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Briefing
Has Access to Bank On-Certified Accounts Helped Ease Financial Barriers to Bank Account Ownership?
The share of unbanked households has declined considerably in the United States over the last decade. By introducing a set of national standards for safe, low-cost bank accounts, the Bank On initiative appears to have helped address a key barrier to bank account ownership: the inability to meet the minimum balance required to waive monthly fees.
Briefing
Promoting Payment Inclusion in the United States
In recent decades, entities in both the public and private sectors have worked to promote payment inclusion in the United States, whether by expanding the supply of transaction accounts or boosting consumer demand for them. However, more research and data collection are needed to better define and measure payment inclusion as well as evaluate how effective efforts have been to improve it.
Briefing
Contact and Payment Methods Used for the Top Five Categories of Scams
In recent years, the amount of money U.S. consumers have lost to scams has increased sharply. The contact methods scammers use to reach consumers and the payment methods defrauded consumers use to pay scammers vary depending on the category of scam. However, both the use of social media as a contact method and the use of cryptocurrency, payment apps, and bank transfers as payment methods have increased across the top five scam categories.
Briefing
B2B Payments: Business Processing and Challenges to Achieving Straight-Through Processing
Electronic business-to-business (B2B) payments have the potential to reduce the manual handling required for checks, helping businesses advance straight-through processing (STP). Although businesses face several challenges to adopting electronic payments, partial solutions have emerged that facilitate STP.
Briefing
Are Contactless Payments Finally Poised for Adoption?
Two types of contactless payments, near-field communication (NFC) and quick response (QR) code, have seen a boost from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Briefing
Could Municipal IDs Facilitate Access to Financial Services?
Of the approximately 5.6 million U.S. households that did not have a bank or credit union account in 2023, about 13 percent cited not having the identification (ID) required to open an account as a reason for being unbanked. Municipal ID programs provide a form of local identification and can be designed to facilitate access to banking and financial services, though challenges to achieving this potential remain.
Briefing
Remote Card Payment Fraud: Trends and Measures Taken in Australia, France, and the United Kingdom
Australia, France, and the United Kingdom have successfully reduced remote card payment fraud rates in recent years. In each of these countries, a self-regulated body, central bank, or trade association has led coordinated efforts to mitigate remote fraud.
Briefing
Early experience with Check 21
This article looks at some of the early developments since the Check 21 law became effective and some of the remaining barriers to a more efficient and electronic check clearing system.
Briefing
Who's processing your payments?
This article looks at the many roles nonbanks play in payments activities and the oversight questions that arise as a result.