Circular
New Studies to Examine Nation's Check and Electronic Payments Usage
January 16, 2007
Circular No. 11841

The Federal Reserve Banks have announced plans to conduct another round of studies to determine the current composition of the nation's retail payments market, including checks, credit and debit cards and automated clearing house (ACH) transactions. These two studies will build on information gained from similar studies published by the Reserve Banks in 2001 and 2004.

One study will quantify the number and value of checks being written in the United States. Another study will quantify the number and value of electronic payments. In addition, the check study will attempt to determine the primary uses for check writing, something that was researched in the 2001 study but not in 2004.

The information for this round of studies will be collected during the first half of 2007 with results released later in the year. The Reserve Banks will work with Global Concepts, Inc. for the check study and Dove Consulting for the electronic payments study. Both firms have experience with previous Federal Reserve studies.

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.

See the press release for full details.

Press release offsite
Federal Reserve Financial Services offsite

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