Faster Payments Task Force Unveils Proposals and Sets 2020 Target

Recommendations to be revealed during live online broadcast at 11:30 a.m. EDT July 21 Members of the national Faster Payments Task Force, which was created and led by the Federal Reserve in 2015, Friday will publish a final report summarizing the accomplishments of the task force.  The report details 16 proposed faster payments solutions that outline possible approaches to achieving a faster and more efficient payment system and sets a goal for making receipt of faster payments available to every U.S. consumer and business by 2020. A national online broadcast featuring task force members discussing the payments improvement initiative, the final report, and the various proposals and recommendations that came out of it will be streamed Friday at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Viewers can watch by visiting FedPaymentsImprovement.org. The task force includes more than 300 representatives of financial institutions, consumer groups, payment service providers, financial technology firms, merchants, government agencies, and a number of other interested parties. Task Force steering committee member Roy DeCicco, a senior executive at JPMorgan Chase who represents the American National Standards Institute’s X9 Committee on the task force, said this is a major step forward in improving the speed and safety of payments in the United States.  “This report shows how we can get to a better payment system by encouraging competition and innovation, while collaborating to create broad access to faster payments and serve all interests,” he said. Christina Tetreault, a staff attorney with Consumers Union and a task force steering committee member representing consumer interests, said the task force carried out a fair and objective analysis and came up with important recommendations. “These recommendations point the way forward for all consumers to reap the potential benefits of safer, faster payments,” she said.  "Faster payments can help ensure increased control over cash flow, better money management, and decreased reliance on short term credit.  Across the board, task force participants are eager to see people and organizations join together to meet our 2020 objective.” The proposals submitted by providers across the payment industry include what end-to-end faster payment systems in the United States could look like and their possible effectiveness.  The report also discusses various solutions and technologies and what barriers the industry faces in implementing faster payments.  In addition, it looks at strategic issues deemed important to the successful development of faster payments and achievement of the 2020 goal, including the need for:

• A framework for ongoing collaboration, decision making, and rule-setting,
• Infrastructure to support faster payments, and
• Plans to address evolving security threats, meet changing end-user needs, and foster continuous innovation.

“The work of the Faster Payments Task Force over the past two years will have an enormous impact on how a modern U.S. payments system is designed and implemented,” said Sean Rodriguez, the Federal Reserve’s faster payments strategy leader and chair of the Faster Payments Task Force.  “Our goal is to ensure that anyone anywhere is able to pay and be paid quickly and securely.  In real terms, that means people will not have to wait hours or days to deliver and access their money. Businesses will have enhanced cash management and better information associated with their payments.” The publication of its final report follows a comprehensive and independent analysis of the proposals by McKinsey & Company, which assessed the proposals against 36 effectiveness criteria created by task force members.