From the early days of automated card sorting to the more recent times of the Internet and check imaging, payments and payments processing have continually embraced new technology. At the same time, the industry has been shaped by its share of entry and exit, through startups, mergers, and the...

In an article adapted from a speech made to at the Annual Conference of the National Bank of Austria in May of this year, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Hoenig examines recent and prospective changes in the U.S. payments system. The theme of his remarks is that the rate at which a...

Credit and especially debit card transactions are on the rise worldwide. Interchange fees are an integral part of the pricing structure of credit and debit card transactions. Indirectly paid by merchants to card issuers, interchange fees in most countries are set by credit and debit card...

The retail payments system in the United States has changed significantly in recent years. Advances in technology have caused a greater reliance on electronic payment networks. And the industrial structure of the payment services industry has evolved, as more and more nonbanks deliver payment...

The Internet is often referred to as the world’s largest mall. About half of all adults in the United States have made a purchase online. Worldwide, online shopping is considerably greater—and cybershopping is expected to continue to grow as more households become connected to the Internet...

Business publications are filled these days with stories about the digital or electronic economy. One routinely reads about e-commerce, e-business, and e-banking. Terms such as e-mail and e-tickets have entered the common lexicon. Some analysts have gone so far as to proclaim that the U.S....

The phenomenal growth of financial market and trading activities worldwide has led to tremendous growth in large-value payments systems. Large-value payments systems are the electronic banks used to transfer large payments among themselves. Payment orders processed in such systems in the United...

With the year 2000 rapidly approaching, stored-value cards are already popular in some countries and are being introduced into the United States by private companies. Stored-value cards are one form of electronic cash—electronic substitutes for paper currency. Digital cash (also known as...