Juniper Payments Completes FedNow Certification

The PSCU company joins several other CU organizations in offering the Federal Reserve’s new real-time payments service.

Credit/AdobeStock

With the Federal Reserve’s real-time payments (RTPs) infrastructure, the FedNowSM Service, set to launch in July, several key players in the credit union payments space have been preparing to participate in the new instant payments program. The latest to do so was Juniper Payments, a PSCU company, which announced Monday that it had completed testing and certification for FedNow.

As a result of the certification, Juniper Payments’ financial institution clients will have the ability to offer their customers the benefit of sending and receiving money immediately and at any time.

“We are immensely proud to be certified as a pioneer on FedNow, which marks a significant leap forward in our mission to offer cutting-edge, seamless payment solutions,” Jon Budd, CEO of Juniper Payments, stated. “This certification affirms our continued pursuit of innovation and commitment to better serve financial institutions in the rapidly evolving digital payments landscape. We thank our dedicated team members at Juniper Payments and our colleagues at the Federal Reserve for their collaborative efforts throughout the certification process, and we look forward to helping our clients explore the new opportunities this platform will offer.”

The certification process entailed completing a comprehensive testing curriculum, including fulfilling a checklist of requirements to confirm ability to transmit and process ISO 20022 messages, and attesting that Juniper Payments is prepared to meet the requirements to successfully operate in a 24x7x365 instant payments environment, according to the announcement.

The Wichita, Kan.-based Juniper, which provides payment solutions to over 3,000 banks and credit unions via correspondent and direct relationships, was acquired by the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based CUSO PSCU in May 2022. At the time, PSCU President/CEO Chuck Fagan said the acquisition would enable PSCU to connect its member credit unions to FedNow.

The news followed several other FedNow-related announcements within the credit union industry. On Friday, the $5.2 billion, Greensboro, N.C.-based Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union said it had completed certification for the FedNowSM Service. In May, core processor Jack Henry announced it had been participating in a FedNow pilot and early adopter program along with 20 of its bank and credit union clients, and that the service would soon become part of Jack Henry’s JHA PayCenter.