door to Cross-Border Instant Payments— PYMNTS
- ReportFintech topic page (September 2026 headlines)— Banking Dive
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