US Banking Leaders Convene on Risks, Payments

- The FedNow Service has expanded to over 1,600 participating financial institutions since its 2023 launch, with transaction volume growing 460% in 2025 over 2024. In January 2026, the service handled nearly 30,000 transactions daily, with the total value of payments in 2025 reaching $853.4 billion. - The Clearing House's RTP network, a competitor to FedNow, processed over $1.3 trillion in payments in 2025 and set a single-day record in October with 1.8 million transactions valued at $5.2 billion. The average payment size on RTP surged 376% to over $4,000 by June 2025 after its transaction limit was increased to $10 million. - In cross-border payments, the focus for 2026 is on linking domestic instant payment systems to create international corridors, moving from experimentation to execution. Major financial players like JPMorgan and Citi are integrating their own tokenized deposit solutions, such as JPM Coin, with public blockchains to facilitate real-time, cross-border payments and liquidity management. - AI-driven fraud detection systems are becoming critical for financial institutions, with some firms improving detection by as much as 10% by analyzing vast datasets in real-time to identify anomalies that signal sophisticated fraud. These systems use behavioral analysis to spot deviations from normal customer transaction patterns, helping to proactively prevent account takeovers and unauthorized activity. - To combat rising digital fraud, including deepfakes and AI-powered attacks, the financial industry is shifting towards biometric authentication and continuous identity verification as a baseline for security. This involves moving beyond passwords to methods like liveness detection to confirm a real human is present during transactions. - For product leaders in large financial enterprises, a primary responsibility is translating direct customer feedback and market analysis into a product strategy that balances short-term value with a long-term vision. This requires influencing cross-functional teams and aligning them around solving real customer problems to drive measurable growth. - The regulatory landscape for digital assets is maturing, with the U.S. Congress passing the GENIUS Act to create a federal framework for payment stablecoins, clarifying they are not securities. Final rules for the act are expected by mid-2026, which is anticipated to encourage further institutional adoption and integration of stablecoins into the mainstream financial system. - Institutional adoption of stablecoins is growing for enterprise payments due to the ability to facilitate instant settlement, reduce transaction costs, and provide 24/7 liquidity. Stablecoin transaction volumes surpassed $27.6 trillion in 2024, exceeding the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard.