Federal Reserve task forces to review proposals for faster and more secure payments

Members of two national task forces convened by the Federal Reserve to make faster payments have recently started a review of 19 different proposals that outline approaches for a faster payment system in the United States.

The first task force will focus on faster payment capabilities, while the second task force will focus on enhanced payment security. The review of the proposals follows an independent analysis from the consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

The proposals, each submitted by interested task force members across the payments industry, have been distributed to approximately 500 members of the two task forces for review. Each proposal includes representatives of financial institutions, consumer groups, payment service providers, financial technology firms, businesses, government agencies and interested stakeholders.

“The review that began yesterday is the next step in the ongoing process to improve the speed and safety of payments in the United States,” Gordon Werkema, director of payments strategy for the Federal Reserve System, said. “The ultimate goal of the faster payments task force is to help payment system stakeholders implement faster payment capabilities that are safe and ubiquitous.”

The first section of a final review report is scheduled to be released in January, and will describe the process history and assess faster payment solutions. The second section is scheduled to be released in mid-2017 and will focus on how each proposal measures against various effectiveness criteria.