Regional President Speech

PAYMENTS SYSTEMS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY 34TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON BANK STRUCTURE AND COMPETITION Chicago, Illinois May 7, 1998 ..................................................................... Press Briefing • Thank you for coming. Joining me are Curt Hunter, Chicago Fed director of research, and Jack Wixted, head of Supervision and Regulation. • Not even half way through conference, but think it’s gone quite well so far. • Thank Curt and his associate, Doug Evanoff, for organizing another outstanding conference • Consistent with conference’s 34-year tradition of excellence. And consistent with its reputation as the nation’s leading conference dealing with public policy issues affecting the financial services industry. • To start off would like to take a couple of minutes to review what we’ve heard so far. • Managing risks in the payments system was a recurring theme during this morning’s panel discussion and the keynote address by Chairman Greenspan. • Each speaker noted that the payments system is the lifeline of the economy, the circulatory system that allows the overall economy to efficiently function. • The primary objective set forth by each speaker was essentially the same—we should do everything necessary to allow for a payments system that: One — supports rather than hinders economic growth; Two — facilitates rather than exacerbates problems during times of financial stress; and 318 Michael Moskow Speeches 1998 Three — responds to, rather than resists, changes in financial markets, technology, and the overall economy. • We also heard an overview of the Fed’s review of its role in the payments system. • As Alice Rivlin explained, the Fed held extensive discussions with both users and providers of payments services. • Based on this feedback, the committee concluded that the Fed should continue to provide check and ACH services and play a more active role in encouraging the transition to electronic payments. • We also heard the Bankers Roundtable’s strategies to aggressively pursue the advantages of electronic payments. • And representatives from the New York Clearinghouse and CHIPS discussed their strategies. • Sessions this afternoon include discussions of the growth in electronic payments and the outlook for growth in check usage. • Estimate being presented at one session is that the share of non-cash transactions that are electronic will increase from 23% in 1995 to nearly 50% by 2010. • So we should see a faster rise in electronics. And our economists here at the Chicago Fed project a decline in check usage. But checks will be with us for many years to come. • Looking forward to sessions later today and tomorrow. • Curt, Jack and I will be happy to take any questions. Michael Moskow Speeches 1998 319

Michael Moskow (1998, May 6). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19980507_michael_moskow

@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_19980507_michael_moskow,
  author = {Michael Moskow},
  title = {Regional President Speech},
  year = {1998},
  month = {May},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19980507_michael_moskow},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}