, data from surveys conducted for the federal reserve show that the use of checks in our society has now begun to decline. second, data on credit card, debit card, and ach usage show very strong and sustained growth, to the extent that electronic payments now account for about half of the number of all noncash payments. third, through the use of electronic payments, retailers and billers are continuing to seek productivity gains and cost reductions in their transactions with consumers. fourth, data from the federal reserve's surveys of consumer finances show that over time households across most age and income categories have been adopting basic electronic payment instruments, although, as might be expected, younger households are in the forefront. finally, the u. s. government is actively working on new technologies and services to increase the use of electronics in both its payments and collections. taken together, these factors point to increasing use of electronic payments, when and where economic factors press this outcome. public - policy perspective from the perspective of public policy, the key objectives for the payments system have always been economic efficiency and safety as well as confidence. indeed, these broad objectives, which include the goals of integrity, security, reliability, and accessibility, have been endorsed by the g - 10 central banks as international objectives for major payment systems in key reports published by the bank for international settlements and used widely by the international monetary fund and world bank. the challenge is to bring these abstract ideas to bear on particular payments systems issues during this time of transition. efficiency. turning first to efficiency, in the area of check collection, both the financial industry and the federal reserve banks face classic issues involving the adjustment of infrastructure to declining demand. moreover, various programs to convert checks to electronic payments at the point of sale or the lockbox, or to truncate checks early in the collection stream, imply that the pace of decline in the volume of paper - check clearings could well accelerate. however, checks also remain a highly convenient payment instrument with a long and tested history ; they are unlikely to be completely eliminated as a major payment instrument any time soon. as a result, the financial industry and the federal reserve banks face the prospect of declining demand for paper - check processing, but also significant uncertainty about the extent and timing of the decline. nevertheless, we know that over time the efficient use of resources will require reductions in excess production and processing capacity as the market demand for checks and check processing declines. in addition to managing resources to meet declining demand,

accumulated in the central banks are managed, and how the central banks assess the financial risks involved. this knowledge strengthens the support of the policies of central banks. since the beginning of the financial crisis, the ecb and the eurosystem have made a lot of progress in the transparency of the balance sheets. in particular, the content of the on - going asset purchase programme is made public, on a country - by - country and security - by - security basis. at the same time, we must always put financial risks in central banking in the broader policy context and take into account the objectives and results of such policy. in general, disclosure is necessary, but not enough. central banks need to ensure that the political decision - makers and the general public understand what the central banks are doing and why. deep and coherent participation by the central banks in the public economic debate at the national and euro area level is needed. * * * transparency is useful also for other reasons besides retroactive accountability. it is important for policy effectiveness. monetary policy is largely about managing expectations. in order for monetary policy to do its job smoothly, it is important that the market participants understand the intentions of the central 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches bank. this, in fact, makes communications the first, although not the ultimate instrument of monetary policy. in monetary policy, communication is an active form of transparency : transparency about the current interpretation of the economic situation, and about the goals and intentions of the central b a n k. charles evans spoke about the distinction between “ delphic ” ( or predictive ) communication and “ odyssean ” ( committing ) communication, where promises are involved. these terms were recently discussed by ben bernanke in his speech and paper about monetary policy in a new era. 4 at present, the role of communications is especially large, because of the increased reliance of central banks on forward guidance. when forward guidance is credible, it adds an important instrument to the central bank ’ s toolbox. it has proven useful, especially when the room of movement for the principal instrument of monetary policy – the interest rate – is restricted by the zero lower bound. using the chicago terminology, the ecb took an odyssean step in 2013 when it started to use forward guidance regarding its future interest rate policy. later, the degree of precision and commitment in the ecb ’ s forward guidance went further when the large - scale asset purchase programme was launched in 2015. forward guidance in