One of the Federal Reserve's roles is to provide payment services to depository institutions and to the U.S. Treasury. Many of the nation's transfers of funds--whether they are large-dollar payments for financial market transactions or small-value business and consumer payments--settle through...

Statistical estimates indicate that the use of checks in the United States has been declining since the mid-1990s, even as the population and the level of economic activity have been increasing. In contrast, the use of electronic payments has been growing at high and accelerating rates....