E-Money, Cash Flow and Check 21—Part 1

摘要

On Oct. 28, 2004, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (passed on the same date in 2003) became effective. Supported by the banking industry, this legislation, also known as Check 21, is being marketed to check-writers as just another welcome step toward paper- less, more efficient processing of financial transactions. Detractors such as the Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), have reservations about how these types of changes will affect consumers and businesses. In this two-part series, we will examine what money is, how financial transactions have traditionally been processed, and how the digitizing of financial transactions is changing the way we buy and sell.