banks to offer payment services on a competitive basis. i am confident that by working together with all payment system stakeholders, we can collectively achieve widespread, safe, and efficient faster payments that will benefit all. 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches 1 i am grateful to susan foley and anjana ravi of the federal reserve board for their assistance in preparing this text. these remarks represent my own views, which do not necessarily represent those of the federal reserve board or the federal open market committee. 2 federal reserve actions to support interbank settlement of faster payments ( pdf ) ( august 5, 2019 ). 3 lael brainard, “ supporting fast payments for all ” ( remarks at the fed payments improvement community forum, chicago, october 3, 2018 ). 4 potential federal reserve actions to support interbank settlement of faster payments ( pdf ), request for comments, 83 fed. reg. 57, 351 ( november 15, 2018 ). 5 steven t. mnuchin and craig s. phillips, a financial system that creates economic opportunity : nonbank financials, fintech, and innovation ( pdf ) ( washington : u. s. department of the treasury, july 2018 ), 156. 6 see, e. g., u. s. government accountability office, federal reserve ’ s competition with other providers benefits customers, but additional reviews could increase assurance of cost accuracy, gao - 16 – 614 ( washington : government accountability office, august 2016 ). 7 board of governors of the federal reserve system, “ the federal reserve in the payments system ” ( issued 1984 ; revised 1990 ). 8 fis global, “ 2018 flavors of fast. " 9 board of governors of the federal reserve system, “ principles for the pricing of federal reserve bank services ” ( issued 1980 ) ; and board of governors, “ the federal reserve in the payments system. ” 10 depository institutions deregulation and monetary control act of 1980, pub. l. no. 96 – 221 ( march 31, 1980 ). 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches

reserve should provide a new payment and settlement service, as it should be. we have carefully analyzed the criteria of the monetary control act and long - standing federal reserve policies, considered the comments provided by a wide range of stakeholders, and studied the experiences of foreign central banks. 7 we are not making this decision lightly. on balance, after carefully weighing important considerations on both sides, we have concluded it is our responsibility to take action in support of a real - time payment infrastructure accessible to all. while we will work hard to stand up the fednow service in a timely manner, our most important goal is to achieve nationwide access for all, reflecting our public mission. building a modern payment infrastructure a key foundation of the payment infrastructure is interbank clearing and settlement — the movement of funds and the associated information between banks. today, the u. s. retail payment infrastructure lags behind many other countries. europe, mexico, and australia have already implemented real - time interbank clearing and settlement capabilities. in contrast, here in the united states, the gap between the transaction capabilities in the digital economy and the underlying payment and settlement capabilities continues to grow. 8 early adopters of fast payment services rely on a legacy infrastructure that was not designed to support faster payments. for example, some services offer real - time funds availability to certain consumers, but they conduct interbank settlement on a deferred basis using legacy systems. this type of settlement entails a buildup of obligations — like ious between banks — that could present real risks to the financial system in times of stress. these are not resilient long - term solutions for our dynamic economy and the banks that support it. we are seeing some companies looking to establish a payment system that bypasses our banks and our currency. facebook's libra project raises numerous concerns that will take time to assess and address. but one thing is clear : consumers and businesses across the country want and expect real - time payments, and the banks they trust should be able to provide this service securely — whatever their size. to provide everyone with the ability to send and receive funds securely on a 24x7x365 basis, banks need to embrace and invest in real - time innovations, and the federal reserve needs to provide a safe and efficient real - time interbank clearing and settlement service accessible to all banks. we are proud of our strong record of cooperating with and supporting private - sector services, while fostering competition for public benefit. we have provided vital support