The Federal Reserve wants to bankers’ views on the payments system in the US to set future policy.
If only bankers would tell them.
The Fed initiated a 21-question survey, part of the “Payment System Improvement – Public Consultation Paper,” here for industry leaders to weigh in on how payments in the US can be improved. The survey opened on September 10, 2013, and closes December 13, 2013. Results will be shared in a whitepaper “in the second half of 2014,” according to the Fed.
So far, it seems just 32 people have filled out the Fed survey, and their answers are public. Many surveys are incompletely or tersely filled out. The most recent answers were posted October 10.
This expected white paper to be published next year is expected to be used to develop a 10-year road map for payments and a 2-year action plan, said Gordon Werkema, COO of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago, at the recent ABA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
What explains this apathy relating to a field as energetic and fast-changing as payments? The initial paper, called “Payment System Improvement,” begins:
The U.S. payment system is undergoing a remarkable period of change, driven by
rapid adoption of technology and evolving end-user expectations. Going forward,
opportunity exists to improve speed and efficiency of payments and to maintain
payment system safety in the face of escalating threats. The Federal Reserve
Banks believe that collaboration and engagement with the industry is the
foundation of any enduring strategic improvements to the U.S. payment system
and look forward to public input to this consultative paper.
The paper itself is cautious, describing the decline of checks and the need for a ubiquitous, interoperable system. It makes several observations about gaps and opportunities in the payments system, regarding real-time payments, international payments, consumer fears and the lack of traction among recent payment innovations, but the paper is really a honeypot to attract industry leaders’ opinions.
So far, the effort seems unsuccessful. Want to weigh in on the state of payments and the direction things ought to move? Take the Fed survey.
There’s 7 weeks until the survery closes. What a ridiculous article.
Hi Will, I hope you’re right that the post turns out to be ridiculous and that more responses come in. As it stands, there have been no responses for the past two weeks, and the survey has gotten 32 responses in more than six weeks so far.
Hi, Will. Thank you for your comment. We are sorry you don’t like the post. To us, this survey represents an important opportunity to communicate with the Fed — the Fed! — about the future of payments, yet painfully few people in the industry have done so. When the COO of the Chicago Fed has to practically beg bankers at last week’s ABA conference to participate, something is wrong, in my view. Like Phil said, we hope you are right, but personally I have a hunch that this will not end up being a ridiculous post on Dec. 13, unless payments professionals get engaged.
I would think that the larger financial institutions are gathering opinions and carefully crafting a response. Larger orgnaizations take a bit longer to get the appropriate people together to forge a response. Maybe this article could have been used to motivate the industry to respond. Instead, the tone leaves one to think “Since no one else is responding, why should I?”
Great point, Will. We’ll put another link to the survey at the end.
Are 138 responses enough? Industry leading associations, large banks, large credit unions, concerned users all commented. Would you still consider this response ‘unanswered’?
“We are thrilled with the number of responses received and with the diversity of perspectives represented by the responses,” commented Sandra Pianalto, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and chair of the Financial Services Policy Committee, which issued the paper.
“On behalf of the Reserve Banks, I would like to thank the commenters for preparing such thoughtful and insightful responses. It’s critical that all ideas and perspectives are considered as we collectively identify the most promising opportunities to advance the U.S. payment system.”
Juat sayin’.