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Are Payments Fast Enough Already?

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Are Payments Fast Enough Already?

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Progress in digital technology could make electronic payments as fast as cash.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Overview
  • Visionary

Recommendation

The use of digital payments is widespread in the United States, where transfers amounting to some $1 trillion daily pay for quotidian items like food, clothing, utilities and mortgages. According to financial journalist Charles Davidson, leaps in computing power and the continued development of digital payment technologies would seem to argue for adopting an infrastructure that can deliver faster – even instantaneous – transactions. But some critics want to set speed limits on the transition. getAbstract recommends this overview, written for policy makers and regulators but also of interest to the general reader, for its succinct discussion of a highly relevant and dynamic topic.

Summary

Digital payments are a big business in the United States. FedACH, the Federal Reserve’s payment mechanism, and the Clearinghouse, a bank consortium-owned payment network, process millions of remittances with minimal disruption every business day. Yet consumer and commercial expectations for faster transactions, and the competitive services that can provide them, continue to increase, as both computing capabilities and digital technologies develop.

Since 2015, a Federal Reserve...

About the Author

Charles Davidson is a staff writer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.


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