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March 28, 2025
On the web
FDIC Clarifies Process for Banks to Engage in Crypto-Related Activities
FDIC Subscriptions
"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a Financial Institution Letter (FIL-7-2025) that provides new guidance for FDIC-supervised institutions engaging or seeking to engage in crypto-related activities. The guidance affirms that FDIC-supervised institutions may engage in permissible activities, including activities involving new and emerging technologies such as crypto-assets and digital assets, provided that they adequately manage the associated risks."
Debit Card Interchange Fees Charged to Small Merchants After Regulation II
kansas City Fed
"In this article, Fumiko Hayashi examines whether the prohibitions on exclusivity arrangements and routing limitations helped reduce exempt interchange fees charged to small merchants for in-person debit card transactions. She finds that while some networks reduced these fees for certain merchant categories, other networks either increased or did not change their fees."
March 19, 2025
On the web
Data from the Federal Reserve Payments Study Shows the Pace of Payments Accelerating
Atlanta Fed
"The allure of speed plays a role in changing use patterns for all kinds of payment methods, familiar and new. Automated clearing house (ACH) transactions and person-to-person (P2P) payments via depository institution websites are two payment types for which recent growth rates show the importance of speed. Data from the Federal Reserve Payment Study (FRPS) finds that same-day ACH debit transfers grew 39 percent per year by value from 2018 to 2021."
March 14, 2025
On the web
National Payment Volumes, Detailed Data, ACH, Checks, Wires, and Alternative Payments
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
"The Federal Reserve Payments Study is an ongoing effort to estimate aggregate trends in noncash payments in the United States. This release contains national estimates of the number and value of transaction accounts, checks, automated clearinghouse (ACH) transfers, and wire transfers for the United States in the years 2015, 2018, and 2021."
March 10, 2025
On the web
Business Use of Wires Grew Sharply from 2018 to 2021
Atlanta Fed
"Business payments are concentrated in wires, ACH credit transactions, and (still) checks, according to 2021 data released by the Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS) last month. Of these payment types, wires grew most by both number and value from 2018."
March 3, 2025
On the web
Counterfeit Cards Persist: Is the Magstripe to Blame?
Atlanta Fed
"...The United Kingdom (UK) began migrating to EMV chip-card technology in 2002. In 2007, the UK started issuing EMV chip cards for contactless and mobile tapping payments. No PIN required. No magstripe included. Magstripe information is received in the clear by the card reader and can be easily intercepted for cloning."
February 26, 2025
On the web
Fednow® Service Announces New Risk Mitigation Features and $1 Million Transaction Limit
Fed Now
"Starting in summer 2025, FedNow Service participants will have access to new account activity threshold functionality, which will allow participants to define value and velocity thresholds by customer segment to fit their unique business needs and risk tolerance. The new risk mitigation features will take effect alongside a FedNow Service transaction limit increase from $500,000 to $1 million."
February 25, 2025
On the web
Banks Can't Afford to Delay ISO 20022
Atlanta Fed
"ISO 20022 was introduced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2004 as a global standard for financial messaging. A report by American Banker found that forty percent of US banks are falling behind on their implementation plan with ten percent stating they have no definitive timeline."
February 19, 2025
On the web
Discover Different Types of Instant Payment Transactions
FRB Services
Financial institutions can leverage the FedNow® Service to allow their customers to send and receive payments instantly, delivering benefits to both consumers and businesses. Read about a few instant payment use cases to offer.
February 14, 2025
Top Post
Iso® 20022 Implementation Rescheduled to July 14, 2025 for the Fedwire® Funds Service
frbservices
"The Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) has worked with the industry to prepare for the implementation of the new ISO 20022 message format for the Fedwire Funds Service. After an assessment of customer readiness, FRFS has decided to reschedule the Fedwire Funds Service ISO 20022 implementation from March 10 to July 14, 2025. The Fedwire Funds Service will remain on the current message format until July 14 and announce its final “go” or “no go” decision for July 14 no later than June 27."
On the web
Did Card-Present Fraud Rates Decline in the United States After the Migration to Chip Cards?
Kansas City Fed
"The U.S. payment industry began migrating to EMV chip-card technology in the mid-2010s to mitigate card-present fraud, especially counterfeit fraud. However, for non-prepaid debit card transactions processed by dual-message networks, the counterfeit fraud rate has not declined, and the lost-or-stolen fraud rate and overall card-present fraud rate have increased. For these transactions, card-present fraud loss rates have declined for issuers but increased for merchants and cardholders."
February 12, 2025
Top Post
Powell Squashes the Possibility That the Fed Will Develop Its Own Digital Currency
CNBC
"Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell asserted Tuesday that the central bank will not develop its own digital currency as long as he is in charge. Ending several years of speculation whether the Fed would join some of its global counterparts, including China, in developing a formal cryptocurrency like bitcoin or its many peers, Powell said during a Senate hearing that the project would not go forward."
On the web
Teaching an Old Dog New Payments Tricks with Stablecoin
Atlanta Fed
"Learning how to purchase stablecoin and use it to make purchases took some research. If you were wondering why anyone would use stablecoin or why merchants would be interested in taking it, we encountered some of the same questions at the beginning of the pandemic with contactless payments."
January 30, 2025
On the web
When Synthetic Identities and Artificial Intelligence Collide
FedPayments Improvement
"Depending on what you read and who you speak with, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is either a big problem or the solution to a multitude of challenges. It can be both in the case of synthetic identity fraud, as explained in a new downloadable resource of the Federal Reserve’s online Synthetic Identity Fraud Mitigation Toolkit."
Will the European Union's Instant Payments Regulation Force the Hand of US Payments?
Atlanta Fed
"We are all familiar with the 10-second countdown to the new year. Imagine receiving money from a friend in a different country that clears and settles in that same amount of time. Cross-border payments may typically take days to clear and settle."
January 15, 2025
On the web
Federal Reserve Reminder: Fees and Payment System Enhancements for 2025
FRB Services
"The recently announced pricing changes for 2025, which took effect Jan. 1, 2025, support Federal Reserve Financial Services’ (FRFS) plans for the new year and reflect our continued strategic focus on providing customers with a fully integrated product suite that offers speed, resilience and choice."
January 14, 2025
On the web
Here a Coin, There a Coin, Everywhere a Stablecoin
Atlanta Fed
"Cryptocurrencies have been around for over a decade, yet the way they operate, their value, and their impact on traditional payments remains puzzling—even to me. While Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate the headlines, stablecoins are quietly becoming a significant part of our daily lives."
January 7, 2025
On the web
Mobile Wallet Purchases Skyrocket on a Small Base
Atlanta Fed
"Mobile wallets are used to store digital versions of cards on a mobile device, typically a smart phone. The charts show purchases made using mobile wallets have skyrocketed since 2018. Growth in these purchases from 2021 to 2022 exceed that of prior periods—53 percent by number and 45 percent by value."
January 2, 2025
On the web
Risk Management Matters in Financial Institutions and Everyday Life
Atlanta Fed
"Over the last 20 years, risks have increased significantly for the financial industry. Data breaches, cyberattacks, and financial crimes are familiar occurrences, unfortunately."
December 20, 2024
On the web
Infographic: FedNow® Service 2024 Highlights
Fed Now
"The FedNow Service saw continued momentum throughout 2024 with this infographic showing a snapshot of key statistics from the year, including growing participation numbers, emergent transaction types and more."
December 17, 2024
On the web
Risk Management Matters in Financial Institutions and Everyday Life
Atlanta Fed
"Over the last 20 years, risks have increased significantly for the financial industry. Data breaches, cyberattacks, and financial crimes are familiar occurrences, unfortunately. At the same time, we're reading more about the importance of risk management."
December 9, 2024
On the web
Contactless Pay: Still Not the Norm
Atlanta Fed
"Do you find yourself mostly tapping to pay, whether by card, phone, or watch? This is a far cry from mid-2020, when a friend of mine was thwarted three times in one day from using contactless pay, as she encountered obstacles at one of the largest retailers in the US and at two of the largest grocery stores."
December 6, 2024
On the web
Consumer Credit Cards Show Few Signs of Financial Stress
Kansas City Fed
"The Federal Reserve began tightening monetary policy in March 2022 to combat higher inflation. This tightening, in turn, increased borrowing costs for a wide range of consumer financial products such as auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. Higher borrowing costs can dampen demand as households use more disposable income to service interest expenses, which, in turn, can cool inflation."
December 4, 2024
Top Post
Announcing 2025 Federal Reserve Financial Services Fees and Payment System Enhancements
FRB Services
"Federal Reserve Financial Services’ (FRFS) plan for 2025 reflects our continued strategic focus of providing secure, best-in-class payment services that are the bedrock of our nation’s economy, benefiting businesses and individuals alike. FRFS customers can expect the following product and service enhancements..."
November 22, 2024
Top Post
2025 Fednow® Service Pricing, Quarterly Volume Data Now Available
fednow
Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) recently announced pricing information for the FedNow Service in 2025. Notably, pricing and fees will remain unchanged year over year, with one modification to exclude charges for transactions made within the same financial institution.. Last quarter, more than 336,000 transactions were settled on the FedNow Service, with consumers and businesses sending an average of $190 million through the service per day.
On the web
New Fed Payments Study Details Card Use in the US
Atlanta Fed
"The Federal Reserve released new information about card payments and alternative payment methods by consumers and businesses in the United States. Specifically, the latest Federal Reserve Payments Study looks at general-purpose (GP) credit, non-prepaid debit, and prepaid debit card use."
November 19, 2024
On the web
When Synthetic Identities and Artificial Intelligence Collide
FedPayments Improvement
"Depending on what you read and who you speak with, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is either a big problem or the solution to a multitude of challenges. It can be both in the case of synthetic identity fraud, as explained in a new downloadable resource of the Federal Reserve’s online Synthetic Identity Fraud Mitigation Toolkit."
November 15, 2024
On the web
Combating Authorized Push Payment Scams in Fast Payment Systems
Kansas City Fed
"Fast payments can help consumers improve their cash flow, but the speed and irrevocability of these payments also make them a target for fraudsters seeking to commit authorized push payment (APP) scams. Combating APP scams is critical to ensuring the safety of fast payments and building and maintaining consumer confidence in fast payment systems."
Instant Payments Seen as a ‘Necessary Revolution’ for Real Estate Transactions
Federal Reserve
"As the FedNow® Service network grows, the Innovation Spotlight series explores use cases that are changing the way businesses and consumers make payments. This article covers the benefits of instant real estate transactions, with insights from paymints.io (Off-site), a fintech that provides a digital payments platform for title companies and real estate brokers."
November 13, 2024
On the web
Federal Reserve Financial Services' New FedDetect® Offering Tackles Commercial Check Fraud
Business Wire
"Federal Reserve Financial Services announced the expansion of FedDetect Duplicate Notification for Check Services to include commercial checks, alongside its existing Treasury check notification service. Financial institutions can now see deposit information and images of potential duplicate items for commercial checks, supplementing their existing check fraud mitigation tools."
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