Comment by rswail

It provides a facility that FedNow and Zelle will replace. It's a US specific solution for instant settlement payment rails that other nations have had for a while.

FedNow is the underlying infra, Zelle will end up being the consumer brand wrapper around it.

In Australia, the equivalent is the New Payments Platform (NPP) and the consumer "brand" is PayID. I can associate an email address or a mobile number to a bank account. Anyone can transfer money from their bank account to mine using that ID, without knowing what account or what bank.

There are other things being built on top, like "PayTo" where businesses can set up the equivalent of direct debit agreements, like utilities billing, but the consumer can also control it without having to go through the bank paperwork.