In August, my colleague Claire Greene blogged about the effort behind the Federal Reserve Payments Survey, a triennial study analyzing trends in US noncash payments. Nearly 3,800 commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions were invited to participate in the survey of depository institutions. I reached out to about 1,000 of those.

What kept me dialing over 13 weeks? The conversations.

One minute I was speaking with the chief operating officer of a credit union in Spokane. The next, a payments specialist in Tampa Bay and I connected over the phone. Despite the miles between them, the differences in their titles, institutions, and asset size, many had surprisingly similar concerns: detecting and preventing fraud, meeting the deadline for ISO 20022 migration, and providing better service to their communities.

Fraud Detection and Protection

In one conversation, the chief financial officer of a community bank cited his fraud losses from the past month, quarter, and year without consulting any notes. I could hear the frustration in his voice when he told me how nearly six figures had been stolen using a cloned debit card. But what struck me wasn't his precision with the numbers, it was his emotion behind his words. Fraud wasn't a statistic for him; it was a day-to-day burden to bear.

His story is not unique either. A chief risk officer at a Midwestern community bank shared how a criminal operation out of China used synthetic identities to open bank accounts at her institution, avoiding the bank's red flags by appearing to be domestic. Funds were wired into the criminal accounts, then funneled through other channels, and eventually returned back to accounts in China. Most of the funds were unrecoverable. Even with her long tenure at this community bank, the chief risk officer was overwhelmed with the scale of the attack against her institution.

Migrating to ISO 20022

Implementing ISO 20022 for the FedWire Funds Service to meet the July deadline was a concern I heard from many of the community bankers. The migration was a massive undertaking, bankers said. Limited resources paired with the risk of not being able to meet customers' wire needs was a common reason bankers cited for not participating in the study. When I spoke to one bank executive in August, she said that she and her staff had "been through the wringer, working nights and weekends for a few months straight."

Many calls validated the many hats that employees at community banks often wear, especially when faced with an overwhelming project like the ISO migration. There were several times when I would call an institution looking to connect with their payments operations group, only to be rerouted to their mortgage or loan departments. This was one place where larger firms had the advantage over smaller-sized ones.

Commitment to Their Community

At the 2025 Community Banking Research Conference, Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said, "Community banks have earned the trust and the business of people in their communities because of an understanding that the banks' successes depend on their communities succeeding." Through my calling campaign, many bankers spoke about the symbiotic relationship between community banks and credit unions and the people they serve.

In one conversation with a community bank that supported agricultural businesses in the Pacific Northwest, I asked what payment products they made available to their clients. He responded, "We're not your typical bank. Our client's work is seasonal, and they depend on us to help with equipment, land, and labor. We don't offer typical bank products because our clients aren't typical bank customers."

A similar sentiment was shared by a county worker's credit union. When asked about their payments portfolio, they responded, "Our main concern is making sure our members can afford a house, buy a car, and save a little for the future."

Over the course of my calling campaign, I learned a lot from the hundreds of calls made to depository institutions across the country. I appreciate bankers' openness in sharing their challenges and successes with me, and many also expressing commitments to their focus on serving their communities. Those insights provide valuable intel into the functionality and accessibility of payments within the banking industry, the public sector, and for businesses.

The Payments team at the Atlanta Fed appreciates everyone who participated in the Survey and with me in conversation.

The Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS) is a project of the Federal Reserve System and has been conducted in partnership between the Atlanta Fed and The Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2001. The FRPS relies on the voluntary participation of depository institutions and payments services providers to publish relevant and reliable results which the industry depends on to help evaluate changes in the nation's payments landscape. If you have any questions or wish to be added the Federal Reserve Payments Study email list, please contact frpscommunications@atl.frb.org.

Portrait photo of Tom Ciafone
By Tom Ciafone, payments expert, Atlanta Fed Payments Forum