Instant Payments Maven™
Perspectives on instant payments, risk, and payments modernization
SAFE™ to SEND™: A Risk-First Framework for Enabling Instant Payments Send
SAFE™ to SEND™ is a proprietary, risk-first framework developed by Marcia Klingensmith, the Instant Payments Maven™, to help financial institutions confidently enable instant payments send.
As instant payments move from receive-only participation to outbound money movement, financial institutions face a fundamentally different risk profile. Settlement becomes immediate, control windows shrink, and traditional governance models no longer apply. SAFE™ to SEND™ was created to address this reality.
The framework aligns risk management, operational readiness, and business strategy so institutions can enable instant payments send in a way that is deliberate, defensible, and scalable, without exposing the organization to unnecessary risk.
SAFE™ to SEND™ does not prescribe a single technology, rail, or implementation path. Instead, it provides a structured approach to decision-making that helps institutions move forward with clarity, control, and confidence.
Understanding why send changes the risk equation is essential before evaluating readiness or scale.
Why Instant Payments Send Changes the Risk Equation
SAFE™ to SEND™ is a proprietary, risk-first framework developed by Marcia Klingensmith, the Instant Payments Maven™, to help financial institutions confidently enable instant payments send.
As instant payments move from receive-only participation to outbound money movement, financial institutions face a fundamentally different risk profile. Settlement becomes immediate, control windows shrink, and traditional governance models no longer apply. SAFE™ to SEND™ was created to address this reality.
The framework aligns risk management, operational readiness, and business strategy so institutions can enable instant payments send in a way that is deliberate, defensible, and scalable, without exposing the organization to unnecessary risk.
SAFE™ to SEND™ does not prescribe a single technology, rail, or implementation path. Instead, it provides a structured approach to decision-making that helps institutions move forward with clarity, control, and confidence.
Understanding why send changes the risk equation is essential before evaluating readiness or scale.
The Problem SAFE™ to SEND™ Solves
Many financial institutions approach instant payments send as a technical enablement effort when, in reality, it introduces a new operating model with far-reaching risk, governance, and reputation implications.
As soon as outbound instant payments are enabled, institutions must make near-real-time decisions around fraud exposure, customer entitlements, liquidity, exception handling, and accountability, often without the controls, staffing models, or escalation paths required to support 24/7/365 money movement.
In practice, this creates a familiar set of challenges:
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Fragmented ownership across risk, operations, treasury, and product teams
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Controls designed for batch or delayed settlement applied to real-time flows
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Limited visibility into downstream exposure once funds are released
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Inconsistent decisioning around which use cases are appropriate to send
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Pressure to move quickly based on competitive or ecosystem expectations
These gaps are frequently invisible at launch. Low volumes, narrow use cases, or pilot programs can give a false sense of readiness, leaving institutions vulnerable as adoption grows or an edge case becomes a reputational event.
SAFE™ to SEND™ exists to address this disconnect. The framework provides a deliberate way to assess readiness, align stakeholders, and establish guardrails before scale forces the issue, so instant payments send becomes a controlled capability rather than a reactive one.
Who SAFE™ to SEND™ Is Designed For
SAFE™ to SEND™ is designed for senior leaders within financial institutions who are responsible for enabling or overseeing instant payments send and who recognize that this decision extends beyond technology.
The framework is particularly relevant for organizations that:
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Are currently receive-only on an instant payments rail and evaluating send
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Have enabled limited send use cases and are reassessing exposure as volumes grow
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Are expanding instant payments into new customer segments or embedded use cases
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Are navigating competing pressures from compliance, operations, treasury, and the business
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Want to move forward with confidence rather than reacting to incidents, audits, or market events
SAFE™ to SEND™ supports leaders across functions, including payments, operations, risk, treasury, technology, and enterprise strategy. It provides a shared structure that allows cross-functional teams to align on priorities, roles, and guardrails without slowing momentum.
The framework is not designed for institutions looking for a quick workaround or a single-vendor solution. It is intended for organizations that want to enable instant payments send responsibly—protecting customers, the institution, and the broader ecosystem while positioning for sustainable growth.
What SAFE™ to SEND™ Enables
SAFE™ to SEND™ helps financial institutions move from uncertainty to clarity when enabling instant payments send.
By applying a risk-first lens, the framework enables institutions to:
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Establish clear governance and ownership for instant payments send across the enterprise
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Identify which send use cases align with the institution’s risk appetite and operating model
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Reduce exposure by addressing structural gaps before scale or regulatory scrutiny
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Improve decision quality across risk, operations, treasury, and business teams
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Align instant payments strategy with broader modernization and growth objectives
Rather than pushing institutions to move faster, SAFE™ to SEND™ creates the conditions to move deliberately, with confidence that controls, accountability, and escalation paths are appropriate for always-on money movement.
The result is not just enablement, but readiness. Institutions are able to support instant payments send in a way that protects customers, safeguards the organization, and supports sustainable adoption as volumes, use cases, and expectations evolve.
How SAFE™ to SEND™ Fits into Modern Payments Transformation
Instant payments send does not exist in isolation. It sits at the intersection of broader payments modernization efforts that include cloud migration, API enablement, ISO 20022 data adoption, fraud modernization, and the introduction of new payment rails and business models.
SAFE™ to SEND™ is designed to complement these initiatives by providing a unifying framework that helps institutions make coordinated decisions as capabilities evolve. Rather than treating instant payments as a standalone project, the framework positions send enablement as part of an integrated operating model.
By grounding decisions in risk, governance, and enterprise readiness, SAFE™ to SEND™ helps institutions:
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Align instant payments strategy with existing modernization investments
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Avoid duplicative or conflicting controls across payment rails
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Support future expansion into new rails, platforms, or embedded use cases
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Create consistency as payment volumes and business models diversify
This approach allows financial institutions to modernize with intention by bringing instant payments into the core of their operating strategy while maintaining control and adaptability as the ecosystem continues to evolve.
SAFE™ to SEND™ Editions and Use-Case Applications
SAFE™ to SEND™ is designed as a flexible framework that can be applied across evolving payment rails, operating models, and business use cases.
While the core principles remain consistent, the framework recognizes that different rails and use cases introduce distinct risk, regulatory, and operational considerations. As a result, SAFE™ to SEND™ can be adapted through focused editions and applications that reflect these realities without fragmenting governance or strategy.
Current and emerging applications include:
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Instant payments send over bank-owned and network-operated rails
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Enterprise and B2B disbursements
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Embedded finance and platform-driven payouts
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Wallet and account-based money movement
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Stablecoin-enabled and tokenized payment flows
The SAFE™ to SEND™ – Stablecoin Edition extends the framework to address the unique considerations associated with programmable money, custody models, regulatory treatment, and cross-rail interoperability, while maintaining the same risk-first discipline required for any form of outbound instant value transfer.
By organizing send enablement through a unified framework rather than a collection of point solutions, financial institutions are able to support innovation while preserving consistency, control, and accountability as the payments landscape continues to expand.
Why a Risk-First Approach Matters for Instant Payments
Instant payments send compresses time, removes settlement buffers, and shifts accountability in ways that traditional risk models were not designed to accommodate. Once funds are released, recovery options are limited, decisions must be made quickly, and exceptions can escalate into financial, regulatory, or reputational events in real time.
A risk-first approach does not slow innovation. It enables it.
By addressing risk considerations early, before volumes scale or new use cases expand, financial institutions are better positioned to support instant payments send sustainably. This includes aligning leadership expectations, defining clear guardrails, and ensuring that operational and governance structures evolve alongside new capabilities.
Institutions that treat risk as a secondary consideration often find themselves responding reactively to fraud cases, customer complaints, regulatory inquiries, or internal friction. In contrast, organizations that embed risk management into the design of instant payments send are able to move forward with confidence, clarity, and credibility.
SAFE™ to SEND™ exists to ensure that instant payments send is enabled with intention. A risk-first mindset protects customers, supports frontline teams, and safeguards the institution while still allowing innovation to advance at a pace that aligns with enterprise readiness.
About the Creator: Marcia Klingensmith, the Instant Payments Maven™
SAFE™ to SEND™ was developed by Marcia Klingensmith, globally known as the Instant Payments Maven™, a trusted advisor to financial institutions, fintechs, and payment providers navigating payments modernization.
With more than 20 years of experience across banking, networks, and financial infrastructure, including roles at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Visa, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and FIS, Marcia brings a cross-functional perspective that spans risk, operations, product, and go-to-market strategy.
Her work focuses on helping institutions move from legacy payment models to modern, always-on money movement with clarity and confidence. She is an active contributor to industry working groups, a frequent speaker on instant payments, stablecoins, ISO 20022, and payments modernization, and the creator and host of Instant Payments Decoded™, a longstanding webcast series dedicated to practical, real-world insights.
Marcia is known for turning complexity into clarity by helping senior leaders connect emerging technologies, regulatory realities, and enterprise risk considerations into actionable strategies that get built.
What Happens Next
SAFE™ to SEND™ is designed to support thoughtful decision-making before instant payments send becomes an operational or reputational constraint.
For financial institutions evaluating send enablement, or reassessing their current approach, the next step is not speed, tooling, or scale. It is clarity.
Organizations typically begin by understanding how instant payments send fits within their broader risk posture, operating model, and strategic objectives. From there, SAFE™ to SEND™ provides a structured way to assess readiness, align stakeholders, and determine an appropriate path forward.
If this framework resonates with the challenges or questions your institution is facing, the next step is a focused conversation to determine whether SAFE™ to SEND™ is the right fit for your goals, timing, and risk appetite.
Instant payments send is an inflection point. How it is approached matters.
Institutions typically apply the SAFE™ to SEND™ framework through focused advisory support tailored to their strategy, risk posture, and operating model.