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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Federal Reserve Banks announeed a strategy to accommodate the evolution of the nation's payments system from paper check processing to electronic processing, a development driven by a significant broad-based change in user preference. The strategy entails launching new products and services to support the implementation of the Check 21 Act this October, as well as streamlining its check-processing infrastructure by discontinuing check processing at locations to be announced later this year. Even with these changes, the Federal Reserve Banks will continue to provide check processing services on a national basis.
In this effort, Reserve Banks will provide opportunities through their Check 21 products and services for financial institutions to make use of electronic check services as a means of reducing their overall check operating costs. These steps should also reduce the time during which industry participants and the Reserve Banks must support significant investments in dual processing platforms.
"These steps are part of a forward-looking strategy that acknowledges the financial services industry's ongoing evolution from paper to electronic...