The Federal Reserve continues its efforts working toward the desired outcomes outlined in the 2015 Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System (Off-site) paper and built upon in the 2017 paper, Next Steps in the Payments Improvement Journey (Off-site). Released in October, the Fall 2019 Progress Report (Off-site) highlights the latest achievements and planned next steps for making payments faster, secure and more efficient.
The new Fall 2019 Progress Report summarizes the most recent payments improvement accomplishments and updates on strategic focus areas. Highlights include:
- Faster payments: In August, the Fed announced, via a Federal Register notice, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ decision to develop and operate the FedNowSM Service (Off-site), and that the Board will explore the expansion of hours for the Fedwire® Funds Service and the National Settlement Service.
- Payments security: The Fed worked recently with the Fraud Definitions Work Group (Off-site) to release a draft of a recommended Fraud Classification Model for Payments, in addition to publishing two papers on the causes and contributing factors of synthetic identity payments fraud (Off-site) in the U.S. payment system.
- Payments efficiency: The Fed participated in the Business Payments Coalition (BPC) (Off-site) assessment of both the e-delivery network specifications and e-Invoice data standards incorporated in existing e-Invoice frameworks in other countries.
For a detailed summary of accomplishments, and to learn about the planned work ahead, read the full Fall 2019 Progress Report (Off-site). Stay informed on the Fed’s progress toward improving the U.S. payment system and ensure you receive the latest news and perspectives by joining the growing FedPayments Improvement Community (Off-site).
