This spring, the Federal Reserve proudly exhibited at the TRANSACT (Off-site) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada April 30–May 2 and PAYMENTS 2019 (Off-site) in Orlando, Florida May 5–8. Payments industry leaders and stakeholders participated in keynotes, sessions, roundtables and one-on-one interactions at both dynamic events.

TRANSACT

The TRANSACT conference is powered by the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) (Off-site), the largest payments industry trade group worldwide. The conference focuses on the business of payments technology and brings together financial institutions, networks, payments companies, fintech and technology innovators to discuss and shape the future of payments. Contributing to the robust agenda, Chicago Fed Assistant Vice President Dan Faxel participated in a panel discussing recent efforts made by the payments industry alongside the Federal Reserve to improve the U.S. payment system.

PAYMENTS 2019

Attended by thousands of payments system stakeholders and hosted by Nacha (Off-site), PAYMENTS 2019 provided an environment of learning, networking and inspiration led by this year’s theme of “Smarter. Faster.” Fed representatives enjoyed meeting with customers and industry leaders throughout the conference, as well as contributing to the agenda. The Federal Reserve hosted a town hall session and had panelists on such sessions as “Imagineering Same Day ACH: What Works, What’s Next and Where We’re Going,” “The Persistence of Cash in the Less-Cash Environment” and “ISO® 20022 Implementation for Fedwire® Funds Service & CHIPS®.”

Payments improvement topics we covered

At both TRANSACT and PAYMENTS 2019, we spoke with attendees about the Federal Reserve’s efforts to improve the U.S. payment system. Topics included:

  • The Spring 2019 Progress Report (Off-site) was published in April and includes updates on work that was outlined in the Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System: Federal Reserve Next Steps in the Payments Improvement Journey (Off-site) and next steps for the five strategies – speed, security, collaboration, efficiency and international payments.
  • Attendees were encouraged to join the FedPayments Improvement Community (Off-site). Community members participate in opportunities available to all stakeholders that promote engagement in the Fed’s full portfolio of payments improvement initiatives.
  • The Fraud Definitions Work Group (Off-site) was recently established to develop a more consistent and holistic view of terminology used to describe Automated Clearing House (ACH), wire and check payments fraud. Members of the FedPayments Improvement Community can also join the Fraud Definitions Community Interest Group to stay up to date with progress by updating their Community profile (Off-site) and selecting “ACH, Wire and Check Fraud Definitions” as a topic of interest.
  • At PAYMENTS 2019, the Fed hosted a FedPayments Improvement Community Roundtable (Off-site), where Community members were encouraged to discuss and give their feedback on recent payments improvement initiatives. Table discussion topics included “Faster Payments Implementation Strategy and Planning,” “Cross-Border Payments Landscape,” “ISO 20022 for Corporate Clients” and more. During the roundtable, attendees heard from the following Federal Reserve payments strategy leaders:  
    • Dave Sapenaro, Payments Strategy Director, First Vice President and COO, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
    • Ken Montgomery, Payments Security Strategy Leader and First Vice President and COO, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
    • Connie Theien, Faster Payments Strategy Leader and Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Fed services we highlighted

At PAYMENTS 2019, account executives were also able to meet with customers to chat about a range of featured services, including:

Account executives and other Fed representatives always appreciate this time to hear from customers and industry leaders about what they are experiencing in the payments industry today and how our services may be able to help them.

Fed representatives in attendance

At both TRANSACT and PAYMENTS 2019, Fed representatives were eager to spend time with other payments industry attendees. Attending these conferences was a rewarding experience and one that our team members look forward to each year. If you are interested in learning more about Fed services, our account executives are always happy to speak with you!

Fed attendees shown below from left to right at PAYMENTS 2019 included: Associate Marketing Communications Consultant Katie Kalbas; Senior Account Executive Susan Bivens; Account Executive Pavel Reytikh; Senior National Account Executive Mary Trusty; Senior Account Executive Paula Edwards; National Account Executives John Sosbee and Kathy Moore and Vice President and Director of Sales Daniel Gonzalez.

Fed representatives at PAYMENTS 2019

Action Item:

Look for future Conference Connection articles in Fed360, and check out the Industry Events page for upcoming events that our Fed account executives and industry representatives will be attending.

Notes

The Federal Reserve Banks do not sponsor or endorse any of the non-Federal Reserve Bank-related products, parties or entities discussed in this publication.

“ISO” is a registered service mark of the International Organization for Standardization.

“CHIPS” is a registered service mark of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C.