Washington, DC – Today, The Clearing House (TCH) and FIS welcomed the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force’s final report which presents a roadmap for achieving competitive, safe, ubiquitous, and faster payments. The Task Force was created by the Federal Reserve and is comprised of more than 300 stakeholders with an interest in U.S. payments. The Task Force was called on to collectively identify criteria for end-to-end solutions that would produce effective 21st century payments systems and task force members were invited to put forward proposals that meet the Task Force’s recommendations.
TCH and FIS were active participants in the Task Force’s initiative and submitted a joint proposal [Link to final evaluation] for evaluation of TCH’s Real-Time Payments (RTP) system, which is targeted to launch later this year. TCH enlisted the help of FIS to help achieve ubiquity by offering enhanced RTP services to more than 3,000 financial institutions.
“The Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force’s final report marks a significant milestone in the path toward faster payments in the U.S.,” said Russ Waterhouse, Executive Vice President, Product Development and Strategy at The Clearing House. “The Task Force ran an inclusive and collaborative process that resulted in recommendations that will drive better private sector solutions that benefit businesses and consumers across the country. Its work was instrumental in helping us design and build our real-time payments system, which we expect to start supporting transactions later this year.”
“FIS has been implementing real-time payment schemes around the globe since 2009 and we draw important lessons from these projects every day,” said Anthony Jabbour COO, Banking and Payments, FIS. “Speed, ubiquity and ease of use lead to high adoption rates and relevant payment solutions that banks can offer to their retail, small business and corporate clients. FIS understands the specialized risks inherent in a real time payments scheme, and that’s why we focus on minimizing risk to support systems, and ensure appropriate fraud prevention measures are taken into account. All this is vital to gain large-scale user uptake and thus turn a real-time payments vision into real-time business value for all.”
The Task Force defined 36 effectiveness criteria grouped into the six categories: Ubiquity, Efficiency, Safety and Security, Speed (Fast), Legal, and Governance. These criteria were critical in helping TCH as it worked to design and build its RTP system. TCH and FIS were pleased that their proposal was found to have met each of the criteria necessary for a modern 21st century payment system established by the Task Force. TCH’s RTP system also aligns with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s “Consumer Protection Principles” for faster payment systems.
About The Clearing House
The Clearing House is a banking association and payments company that is owned by the largest commercial banks and dates back to 1853. The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. owns and operates core payments system infrastructure in the United States and is currently working to modernize that infrastructure by building a new, ubiquitous, real-time payment system. The Payments Company is the only private-sector ACH and wire operator in the United States, clearing and settling nearly $2 trillion in U.S. dollar payments each day, representing half of all commercial ACH and wire volume. Its affiliate, The Clearing House Association L.L.C., is a nonpartisan organization that engages in research, analysis, advocacy and litigation focused on financial regulation that supports a safe, sound and competitive banking system.
About FIS
FIS is a global leader in financial services technology, with a focus on retail and institutional banking, payments, asset and wealth management, risk and compliance, consulting, and outsourcing solutions. Through the depth and breadth of our solutions portfolio, global capabilities and domain expertise, FIS serves more than 20,000 clients in over 130 countries. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., FIS employs more than 57,000 people worldwide and holds leadership positions in payment processing, financial software and banking solutions. Providing software, services and outsourcing of the technology that empowers the financial world, FIS is a Fortune 500 company and is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500® Index. For more information about FIS, visit www.fisglobal.com.
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For more information
Kim Snider, 904.438.6278
Senior Vice President
FIS Global Marketing and Communications
kim.snider@fisglobal.com
