Respond to Federal Reserve's request for comment on faster payments

posted by Kevin Christensen on Monday, December 10, 2018 in SHAZAM Blog

For many months the Federal Reserve has gathered feedback from leaders in the payments industry to ensure a viable structure for a ubiquitous world-class payment system. This payment system will be one where Americans can safely and securely pay anyone, anywhere, at any time and with immediate funds availability. As an organization, SHAZAM has been deeply involved in leading this effort since the beginning and we continue to represent the interests of community banks and credit unions across the country.

Recently, the Fed announced their request for comment on Potential Actions to Facilitate Real-Time Interbank Settlement of Faster Payments. This process outlines the potential actions that the Federal Reserve could take to promote ubiquitous, safe, and efficient faster payments in the United States by facilitating real-time interbank settlement of faster payments.

What does faster payments mean? In today’s environment, faster payments are most often made from a mobile device. This process allows greater flexibility in managing money and increases accessibility to funds. Currently there is not interoperability between the many faster payments platforms which causes issues for businesses and individuals who want to transfer money to each other. Consider how text messages are sent — individuals can send and receive text messages, regardless of the carriers used on either end of the text message. This is our goal — the ability for all individuals and institutions to have access to real-time payments in much the same way.

We believe that without the Fed playing a significant operational role in this process, universal and equitable access will not be achieved, putting thousands of community institutions and their accountholders at a competitive disadvantage. It’s critical the Fed continue its faster payments leadership and become an operator of faster payments.

As a member of the Faster Payments Council, I encourage you to respond to the Fed’s request for comment.

Please respond before the Dec. 14, 2018 deadline:

• Send an email to regs.comments@federalreserve.gov.
• Put “Comments to Docket No. OP-1625” in the subject line of your email.
• Tell how the current system isn’t working and how the Federal Reserve should work with industry partners to build a ubiquitous faster payments system.

This issue has significant impact on the payments industry and deserves your attention.

Tags

1. advocacy
2. faster
3. federal

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