Skip to main content

May/June 1998, 
Vol. 80, No. 3
Posted 1998-05-01

Did the Fed's Founding Improve the Efficiency of the U. S. Payments System?


The Federal Reserve recently has been reexamining the appropriateness of its role in processing checks and automated clearinghouse payments. To provide a more complete background for these deliberations, this article examines the validity of arguments for the Fed’s initial entry into its payment activities.