The Federal Reserve Board has released a plan to enhance the speed, safety, and efficiency of the U.S. payment system, which is nearing a “critical juncture in its evolution.” The Fed report, “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System,” envisions a world where businesses, emerging payments firms, card networks, payment processors, consumers, and financial institutions all work together to create a payment system utopia.
According to the Fed,
responses to a 2013 paper on payment system improvements indicate broad agreement with the gaps, opportunities,
and desired outcomes that the Fed identified. Given the recent
stakeholder dialogue, the Fed believes that now is the time to join
together and achieve the following outcomes: (1) speed; (2) security; (3) efficiency; (4) International; and (5) collaboration.
If you would like to help the Fed achieve these goals, the Fed is looking to establish various stakeholder taskforces in 2015 that will advise the Fed and identify effective approaches for
achieving the outcomes. Membership needs and
instructions for expressing an interest in participating will be detailed on www.FedPaymentsImprovement.org.
If you'd rather watch from the sidelines, you can join Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Fed Governor Jay Powell on January 29 for a live webcast, via www.ustream.tv/federalreserve, at which they will share their vision for the future U.S. payment system.
For more details about the Fed's strategy and desired outcomes, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
For more details about the Fed's strategy and desired outcomes, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
