The Federal Reserve Banks are committed to providing customers with access to critical payment services that are designed to be resilient and secure in the face of emerging cybersecurity threats. We continually seek ways to reduce risk across these services. 

New security feature

Effective March 18, 2019, the Federal Reserve Banks will offer a new security feature in the FedPayments® Manager–Funds application. This change will allow participants to extend certain control settings to outgoing messages they originate via other Fedwire® access channels, providing an optional but important complement to their existing risk management and fraud detection programs.

Beginning on the effective date, the new security feature will be visible to participants when they access the FedPayments Manager–Funds application using their “Funds Supervisor” access credential. Once enabled, this feature will prevent the submission of outgoing messages (regardless of the Fedwire access channel) that violate certain security controls. The feature will also generate email notifications to broaden awareness when certain types of outgoing messages are submitted to the Fedwire Funds Service for processing.

See the new feature today

The enhanced version of the FedPayments Manager–Funds application is available in the Depository Institution Testing (DIT) environment. We recommend that your institution review the existing processing options available in the application, and determine if you will want to enable the new security feature when it becomes available in March.

Action Item:

Because the new security feature capability extends control settings to multiple Fedwire access channels, participants will only be permitted to “opt in” after completing supported testing in the DIT environment.

Get prepared

In conjunction with the planned application enhancements, the Federal Reserve Banks are amending Operating Circular 6 (OC 6), Funds Transfers through the Fedwire Funds Service. To help depository institutions prepare, the revised version of OC 6 (PDF) and a completesummary of changes are now available for review at the Operating Circulars page. Revisions to OC 6 will be effective March 18, 2019. Your continued use of Reserve Bank services on or after March 18, 2019, constitutes agreement to the new terms of the operating circular.

Prior to implementation, we also strongly encourage participants to:

  • Review your processing options in the FedPayments Manager–Funds application and make changes you consider appropriate to best ensure the security of the transactions you submit to the Fedwire Funds Service
  • Review your current FedPayments Manager–Funds Subscribers to ensure that you have at least one individual with an active Supervisor access level and at least two individuals with an active Transfer Specialist access level
  • Contact your Wholesale Testing Unit or Wholesale Operations Site for more information