Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
This conference, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, focused on the burgeoning remittance market and the policy objective of facilitating electronic payments and reducing costs to consumers. Conference attendees, including policymakers, financial sector leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and payment system specialists, discussed experiences with automated clearinghouse (ACH) and other electronic payment media and how they could be more broadly applied.
The first panel presented a survey of low-value payment systems and discussed the growing volume of remittance payments, which is driving policymakers and private-sector providers to identify ways to reduce the cost of transferring funds. The second panel focused on the experiences of building cross-border payment exchanges in Asia and Europe, with particular emphasis on their lessons for the Americas. This panel also examined the international ACH connections the Federal Reserve System has developed for making low-cost electronic cross-border payments to Canada, Mexico, and Europe. In addition, conference participants assessed regulatory concerns and policy challenges that lie ahead.