federal reserve board and its staff are consulting with the treasury regarding the tarp. in addition, chairman bernanke serves as the chairman of the oversight board for tarp that will, among other things, review the policies that are implemented and make recommendations, as appropriate, regarding the use of authorities under tarp. eesa also temporarily raised the limit on the deposit insurance coverage provided by the federal deposit insurance corporation ( fdic ) from $ 100, 000 to $ 250, 000 per account. last week, the first use of tarp funds was announced. in particular, the treasury announced a voluntary capital purchase program, and nine of the nation ’ s largest financial institutions have agreed to participate. the program is open to financial institutions of all sizes. under the program, the treasury would acquire capital of financial institutions on terms that are attractive to the institutions and with features that protect the taxpayer. at the same time, the federal reserve board, the fdic, and the secretary of the treasury in consultation with the president, determined that there were significant risks to the stability of the financial system. with this determination, the fdic used its authority to expand for a specified period, insurance to non - interest - bearing transactions accounts, such as payroll accounts, and a guarantee for newly issued senior unsecured debt of fdic - insured depository institutions, including their associated holding companies. a second, complementary, use of tarp funds will be to purchase mortgage assets, including mortgage - backed securities and whole loans. these purchases are designed to remove uncertainty from lenders ’ balance sheets and to restore confidence in their viability. another objective is to improve the modification efforts of servicers on these loans to more effectively prevent avoidable foreclosures. the federal reserve system is also working to develop solutions to rising foreclosures. preventing avoidable foreclosures is good for borrowers, communities, and the economy. a number of efforts are underway. the federal reserve has worked with other agencies to put in place the standards and procedures for the new hope for homeowners ( h4h ) program, and i serve on the oversight board. these loans can help borrowers who might otherwise face foreclosure because the new loan payments are more affordable and the homeowners get some equity in their homes. lenders and servicers are analyzing their borrowers for good candidates for the h4h program, and the fha and its authorized lenders are poised to process applications

highly likely that we will continue to see new business models emerge. at the same time, another trend is for smaller players to enter the market, focusing on specific elements of the payments value chain. this is bringing increased competition and making new business models possible. over recent years, the ‘ fintechs ’ in australia have driven innovation in areas such as online payments, point - of - sale acceptance technology, cross - border retail payments https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2021 / sp - gov - 2021 - 12 - 09. html 3 / 9 payments : the future? | speeches | rba and buy now, pay later ( bnpl ) services. some of these companies already play a material role in facilitating payments and i expect that we will see further innovation in these areas. this rapid change in the world of payments has brought with it increased community and political interest in payments. i expect that this interest will intensify, rather than diminish, given the importance of the issues to the community. these issues include : 1. how to ensure that banknotes remain widely available for those who want to use them. as part of this, the rba is currently undertaking a public consultation on banknote distribution arrangements. 2. how to keep downward pressure on the cost of electronic payments, particularly for small merchants. as more payments are made electronically, the focus on the cost of these payments will increase. 3. how to address competition issues that arise with the increased involvement of big techs in payments. one important issue here is the access arrangements for the devices and the digital wallets they offer. 4. how to ensure that the electronic payments system is secure and available when people want to use it. our economy is increasingly dependent on our digital infrastructure, so we need to make sure it is resilient to cyber threats as well as other operational risks. as is evident from this quick tour, the world of payments is dynamic and there is a lot of community interest in it. so there is a lot to talk about. some areas that need addressing i would now like to move from the general direction of change to five specific areas where the payments system board would like to see further progress. in each of these areas some progress has been made, but more is needed. the first of these is the new payto service on the npp, which is expected to serve as a replacement for the current system of direct debits. the existing system