Sec. 2. Findings and purposes
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Congress finds the following: Families in the United States spend billions of dollars in overdraft fees in part because they are waiting for checks to clear over a weekend or holiday. The inefficient payment system in the United States drives families, especially those living paycheck to paycheck, to use high-cost financial services to access funds more rapidly. A faster payment system would provide people of the United States immediate access to funds and relief for those who overdraw their accounts because their deposits are not available in real-time, helping families potentially save billions of dollars each year.
The United States lags behind other countries in the speed and efficiency of its payment system. Central banks around the world have already implemented real-time payment systems, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Poland, Japan, and South Africa. The Federal Reserve System was created by Congress on December 24, 1913, in response to the financial panic of 1907. Since its beginning, the Federal Reserve System has played a crucial role in the payment system of the United States.
The role of the Federal Reserve System in providing payment services is— to promote the integrity and efficiency of the payment mechanism; and to ensure the provision of payment services to all depository institutions on an equitable basis and in an atmosphere of competitive fairness. The Monetary Control Act of 1980 (title I of Public Law 96–221 ; 94 Stat. 132) provided the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System with the authority to oversee the payment system in the United States.
The Expedited Funds Availability Act ( 12 U.S.C. 4001 et seq. ), enacted on August 10, 1987, provided the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System with full authority to regulate all aspects of the payment system, including the receipt, payment, collection, clearing of checks, and related functions of the payment system pertaining to checks. In a July 2018 report on financial technology, the Department of the Treasury acknowledged the important role of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in bringing real-time payment settlement services to the United States when the Department recommended the Board of Governors work to facilitate a faster retail payment system, in particular, for smaller financial institutions such as community banks and credit unions, noting that such institutions should also have the ability to access the most innovative technologies and payment services.
The authorities described in paragraphs
(9)and
(10)are more critical than ever given how the financial services sector has been defined as a vital component of critical infrastructure in the United States. The role of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the financial services sector will ensure the resiliency of the payment system in the United States. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System should develop a real-time interbank payment system to ensure that— consumers are prioritized; consumers and small businesses are protected from fraud and errors, including with respect to a payment initiated by a consumer or small business; the payment system is open to increased competition; and outsized entities do not monopolize the financial infrastructure of the United States. The purposes of this Act are— to ensure that the United States has a safe, fast, efficient, equitable, and fair payment system; to clarify that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has the existing authority to build a real-time payment system; and to make certain that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System follows through on implementing the system described in paragraph (2).
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U.S. Code
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- Pub. L. 96-221
- 94 Stat. 132
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