a small part of the value to be delivered in the commerce experience, with loyalty programs, location and behavior - based offers, and personal financial management tools becoming part of the broader customer experience. financial institutions are working hard to figure out how they will participate. we must consider how the payments industry can design its future systems and services to address these new opportunities. the business challenges for financial institutions are also great when considering international payments. cross - border transactions are generally slow, inconvenient and inefficient, especially bank account - centric international payments sent or received on behalf of consumers or businesses. some closed networks, such as western union and paypal, have made advances in this space, but their networks are not as ubiquitous as open banking networks. our leadership in the global economy calls for a more seamless international payment experience. each of these areas – speed, efficiency, security – are embodied in the federal reserve ’ s vision for the future of payments. success in achieving these goals will require collaboration and engagement with the industry. we need to understand industry views on the benefits and costs of addressing these gaps and opportunities, the technical and operational impacts of potential solutions, and the associated safety and settlement issues. in the coming months, we intend to work with industry stakeholders to facilitate development of a shared vision for enhancing the future payments system. a recent payments strategy roundtable in chicago was a first step in this effort, we envision many forums to gather diverse industry perspectives. our ongoing collaboration with the clearing house leadership on strategic issues is critical to this planning process, given our key roles in common as payment system operators. in september, our chicago payments symposium will offer a platform to report on the progress of our work. all of us at federal reserve financial services are committed to working collaboratively with the leaders in this room and the entire payments industry to implement innovations that meet user needs today and into the future. we thank you for your ongoing partnership in these endeavors. bis central bankers ’ speeches

institution may need to send a message to communicate that good funds are on their way. a key question for the future is this : do notification and memo - posting suffice, so that funds actually move at discrete times in the day, as they do in the uk, or do funds need to move in near real time as well? bis central bankers ’ speeches in the near term, we in the federal reserve continue to work to reduce the time required to complete payments and deliver payments - related information in the channels in which the fed operates. the debate to be had by the industry is whether our existing payments mechanisms can meet the needs of the future or we need to embark upon designing a next generation payment instrument. we welcome your voice in that debate. let ’ s turn our focus to end - to - end efficiency in the payments system. innovation is occurring in closer proximity to end - users, at points between payment providers and their customers, and between merchants and consumers. enhancing efficiency will mean moving business - tobusiness ( b2b ) and person - to - person ( p2p ) payments from paper to electronics, and bringing down the end - to - end cost of initiating and receiving payments. efforts will continue by internet / web vendors to create customer - facing technologies to help users initiate payments. here ’ s where mobile and handheld innovations may play a large role. in what form, and when, growth occurs will depend on when alternatives offer the speed, convenience, simplicity and other advantages that drive broad adoption. end - to - end efficiency also means that innovation in payments origination and receipt integrates smoothly into demand account systems and traverses risk filters and the payments infrastructure with both speed and relatively low cost. we have ample room to increase efficiency. end - users are still writing paper checks by the billions across many different use cases. some recent payment innovations are designed to address these opportunities. for example, in the p2p space there are paypal, popmoney and dwolla ; in b2b, paymode x and paynetexchange ; for bill payment, fis and fiserv, and among the proliferating mobile options, square wallet and levelup. in many ways, however, checks continue to provide features that are not replicated by electronic alternatives and innovations. checks offer a large measure of ubiquity. in other words, senders and receivers can reach nearly everyone without signing up for multiple services. they provide convenience