News

US FIs form secure real-time payments network

Early Warning, the fraud protection and risk management arm of major US banks, will acquire clearXchange, the nation's largest bank-owned digital payments network.

October 27, 2015

"[W]e are combining our collective, bank-owned digital payments network with our fraud, risk and authentication assets to further ensure that our customers can send money confidently, securely and in real time via their financial institutions."

With this statement the CEOs of Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo this week announced that their jointly owned fraud prevention and risk management arm will acquire clearXchange, the largest bank-owned digital payments network in the United States.

As part of the transaction, U.S. Bank and PNC are expected to join Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo as owners of Early Warning, pending completion of all applicable regulatory reviews, the announcement said.

The FIs said that their complementary assets will bring unprecedented speed, security, and efficiency to U.S. payments, allowing financial institutions to meet the demands of consumers, businesses, and government for real-time payments.

The enhanced platform will be open to all banks and credit unions of any size, and will help modernize and secure the U.S. payment system as envisioned by the Federal Reserve Bank's Payment System Improvement Initiative, according to the release. The platform's capabilities will also meet the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's vision of consumer protection in new faster payment systems.

"With this acquisition, Early Warning is bringing together immediate funds availability, integrated authentication and fraud management capabilities into a single platform," said Early Warning CEO Paul Finch. "The resulting security, reliability and consistency among financial institution payment services will provide a required catalyst to advance real-time payments."