Flash Funds, Funds Now, Express Funds: They’re All the Same Product Powered by Valid Systems

If you’ve deposited a check at M&T Bank and seen an option called Flash Funds, you’ve used it. If you bank with BMO and opted into Funds Now, you’ve used it. PNC customers know it as Express Funds. KeyBank calls it Immediate Funds. Truist customers see it as Immediate Availability. At Fifth Third, it’s Immediate Funds Availability.

Different names. Different banks. Same product -and the same core technology powering all of it.

That technology belongs to Valid Systems. The risk decisioning engine that makes immediate check deposit availability possible was built by Valid Systems, and it runs under the hood of every version of this product - whether a bank calls it Flash Funds, Funds Now, or anything else. Fiserv distributes the capability to financial institutions as Immediate Funds. Valid Systems offers it directly as Instant Funds.

If you’ve searched for any of these names and landed here, you’re in the right place.

One Technology, Many Names

The financial services industry has a long tradition of white labeling: banks take a core technology platform and brand it as their own. That’s exactly what’s happened with immediate check deposit availability. Valid Systems built the underlying engine - the real-time decisioning platform that evaluates a deposited check in less than half a second and determines whether the full amount can be made available to the customer immediately. Fiserv distributes that capability to financial institutions under the name Immediate Funds, and banks have taken it and marketed it under names that fit their own brand identity.

Here’s the full picture:

Valid Systems Instant Funds - This is the source technology. Valid Systems’ risk decisioning platform is the engine that powers immediate check deposit availability across the industry. Banks and their technology partners license and deploy it under a range of names.

Fiserv Immediate Funds - This is how Fiserv markets the Valid Systems-powered capability to financial institutions. When you see bank product announcements about expedited check deposit availability, the Valid Systems decisioning engine is almost always running underneath.

M&T Bank Flash Funds™ - M&T branded the service as Flash Funds, available through its mobile app for eligible check deposits. Fee: 2% of the check amount, $2 minimum.

BMO FundsNow - BMO launched FundsNow in April 2024. Fee: 2% for checks $100 and over; $1 for checks under $100.

PNC Bank Express Funds - PNC offers Express Funds through all of its deposit channels- Mobile, ATM, and Branch. Fee: 2.5% for checks over $100; flat $2 for checks $25–$100.

KeyBank Immediate Funds - KeyBank kept the platform name directly. Fee: 2%, $2 minimum.

Truist Immediate Availability - Available via mobile and ATM check deposit. Fee: 2% for checks $100+; $1 for checks under $100.

Fifth Third Bank → Immediate Funds Availability - Fee varies by deposit amount.

Why So Many Names for the Same Thing?

White-labeling serves an important strategic purpose for banks. Customers form their relationship with the institution — not with the underlying technology provider. A customer who loves Flash Funds at M&T is loyal to M&T, not to Valid Systems running silently underneath. That’s intentional, and it’s a good banking strategy.

But it creates a discoverability challenge for anyone trying to understand the landscape: what is this product, which banks offer it, and how does it actually work? The answer to all three questions traces back to the same place. It’s an opt-in, fee-based service powered by Valid Systems’ real-time risk decisioning - letting customers get immediate access to deposited check funds instead of waiting the standard two to three business days, with an eligibility decision returned in under two seconds.

The economics are consistent across every bank that offers it. The customer pays a small fee (typically 1–2% of the check amount). The bank earns non-interest income. The risk of the check being returned is owned by the Valid Systems, not the bank or customer. Everyone wins.

The Demand Is Real Across All of These Platforms

Regardless of what a bank calls this product, the consumer demand driving it is identical:

• 58% of consumers say they are willing to pay for accelerated check deposit availability.
• 20% of small businesses would use immediate funds specifically to cover payroll or purchase supplies.
• 68% of small business owners say a bank’s ability to offer instant or real-time transactions is important or very important when choosing a financial institution.
• Fiserv Immediate Funds — that’s the Fiserv-distributed version of Valid Systems’ platform.
• Flash Funds M&T Bank — that’s M&T’s brand for it.
• FundsNow BMO — that’s BMO’s brand for it.
• Express Funds PNC — that’s PNC’s brand for it.
• Immediate Funds KeyBank — that’s KeyBank’s brand for it.
• Truist Immediate Availability — that’s Truist’s brand for it.
• Fifth Third Immediate Funds Availability — that’s Fifth Third’s brand for it.
• Instant Funds — that’s Valid Systems’ direct offering.

Those numbers don’t change based on whether the product is called Flash Funds or FundsNow or Express Funds. The pain point - waiting days for a check to clear - is universal. And the Valid Systems technology that solves it is the same in every case.

What Makes Valid Systems’ Technology the Foundation

Valid Systems built the risk decisioning engine that makes this product work.

The decisioning platform evaluates each deposit item in real time, returning an eligibility decision within the deposit process. The offer approval rate - the percentage of transactions where Instant Funds can be extended - exceeds 90%, which means banks can proactively offer the service to nearly every depositor. The platform manages return loss exposure, meaning the bank takes on the revenue without increasing risk exposure.

Banks that have launched Flash Funds, Funds Now, Express Funds, and their equivalents are all running on this same foundation.

That’s what Instant Funds - Valid Systems directly delivered version of this capability is designed to deliver.

Searching for Any of These? You’re Looking at Valid Systems Technology

One technology. One decisioning engine. Deployed across some of the largest banks in the United States under a half-dozen different names. Built by Valid Systems.

Want to learn how your institution can deploy Instant Funds directly from Valid Systems and get the full benefit of the platform from day one? Contact the Valid Systems team to talk through implementation, configuration, and optimization. Visit Validadvantage.com