To All Depository Institutions and Others Concerned in the Second Federal Reserve District:
In a press release, the Federal Reserve Banks announced plans to conduct two new studies to determine the current composition of check and electronic payments in the United States. These two studies will build on information gained from three studies of the nation's usage of check and electronic payments conducted by the Reserve Banks in 2001.
The first study will quantify the number and the value of checks being written in the United States while the other study will quantify the number and value of electronic payments. The data collection for the electronics study will take place this month and the check study will take place in late spring. The results will be released later this year. The Reserve Banks will work with Global Concepts Inc. for the check study and Dove Consulting for the electronic payments study.
These studies will help financial institutions and other industry participants make better-informed decisions about future investments in their payments technology. The Reserve Banks are encouraging financial institutions and other providers of payment services to participate in these two new studies to help achieve robust and accurate aggregate estimates of payments usage in the United States.
More information about Federal Reserve Financial Services can be found at http://www.frbservices.org/.
