As the financial industry embraces real-time payment networks such as FedNow® and RTP®, fraud risk management has emerged as a key area of focus. With money moving in seconds, banks no longer have the luxury of hours or days to review transactions before they settle. During a recent panel at Finzly’s user conference, finzpire, featuring experts from the Federal Reserve, Finzly, Verafin, and 1st Source Bank, speakers shared real-world insights into how institutions are approaching fraud prevention and operational readiness in the instant payments landscape. 
 

Below are five takeaways from the conversation that reflect the current state of industry thinking - and the path forward. 

For vendors like Verafin, the shift to real-time payments has meant rethinking how RTP & FedNow fraud risks are identified and prevented. Their approach centers on using aggregated data and behavioral analytics to provide financial institutions with meaningful insights in real time. 
 

Verafin highlighted its role in sharing intelligence across institutions through advanced analytics. With visibility into the behavioral profiles of over 725 million entities, their platform helps identify abnormal transaction patterns - especially at the receiver level - where many fraud attempts originate. 
 

“We help banks understand both sides of the transaction. Knowing who your customers are sending money to, and whether those patterns align with what’s typical, is critical,” Nick Pearson, Product Management Specialist from Nasdaq Verafin explained. 
 

This kind of shared visibility can be especially useful for smaller institutions that may not have in-house capabilities to detect fraud at scale. 

Real-time payment adoption doesn’t eliminate fraud, but it does demand a proactive strategy. 1st Source Bank discussed its decision to integrate fraud monitoring at the outset, working in partnership with Verafin and Finzly. 

The bank uses Finzly for sending and receiving instant payments on both FedNow and RTP networks. This layered defense model - technology, controls, and people - can provide banks with a measured, confident path to adoption.

The Federal Reserve emphasized the importance of rolling out real-time payments in phases, starting with lower risk use cases and gradually expanding. 
 

Payroll, for instance, is often seen as a low-risk, high-value use case to pilot. The Fed also encourages banks to reuse tools that have proven effective for other rails, such as the ACH Fraud Classifier and historical customer data. 

The framework of “crawl, walk, run” remains highly relevant. A phased approach allows institutions to test fraud controls, refine internal processes, and gain experience before expanding to broader use cases. 

One of the most practical challenges for banks adopting real-time payments is reconciling 24/7 operations with traditional end-of-day (EOD) batch processing systems. 1st Source Bank shared how they developed new procedures that worked in tandem with Finzly’s 24/7 payments platform to ensure operational continuity - even during nightly processing windows. 

This involved more than just systems integration - it required a mindset shift. The bank modeled its approach on existing wire procedures, using transaction limits and account setup logic to guide approvals. Additionally, a semi-regular review process was combined with alerts from Finzly to provide ongoing oversight without creating manual overhead. 
 

The Federal Reserve added that banks don't need to process transactions continuously if their operational model doesn’t allow for it. Whether it's through defined business hours, integration with third-party systems, or internal process changes, flexibility is key. 

Perhaps the most insightful takeaway came from 1st Source Bank’s reflection on how use cases - and customer demand - should guide the rollout of real-time payments. 
 

“Our clients told us where real-time made sense. They’re not waiting for us to define the opportunity - they’re already living it.” 
 

Listening to customers and aligning real-time capabilities with their natural workflows allowed the bank to focus its efforts on areas where value and feasibility intersected. 
 

This pragmatic, demand-driven approach reduced internal friction and provided a clear path to adoption - another example of how gradual, focused steps can yield meaningful progress.

Fraud will always be part of the payments landscape, whether in wires, ACH, or instant channels. What changes with real-time payments is the timeline,  and the expectation that risk is addressed before funds leave the account. 
 

The experiences shared by Verafin, 1st Source Bank, and the Federal Reserve suggest that while challenges are real, they are manageable. Institutions that take a phased, data-driven approach - starting with safe use cases, investing in the right partners, and adapting procedures - can roll out real-time payments with confidence. And that starts with thoughtful planning, collaboration, and the right technology foundation. 


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