The race is on to achieve a ubiquitous faster payments capability in the US that promotes efficient commerce, facilitates innovation, reduces fraud, and improves public confidence.
When the Federal Reserve first began focusing in 2015 on the need to improve the US payments system to achieve this goal, it decried the fact that there was then “no ubiquitous, convenient and cost-effective way for US consumers and businesses to make (near) real-time payments from any bank account to any other bank account.” Much has been achieved in the intervening three years at many levels of the payments ecosystem, with new entrants offering faster payments capabilities, which when taken together provide a strong foundation for realizing the Federal Reserve’s objectives.